Dr Aminah Zawedde named among Africa’s top 45 Women in Digital Transformation

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When the November 2025 edition of CIO Africa Magazine unveiled its list of the 45 Most Influential Women in Digital Transformation in Africa, the continent celebrated giants: women whose work is shifting the digital, policy, innovation, and economic landscape of Africa.

Dr Aminah Zawedde, the only Ugandan to make the prestigious continental list stands out for her work in previous roles and her current work as the permanent secretary of the Uganda Ministry of ICT and National Guidance.

“I receive this recognition with gratitude. It reflects Uganda’s steady progress in building a modern digital economy. I dedicate this honour to the committed staff of the Ministry of ICT & National Guidance and to the many ICT sector players who work tirelessly to drive our national agenda forward,” she said when contacted.

Before stepping into Government, Dr Zawedde built her intellectual foundation as a computer scientist, software engineering scholar, and educator at Makerere University. With a PhD in Software Engineering from Eindhoven University of Technology, she is part of a small cadre of African women with deep technical grounding, not honorary, but earned. Her leadership is shaped by this academic confidence; she speaks technology as a native language, not a borrowed one.

As governments globally struggle to regulate AI, digital platforms, cybersecurity, and data governance, the leaders who will drive Africa’s transformation will be those who understand technology’s complexity and its societal implications. Dr Zawedde is exactly that kind of leader.

“My commitment remains firm: to ensure that technology improves service delivery, expands economic opportunities for our citizens, and strengthens our nation,” she said.

One of Dr Zawedde’s most consequential interventions is repositioning Uganda as a credible player in the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) economy. She has consistently framed Uganda’s youth as a comparative advantage, not a demographic crisis. With global BPO demand shifting and Africa’s talent costs still competitive, her advocacy syncs directly with the recently approved national BPO policy, a policy she has helped champion in both domestic and international spaces.

Her engagements with global firms such as Helpware Uganda, and her push for universal broadband in the national budget, centre on one goal: turning digital transformation into jobs for Uganda’s youth; today, not tomorrow.

Other women leading in ICT included Paula Ingabire, the Rwanda Minister of ICT & Innovation, who is positioning her nation as an emerging AI powerhouse, backed by a landmark $17.5 million investment to establish Africa’s first AI Scaling Hub. From South Africa, Phuthi Mahanyele-Dabengwa, CEO of Naspers South Africa, appeared for her commanding leadership of a $4 billion digital portfolio and aggressive youth digital-skilling programmes.

They were joined by an impressive constellation of visionaries: Ada Nduka Oyom, the Nigerian force behind She Code Africa; Dr. Chinasa Okolo, who co-authored the African Union’s AI strategy; Ethel Cofie, founder of Women in Tech Africa; Charlette N’Guessan, the first African woman to win the Royal Academy of Engineering’s prestigious innovation prize; Prof. Anicia Peters, Namibia’s 4IR policy architect; Nicole Harris of Massmart Africa; Dr. Viviane Oke, the 23-year-old rising star in digital health from Benin; and Princess Mthombeni, South Africa’s outspoken advocate for nuclear energy and youth inclusion.