Ruby Davy

A Ghanaian entrepreneur and advocate for women's economic empowerment through digital innovation

Ruby Davy is a Ghanaian entrepreneur and digital innovation advocate whose work has significantly impacted women's economic inclusion in West Africa. Born in 1982 in Accra, she emerged as a leading voice in the digital economy during the 2010s. Davy co-founded Women's Initiative for Sustainable Enterprises (WISE), an organization that trains women in digital marketing and e-commerce. By 2018, WISE had empowered over 5,000 women to launch online businesses, with 70% achieving profitability within six months. Her leadership in the SheTrades Ghana initiative connected 2,300 women entrepreneurs to global supply chains, securing $2.8M in export contracts between 2016–2020.

In 2017, Davy pioneered Africa's first women-focused blockchain platform for cross-border trade, reducing transaction costs for female traders by 40%. She also developed the Women in Tech Africa mentorship program, which paired 300 young women with Silicon Valley mentors. Her TEDx talk 'The Digital Leapfrog: How Africa Can Lead the Fourth Industrial Revolution' (2019) has been viewed over 500,000 times. Davy's advocacy led to Ghana's 2020 National Digital Economy Policy including mandatory gender targets for tech startups, requiring 30% female representation in tech boardrooms.

Her work in education transformed Accra's digital ecosystem: she established the Digital Skills Academy, which trained 1,200 women as software developers between 2015–2022. A 2021 UNCTAD report highlighted her initiative as a model for UN's SDG 5 (Gender Equality) implementation. Davy's impact extends to policy: she advised ECOWAS on drafting the 2023 Digital Single Market Framework, ensuring gender-disaggregated data requirements for all member states.