June 21-24, 2021 •

Speaker

Speaker Headshot

Sicelo Dube

Director & Founder, Elevate Trust

Sicelo Dube, a.k.a. STEMLady, is a Mandela Washington Fellow Leader and the current Zimbabwe Science Ambassador. She is a passionate scientist and entrepreneur championing Science, Technology, Engineering & Math (STEM) as well as Innovation and Entrepreneurship amongst young people. Her work is aimed at contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals: Quality Education, Industry Innovation, and Infrastructure Development, as well as Gender Equality. Sicelo's work has a deliberate bias towards girl-child empowerment in the STEM field, as she believes that increasing participation of women generates faster income growth and improves livelihood in families. She established the STEMFem network which facilitates the mentoring and nurturing of female students and talented underprivileged girls to help them take up and sustain interest in the STEM field. Sicelo is also the founder of Laboratory Equipment and Chemicals Company (LEC Biotec), a company she started at 23 years of age. Her vision is to fuel a practical approach to teaching Science and Technology in Africa, and thus grow scientists for the future generation. LEC Biotec is also part of the National COVID Task force and involved in distributing medical consumables needed during this pandemic. Sicelo is also the founder of A PLUS Manufacturing, a company which prides itself on environmentally friendly scientific formulation in detergent manufacturing. As well, Sicelo is Co-Founder of Elevate Trust, a youth empowerment foundation which boasts of 87 Innovators Hub Club in rural, urban schools and universities. Elevate Trust's main goal is to advocate for, accelerate, and commercialize innovative ideas and research by STEM students into startup companies. In addition to earning several certificates in entrepreneurship and community development, Sicelo holds an MBA (University of Gloucestershire), an MSc in Applied Microbiology & Biotechnology (National University of Science and Technology, Zim), a BSc in Biological Science and Biochemistry (University of Zimbabwe), and a PDM in HIV/ AIDS (University of Stellenbosch, AFRICA Centre for HIV/AIDS Management, SA).