In celebration of National Women’s Day this year, the South African National Blockchain Alliance (SANBA) is subsidising two of the country’s up-and-coming female blockchain entrepreneurs to enable them to attend the European Blockchain Convention.

Although the technology environment is often seen as a male-dominated one, fortunately, this is not necessarily the case here in South Africa. In particular, the blockchain space in the country has many strong and inspirational female leaders. Two female blockchain entrepreneurs who are set to help re-imagine, design and build the future we need are Pretty Kubyane and Nerushka Bowan.

Pretty Kubyane is set to disrupt the hair supply chain industry, not only in South Africa, but in the rest of Africa as well. Her experience in the consulting world led to her co-founding Coronet Blockchain with her husband in 2018. Coronet Blockchain is a supply chain management solution built on blockchain technology. The company’s aim is to create end-to-end supply chain transparency with ethical human hair products, vetted hair suppliers, sustainable salon businesses, verifiable and certified stylists skills and peace of mind for consumers. In Africa, hair is big business – in fact, it is currently a R100 billion per annum sector. SANBA is excited to support this uniquely African application of blockchain – built in Africa, by Africa, for Africa.

Nerushka Bowan has set her sights on the intersection of emerging technologies and the law. The traditional model of a law firm is in a state of disruption and the future law firm will be driven by leaders who understand technology, efficiency and innovation. Nerushka founded the LLIT Institute (Law. Innovation. Technology. Tomorrow.) in 2018 as a way of leveraging her passion for spreading knowledge about the law, innovation, technology and the future. The Institute aims to be a catalyst for change in the legal industry, both locally and globally. The world needs to ask the difficult legal and ethical questions brought about by emerging technologies, such as blockchain, artificial intelligence and robotics – Nerushka is well positioned to help answer some of these questions. SANBA is happy to support her on this critical journey.

SANBA is a network of like-minded individuals and organisations (government, business, academia and civil society) that aim to radically accelerate blockchain adoption in South Africa. It is supported by the Department of Science and Innovation, the Office of Digital Advantage and the CSIR.