Meet the CodeNgwana
Board Members
Bongiwe Beja-Ntsiko
Bongiwe is a Chartered Development Finance Analyst (CDFA) by profession. She is the Founding Director of Transire Consulting which is a social impact organization that focuses on youth development, SMME development and Education. Bongiwe was named Top 200 Young South African by Mail and Guardian in 2022 in recognition of her work. She has been voted as the 11th Most Influential Young South African by Avance Media in 2018 where she won the Overall Category of Personal Development and Academia. Bongiwe is an experienced executive within youth development. She has been an EXCO member and held the position of Business Development and Strategy Lead at the Youth Employment Service (YES), an initiative launched by President Ramaphosa to curb youth unemployment in South Africa. Bongiwe was also General Manager at Silulo Ulutho Technologies (Silulo), a technology and education social enterprise which has significant impact in the township and rural communities across South Africa.
She holds an MCom Development Finance degree (cum laude) from the UCT Graduate School of Business. Bongiwe is the Southern African Region Community Champion in the Global Shapers Community which is an initiative of the World Economic Forum (WEF) where she provides support to 20 community-based hubs each driving projects to develop young people in the continent. She is the Local President of JCI Sandton, an organisation of young enterprising leaders who are engaged in personal development in order to be impact driven leaders in society. Bongiwe serves as a Youth Trustee Fellow on the FirstRand Empowerment Foundation (FREF), a Non-Executive Director of Regive Capital and as a Council Member of the Chartered Institute of Development Finance (CIDEF). Through her work she wants to develop the continent by playing a significant role in unlocking value and growth through social impact.
She holds an MCom Development Finance degree (cum laude) from the UCT Graduate School of Business. Bongiwe is the Southern African Region Community Champion in the Global Shapers Community which is an initiative of the World Economic Forum (WEF) where she provides support to 20 community-based hubs each driving projects to develop young people in the continent. She is the Local President of JCI Sandton, an organisation of young enterprising leaders who are engaged in personal development in order to be impact driven leaders in society. Bongiwe serves as a Youth Trustee Fellow on the FirstRand Empowerment Foundation (FREF), a Non-Executive Director of Regive Capital and as a Council Member of the Chartered Institute of Development Finance (CIDEF). Through her work she wants to develop the continent by playing a significant role in unlocking value and growth through social impact.
Apiwe Hotele
Ms Apiwe Hotele is a social entrepreneur, a visionary and a Technology Innovation Specialist. She holds a BSc in Computer Science cum laude from the University of Fort Hare and an MSc in Computer Engineering from the University of Cape Town. Apiwe’s technical background is in project management, product development, technology innovation, systems engineering and spearheading socio-economic initiatives to improve entrepreneurship and innovation in rural areas. She is the founder and Managing Director of Enlighten Edu, a web application platform for learners to better their performance at school, for talented tutors to find work, and to lighten the admin burden for tutoring companies. Ms Hotele is passionate about the inclusion of women in STEM, she founded #BreakingTheStereotype, a nonprofit organization whose aim is to motivate girls to take up maths and science in high school, encourage students studying science and engineering at institutions of higher learning and support science and engineering professionals. She has received a number of awards such as: Mail&Guardian’s 200 Young South Africans, News24 100 young Mandelas, top inspiring women in ICT, NYDA trailblazer, won the Accenture Rising Star Award in the ICT and acknowledged by Inside Education as one of the 100 Shining Stars in Science.