Cameroon: Rebecca Enonchong, a tech-entrepreneur committed to a more digital Africa

Rebecca Enonchong is a Cameroonian tech entrepreneur. She is the founder of AppsTech, a company that provides entreprises with application solutions and the president of Afrilabs, a pan-African network of African innovation centres. She is known for her commitment to promoting technology in Africa.

Rebecca Enonchong is a woman with an inspiring journey. The entrepreneur with many hats  stands out in the business world. This has earned her several awards, including a prize from the World Economic Forum in Davos. 

At a very early age, she entered the business world. Having moved to the United States in her teens, she began selling newspaper subscriptions at the age of 15. At only 17, she became a manager in the same company. In parallel, she pursued her studies, notably at the Catholic University of America where she obtained a Bachelor of Science degree and a Master’s degree in Economics. Then, she worked for several organisations, including the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and Oracle Corporation, an American software company.

Leap to entrepreneurship

In 1999, she founded AppsTech in the United States, a company that provides global solutions for enterprise applications. In 2001, her company opened its office in Ghana and in 2002 in Cameroon. She became an Oracle partner and gained customers in over 40 countries.  

Three years after launching her company, the entrepreneur was cited among the gotha of digital technology entrepreneurs, such as the co-founder of Google, Larry Page, or Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce.com. In 2002, she was named « Global Leader for Tomorrow » by the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Promoting technology in Africa

In 2010, she launched ActivSpaces in Douala to increase the chances of success of young tech entrepreneurs in Cameroon by creating an environment to develop their technological innovations. In 2011, she created Afrilabs, a network of 158 innovation centers in 45 African countries, of which she has been chair of the Board of Directors since 2017. The objective is to bring together entrepreneurs to develop innovative solutions to African problems. Very committed to the promotion of technology in Africa, she founded the Africa Technology Forum, a non-profit organization dedicated to start-up technology in Africa.

Rebecca Enonchong has received numerous awards. In 2013, she was a finalist for the African Digital Woman Award. In 2014, Forbes named her one of the « 10 Female Tech Founders to Watch in Africa ». In 2019, she was awarded « Margaret d’honneur » as President of Afrilabs, for her support to the development of African start-ups.