She aims to assist businesses and financial institutions in achieving their goals. She offers smart, data-driven solutions to support them in their decision-making processes.
Tebogo Mokwena (photo) is a South African entrepreneur and technology enthusiast. Co-founder of Akiba Digital in 2018, she has led the startup since 2020, helping financial institutions make better decisions.
Akiba Digital is a financial platform that leverages artificial intelligence and data to democratize access to financial opportunities. The company enables small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as consumers, to achieve their financial goals.
The company aims to "credit more accessible to customers who have been previously excluded by the credit bureaus and credit invisible for a long time, including small business & customers who are either unbanked or underbanked," explained Tebogo Mokwena in 2023.
As a data aggregator, Akiba Digital helps financial institutions create unique profiles of their clients to enhance decision-making. With advanced data analysis and risk assessment tools, the company automates client verification processes. This allows financial service providers to detect and mitigate fraudulent activities, protecting both their operations and their clients.
Before Akiba Digital, Tebogo Mokwena founded Pach-it in 2014, a women-led web and mobile development startup. Their first product, Funda Nathi, is an educational app aimed at helping disadvantaged South African students achieve their academic potential.
The entrepreneur is a graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where she earned a bachelor's degree in genetics in 2014. In 2015, she received a bachelor's degree in computer science, genetics, and biochemistry after three years of study at the University of Cape Town. She also holds a master's degree in machine learning, obtained in 2019 from the University of Lugano.
Between 2014 and 2017, Tebogo Mokwena served as president of World Merit, a community for global change-makers. In 2015, she was associated with iXperience, a South African tech company, and in 2016, she worked as a software developer at Allan Gray Proprietary, a private investment management firm. From 2016 to 2017, she worked as a digital consultant for McKinsey & Company.
Melchior Koba
