Ms. Sophia Bekele Short Profile

Founder & CEO, DotConnectAfrica Group

Africa’s digital future must be built on ownership, inclusion, and governance — not dependency.
                — Sophia Bekele Eshete

Sophia Bekele Eshete is a globally recognized business leader, technology strategist, and international entrepreneur whose career spans corporate leadership, digital infrastructure, and public-interest governance across Africa and global markets. Her work operates at the intersection of technology, policy, and institution-building, with a long-standing focus on inclusive digital development.

She is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of DotConnectAfrica (DCA) Group, a pan-African organization advancing digital infrastructure, internet governance, and emerging technologies across the continent. Through DCA, Bekele pioneered the pan-African “.africa” internet domain initiative and founded the widely recognized Yes2DotAfrica Campaign , a multi-year global effort to position Africa within the global internet namespace.

Founded by Sophia Bekele, Miss.Africa Digital is a pioneering pan-African initiative designed to accelerate women and girls’ participation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Launched under the broader DotConnectAfrica ecosystem, Miss.Africa combines digital skills development, seed funding, mentorship, and visibility to unlock talent at scale. The initiative has supported hundreds of young women across more than 12 African countries, positioning digital inclusion not as charity, but as infrastructure for long-term economic participation and leadership.

Bekele is also the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of CBSegroup, a San Francisco Bay Area–based technology and advisory firm she established following her corporate career. In addition, she serves as Chair of the Global Economic Development Alliance (GEDA) Investment Group, a Kenya-based pan-African platform with interests across technology, finance, media, and real estate, where capital is deployed with a long-term development and governance lens.

Through Sophia Bekele, .africa and Miss.Africa Digital and global Internet governance,  Africa’s digital voice has been positioned within global internet policy discussions.

Corporate Foundations  & Entrepreneurship

Earlier in her career, Bekele built a strong corporate track record with Fortune 500 institutions, including Bank of America, Mitsubishi Bank of California, and PricewaterhouseCoopers, specializing in business and technology strategy, systems security auditing, enterprise risk management, and governance. These disciplines continue to underpin her leadership and advisory work today.

As an entrepreneur and CEO, she has founded and led multiple international ventures and supported early-stage U.S. companies entering new markets. Her first U.S.-based technology firm, CBSegroup, became known for pioneering technology transfer to Africa, delivering large-scale network infrastructure projects for governments—including the African Union and the Ethiopian Parliament—and introducing private-sector DNS services in Ethiopia. The firm also advised global corporations and emerging ventures on corporate governance, venture strategy, and business modeling, with clients including Intel, the Federal Reserve, Genentech, and Silicon Valley startups.

Global Policy, Public Service & Governance,

Bekele also serves in advisory and thought-leadership capacities with leading global platforms, contributing strategic insight at the intersection of technology, governance, and institutional resilience. Across these forums, her focus remains consistent: aligning innovation with accountability and ensuring emerging technologies serve long-term societal and economic progress.

Her work has informed executive and policy-level discourse through engagements with Harvard Business Review and Fortune AIQ, where she advises on digital transformation, AI governance, and the systemic risks of technological dependency.  Bekele has served on senior national and international advisory and policy bodies, including multiple United Nations–affiliated platforms and the global internet regulator ICANN, where her work influenced global internet governance frameworks, including policies related to Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) and Africa’s positioning within the global digital ecosystem.

She is a co-founder and former board member of the Internet Society (San Francisco Chapter) and has undertaken high-level policy advocacy engagements with the U.S. Congress. Her public service record also includes service on education boards, public policy think tanks, and leadership forums across the United States and Europe. In 2018, she was appointed Founding Advisor to the EurAfrican Forum in Portugal, advancing strategic economic dialogue between Europe and Africa.

The Sophia Bekele body of work continues to influence digital sovereignty, inclusion, and institutional reform.

Bekele has also served as an International Ambassador to multiple Rotary organizations and is a recipient of the Rotary Paul Harris Fellow award for her contributions to international service.

Thought Leadership & Public Voice

A sought-after keynote speaker and panel moderator, Bekele regularly addresses international conferences and high-level forums on technology governance, digital infrastructure, entrepreneurship, cybersecurity, and economic development. She is a published writer and media commentator on technology, internet governance, business, and public accountability, and maintains an active public voice focused on what she describes as “conversations that matter”—spanning leadership, wellbeing, and long-term systems thinking.

Education & Credentials

Bekele holds an MBA in Management of Information Systems (MIS) from Golden Gate University and a Bachelor of Science in Business Analysis & Computer Systems (BACS) from San Francisco State University. She also holds advanced professional certifications in digital security and enterprise governance, including CISA, CCS, and CGEIT.

Awards & Recognitions

With over a decade of transforming lives and businesses via technology in Africa and across the Globe and leading her organization with passion and grit, Bekele has received many accolades and recognition for her work.  Videos and speeches from this section can be found on her website at https://sophiabekele.com/awards-and-recognitions/

• 2025 — Named “Global Champion of Digital Sovereignty” by Insight Success Magazine, recognizing her leadership in architecting control over digital assets, data, and technological destiny. The feature highlighted her framing of digital colonialism as a defining geopolitical risk of the 21st century.

• 2024 — Recipient of the Women Leadership Award for Inclusion & Social Impact, presented by the European Cooperation System in collaboration with the European Parliament and the Universal Women Leadership Forum.

• 2023 — Featured on the cover of CIO Views as “An Influential & Fearless Trailblazer in Technology, Leading Business on Her Own Terms.”

• 2023 — Honored by Success Pitchers Magazine as one of the “10 Most Powerful Women Leaders to Follow,” recognizing her work as a serial technology entrepreneur driving social and economic impact through innovation.

• 2022 — Listed among the “100 Most Influential African Women Leaders & Pioneers” by Avance Media, citing her leadership excellence, commitment to knowledge-sharing, and sustained efforts to bridge the gender digital divide in Africa.

• 2022 — Awarded the CEO Today Africa Award for pioneering a globally emulated model of digital education and empowerment for women and youth through the DCA Digital Academy.

• 2021 — Named a Women of Influence Honoree by the Silicon Valley Business Journal, celebrating outstanding achievement in leadership, innovation, and community impact.

• 2021 — Recipient of the CEO Today Africa Award for exceptional business leadership and resilience amid unprecedented global challenges.

• 2018 — Honored with the Champion of Development Award at the Solidarity Awards in Switzerland, presented by Africa Link.

• 2017 — Finalist at the ITU / UN Equals in Tech Awards for the Miss.Africa Digital Seed-Funding program, which has supported hundreds of young women and girls across 12 African countries.
  In the same year, CIO East Africa named her “Industry Trailblazer” and “Internet Governance Pioneer.”

• 2015 — Recognized by Bloomberg TV as one of Africa’s “Two Leading Ladies in ICT” and among the “African Women to Watch,” honoring visionary leadership shaping the continent’s digital future.

• 2014 — Named one of the “Top 20 Inspirational African Diaspora Professional Women in Europe” by ADIPWE for her work in technology transfer and global development.

• 2013 — Selected by NewAfrican Magazine as one of the “50 African Trailblazers – A Future Made in Africa,” recognizing her leadership of the landmark Yes2DotAfrica global campaign for the .africa domain, which reached over 30 million people worldwide and earned her recognition as the “brains behind .africa.

Having traveled to over 150 countries, including six around-the-world journeys, Bekele is known for challenging entrenched systems while advocating for balance, wellbeing, and purposeful leadership. Among peers, she is often referred to—affectionately—as #AddisHilton.