Irene Ochem is the Founder & CEO of Africa Women Innovation and Entrepreneurship Forum (AWIEF), an award-winning, pan-African organisation dedicated to fostering women’s economic inclusion and empowerment through entrepreneurship support and development. She is also the Founder and Managing Director of ICO Conferences & Events, an international conference production and event management company based in South Africa and Nigeria.
Before venturing into entrepreneurship, Irene worked for more than 20 years with international organisations in Europe and Africa and gained widespread experience in management and international development.
She holds an MBA degree from University of London (UK). She obtained a language translation diploma from SSLMIT (Scuola Superiore di Lingue Moderne per Interpreti e Traduttori) Italy and postgraduate qualifications in project management and gender and trade related issues from the University of Cape Town . She is passionate about female entrepreneurship and women’s economic empowerment and participates widely in international meetings on women’s issues