Chief Executive Officers

"I find it necessary that, from the beginning, you make it clear that you are not there to play; there is a reason why you are there and that you know what you are doing,"

"the new freighter will play a significant role in RwandAir’s operations. “The delivery of our dedicated cargo aircraft is a huge milestone in RwandAir’s fleet expansion plans,”"

"[The only disability in life is a bad attitude. Women Power Africa 's Post"

"It is a great honour for the entire team working tirelessly to realise the dreams that we have ."

"We are not going to solve society's problems. People have to do that on their own... If you can’t get your kids to eat vegetables, why is it my job?"

"It was a lot of experimenting for us – we tried out so many ideas and at the end of it all we learned how to build mobile information systems – basically endless databases of relevant information, and build applications on top of that ."

"But they face many challenges such as high cost of production, lack of access to energy and poor infrastructure. Technology can help reduce their costs and enable them to operate more efficiently."

"As young people we want to be inventors," she told the onlooking heads of state ."

"I was raised by a teacher and entrepreneur, who encouraged my siblings and I to be ambitious and pursue meaningful careers. After every school year, mom and dad would ask us what we wanted to do with our lives, and this put a lot of pressure on us to always ask ourselves why we were doing whatever we were doing."

"Recognising the work we do is encouraging and it is also a reminder that we are not doing anything in vain. It pushes us to greater heights."

"“Since we are a fair trade organisation people want to buy fair trade shoes from us but they want to buy at cheap prices. That I don’t understand. I know that running a business is not that easy and there is always a threat, there is always a risk that we are going to take, but I love it.”"

"“That’s why we have always said that this company is about maximizing local talent and local resources to create good paying jobs, that in turn would create extraordinary footwear,”"

"“I knew that there were so many talented people out there who could do great things if only given a chance. However, due to extreme poverty, stigma, and marginalization,… many of them could not even get simple jobs. This was devastating for me, as I had grown up with them. They were my neighbours, my family members.”"

"“This gave me a good knowledge of the industry, which was extremely useful in terms of setting up the company and making it grow,”"

"“Love what you do, because without a genuine love and passion, you won’t be successful.”"

"“If you have a crazy idea, go for it! Don’t be afraid to make mistakes.”"

"“My advice would be to build your idea piece by piece and get real and honest traction in the market with that idea while retaining as much equity as you can.”"

"“I think the best companies and brands are built by entrepreneurs willing to self-fund their ideas,”"

"“but to exquisitely execute that idea over and over and make it into a living, breathing reality. The best entrepreneurs literally seem to live their companies.”"

"“To me, very successful entrepreneurs have the ability not simply to come up with an idea,”"

"“are sharing Ethiopian cultures with the world and finding exciting ways to keep these cultures vibrant and fully relevant.”"

"“My driving passions,”"

"“I have developed a fine sense of my weaknesses, and I address those by building my team with people who have that strength I may lack. So I flip any weakness I may have and make it a strength … Weakness recognition, and a full embrace of that, is a powerful tool.”"

"“I always reflect and think about the same thing: business is about solving problems. Trying to identify the singular most difficult situation would be doing a disservice to this simple fact: if you are not continuously encountering tough situations as an entrepreneur, and solving them, then you are not really in business. Encountering obstacles and overcoming them is my day-to-day existence.”"

"“For me, I never thought because I’m a woman I’m not going to do something, I’m not going to try it this or that. The way I see myself is… I’m a person. I am capable of doing whatever I want and I’m going to succeed because I’m going to be working really hard to be there each and every day. So, for African girls and women to say ‘I’m not going to be able to do this, I’m not capable of doing this,’ you’re killing yourself. If we are brave enough to go out to sell ideas to people, I think we can succeed.”"

"that helped give her confidence in her contributions to society as a woman, and ultimately, what she is doing today."

"that one of the important lessons her parents instilled in her as a child was that there was no difference between her and her three brothers. While they did different kinds of work, she said there was no preference between girls’ work and boys’ work."

"“We’re selling an experience. We’re not selling a product. We’re not trying to fit in somewhere…the need is for you. It’s not massively produced.”"

"there is no blueprint when it comes to being an entrepreneur."

"“People are traveling a long ways to bring in different ideas into their continent and country to start a business. But my idea is, look at who you are as a person. How you grew up. Everything around you is a business idea. When you see a problem, find the solution. That will be a business idea.”"

"“… the needle I am constantly attempting to thread: building exciting brands around our unique cultures, brands that become ubiquitous and impactful.”"

"Don't just make things, make things better. "Innovation is...improving the state of what was before.""

"For people to be innovative... they don't have to really travel a long way or copy somebody's business idea. It's right there."

"Prosperity creation is the sole route to the elimination of poverty. And to create sustained prosperity, you have to create something truly world class."

"If we want to have truly equitable societies, then we need to embrace equity on all levels. And that means women’s economic empowerment and the key to that is women entrepreneurs."

"It is possible to deploy local resources while creating a market-leading global brand, and to do it all from scratch."

"I wanted to show that it is possible to be a local person, in Ethiopia and in Africa, and to be globally successful."

"“We are doing well. We are trying to do $2m this year. In 2016, we are planning to do $20m. So that’s why we are working hard and we are trying to expand our working facility. The demand is here. It’s up to us to take that advantage and to make it happen,”"

"” Having grown up watching our family and neighbors struggling, we decided to create the “better life” we were all waiting for by harnessing our community’s incredible artisan skills and channeling them into a sustainable, global, fair trade footwear business. We have done that and more and we are proud to say that the soleRebels brand is being enjoyed by people in over 30 countries around the world.”"

"“We Decided to Create the Better Life We were all waiting for”"

"I completed all my education here in Ethiopia, and I have NEVER lived anywhere else but Ethiopia."

"My driving passions as an entrepreneur are always about sharing Ethiopian cultures with the world and finding exciting ways to keep these cultures vibrant and fully relevant."

"“I began Garden of Coffee so that people everywhere can experience the magic of hand-roasted Ethiopian coffees, roasted at their source by Ethiopia’s finest coffee artisans."

"“I am always engaging with people on my team, finding out what they need to make them better at what they do, and what makes them happier. This lets us have an incredible level of overall team happiness and leads to long-term team members…"

"“I like to visualise my goals in my own private space. I try and make it as real as possible so it is almost tangible to me. That gives these goals an immediacy and realness both for me and for my team that allows people to really chase that idea or goal in a visceral way.”"

"“I think conventional wisdom is, by definition, the antithesis of entrepreneurialism, so I am probably on the other side of a lot of it.”"

"Today, the Board of Trustees of the Wikimedia Foundation announced the appointment of Maryana Iskander as the organization’s new CEO. She is a globally recognized social entrepreneur and an expert in building cross-sector partnerships that combine innovative technology with community-led solutions to close opportunity gaps. As CEO of Wikimedia Foundation, the global nonprofit organization that supports Wikipedia and 12 other free knowledge projects, Maryana will champion the organization’s goal to ensure that people everywhere can access and share knowledge freely. She will formally begin on January 5, 2022 and report to the Foundation’s Board of Trustees."

"There are a few core principles of Wikimedia projects, including Wikipedia, that I think are important starting points. It’s an online encyclopedia. It’s not trying to be anything else. It’s certainly not trying to be a traditional social media platform in any way. It has a structure that is led by volunteer editors. And as you may know, the foundation has no editorial control. This is very much a user-led community, which we support and enable. The lessons to learn from, not just with what we’re doing but how we continue to iterate and improve, start with this idea of radical transparency. Everything on Wikipedia is cited. It’s debated on our talk pages. So even when people may have different points of view, those debates are public and transparent, and in some cases really allow for the right kind of back and forth. I think that’s the need in such a polarized society — you have to make space for the back and forth. But how do you do that in a way that’s transparent and ultimately leads to a better product and better information?"

"Of the three million job losses in South Africa as a result of Covid-19, two million were held by women. While the deck has always been stacked against women, Covid-19 exposes the staggering inequalities and barriers that women face in finding, and keeping, work. Even before the Covid-19 pandemic, young women shouldered additional burdens from childcare and other household responsibilities. They had less time and money to look for work, and faced a greater threat of harassment even if they could get a job interview. Young women are also less likely to have some of the tangible attributes that significantly boost the chances of finding work, such as a matric or a driver’s licence. The impact of Covid-19 has exacerbated all of these challenges – with increased gender-based violence, missed educational opportunities and a precarious economic environment where women are hardest hit. Never has it felt truer that women need to work twice as hard to get half as far. It’s not just about equity – the evidence is clear about investing in women. Greater gender equality leads to better development outcomes, reducing income inequality and supporting economic resilience. Women’s increased economic participation leads to a higher spend on schooling for children, with important implications for growth in the long run."

"After over half a decade of working with Planned Parenthood as their Chief Operating Officer, Maryana fell in love and made the jump from the United States to the southernmost tip of Africa. Even though this love affair didn’t last, her love affair with South Africa did, and it ushered her into a career path that saw her working on solving the problems of youth unemployment in Africa, to her current position, leading the Wikimedia Foundation."