Thandiwe Mkwanazi

South African social entrepreneur revolutionizing education access for rural girls

Thandiwe Mkwanazi (b. 1989) is a South African innovator whose Ezakwantu Foundation has transformed education access for rural girls. Her signature program, the Girls' Leadership Academy, uses mobile tech to deliver STEM education via solar-powered tablets in areas with no electricity. This initiative has reached 15,000+ girls across 8 provinces since 2015, achieving a 92% university placement rate for participants.

Mkwanazi's most groundbreaking project is the Smart Schools Network, a decentralized education system using AI tutors and community learning centers. Her TED Talk "Reimagining Rural Education" has been viewed over 3 million times. In 2021, she launched the Girls in Tech Africa initiative, establishing 40 coding labs in conflict-affected regions.

Her work has been recognized by the World Economic Forum's Young Global Leaders program (2020) and earned her a $1 million Rolex Award for Enterprise (2022). Thandiwe's innovations directly contributed to a 27% increase in female university enrollments in rural South Africa between 2016-2022. She recently partnered with UNESCO to scale her model across 15 African countries through the Pan-African EdTech Initiative.