Rwanda
Shivon Byamukama (Rwanda 2016) is deputy chief executive officer of Babylon Health Rwanda (Babyl), a digital healthcare provider headquartered in London, England. Byamukama is a 2016 Fellow from the Africa Regional Program and examined women’s leadership and capacity building in business, and sought to expand her social enterprise LegalBiz, which focused on providing women with free legal tools and guidance to help them launch successful businesses. Since fellowship, Byamukama has become a leader in women’s mentorship in the business sector.
At the time of her fellowship, Byamukama worked as the company secretary and head of corporate affairs at the Bank of Kigali, Rwanda’s largest bank. The fellowship provided her with valuable insight into how to develop leadership skills and channel them into pathways for career growth for women. Byamukama indicated that while she had been considering making a transition in her career to pursue more senior opportunities in banking, the information gathered and connections made during fellowship gave her the passion to venture out into a new direction and seek a senior role with Babyl Health.
Rwanda is one of the top countries globally in terms of gender equality, yet women still face challenges in terms of having equal access to mentorship and leadership development opportunities that are critical to a woman’s career success and advancement according to Byamukama. With the help of the fellowship, Byamukama created strategies that she has since implemented through programs that she is running to help women prepare and excel in their businesses and career advancement. She has expanded her women’s mentorship program and added a workshop series led by field experts. She has also ventured into youth-related mentorship programs.
Byamukama says that the fellowship journey also reinforced the importance of network building and development. This concept forms a key part of her work not just as deputy chief executive officer but as a leading architect of women’s career empowerment in Kigali. Byamukama continues to collaborate with her fellow Fellows to enhance her own knowledge base of tech and its interweaving into the health sector. She remains excited about the opportunity to go global with Babyl and is well positioned to help Rwandan women reach new heights.