Lisa Armstrong is a passionate entrepreneur who believes that everyone, whether rich or poor, deserves access to the global online market. She is the founder and CEO of Ugogo, an award-winning ecommerce platform for people without bank accounts. Ugogo is expanding the traditional marketplace for entrepreneurial men and women in Africa who may be earning as little as $1USD per day. By enabling them to sell their wares online, the Ugogo platform will empower these artisans and micropreneurs to lift themselves out of poverty.
In 2015 Ugogo was chosen from over 3,555 applicants to win the world renowned Publicis 90 award. Lisa has also received the WACL Future Leaders Award, an award given on behalf of the most influential women in advertising, marketing, commercial media and communications.
Born in Zimbabwe, Lisa graduated with a BA in Business Law from LMU and later received a scholarship for Executive Business School at the London School of Economics. Prior to setting up Ugogo, she ran a successful start-up and has also spent four years working on high profile projects at SapientNitro, one of the world's leading digital agencies. She has an avid interest in digital innovation and how we, as innovators, can improve people’s lives with the simple click of a mouse.
As Africa enters an exciting and innovative era, she also offers perceptive insights into the opportunities and challenges involved in doing business there.
As a female entrepreneur, and more specifically a female of colour, Lisa also speaks on the subject of women in tech. She shares her experiences of being a woman in business, talks about gender and diversity issues and gives advice for breaking the so-called glass ceiling.
