THE INTERNATIONAL GIRLS ACADEMY × TECHNOVATION PARTNERSHIP ANNOUNCEMENT The UJIMA Business Program adds a tech track with Technovation
UJIMA scholars will pair the Nguzo Saba-rooted business curriculum with Technovation’s app-building track, then pitch what they build at the UJIMA Business Pitch Competition.
The International Girls Academy is partnering with Technovation to expand the UJIMA Business Program. Starting with the next cohort, girls who join UJIMA will learn to build technology alongside the business they are already building.
UJIMA takes its name from the third of the Nguzo Saba principles — collective work and responsibility. The program is a semester-long entrepreneurship experience: participants create their own innovative businesses, develop business plans, pitch their ideas, and compete for prizes at the annual pitch competition. The point has always been to give girls the experience of running something real before the age of 18.
What changes for scholars
Technovation brings a technology track into the curriculum. Instead of stopping at a business plan, teams can build the thing itself.
01 Work through UJIMA’s 12-module business curriculum, rooted in the Nguzo Saba principles.
02 Add a tech track: learn to code an app or AI prototype with Technovation for your business idea.
03 Get pitch-ready with mentors, then take the stage at the UJIMA Business Pitch Competition.
04 Top teams move on to compete for a scholarship in Technovation’s global competition.
Why the two programs fit
Technovation’s model asks girls to find a real problem in their community and solve it with technology. UJIMA asks them to organize around that problem as a business. Together the sequence is continuous: identify the problem, build the solution, make it viable, and pitch it to people who can fund it.
Both organizations also share the same starting belief — that girls do not need to wait to be taken seriously. Any girl can participate, regardless of educational status. Mentors stay with teams through the pitch, so the competition is the end of a process rather than a test of who arrived prepared.
“Our girls already know what needs fixing in their communities. What they have asked us for is the toolkit. Adding Technovation’s tech track to UJIMA means a girl can walk in with a problem and walk out with a business and a working prototype — before she turns 18.”
Makeba Green- Program Manager · The International Girls Academy
"Technovation is honored to partner with International Girls Academy. We are thrilled to welcome their scholars and can't wait to share their innovative solutions to problems they see in their communities on our global stage!"
"Tara Chklovski, CEO and Founder, Technovation" ·
Joining the next cohort
Applications for the next UJIMA cohort open with the partnership. Girls apply as individuals or as teams; no prior coding experience is required, and the tech track starts from the beginning.
Cohort dates, format, and the sign-up link will be published alongside this announcement. Partner organizations interested in supporting mentors or competition prizes can reach out through the contact form.
