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Rachel Chimwemwe Sibande, born January 9, 1986, is a Malawian technology expert and computer scientist. She founded Malawi’s first technology hub; mHub. The hub nurtures young technology enthusiasts with technical and entrepreneurship skills. It's software development unit empowers young Malawians to champions the development of  local technology and provide local solutions.

In 2016,Forbes Magazine named Rachel as one of Africa’s 30 most promising young entrepreneurs under the age of 30. In 2015; she received the Anita Borg Scholarship from Google, now called the TechWomen Scholarship programme. The scholarship is given to outstanding female computer science students from around the world. In 2016, Rachel became Malawi’s Ambassador of the Next Einstein Forum Initiative which promotes science, technology engineering and mathematics. In 2012, Rachel became  an alumna of President Obama’s Young African Leaders Initiative. She is a PhD candidate in Computer Science at Rhodes University in South Africa.

Through the hub, Rachel has established a Children's Coding Club and a Girls Coding Club where children and girls are taught how to develop games, animations and mobile technology applications in quest to enhance a generation of creators of technology. In her quest to augment passion for innovation and information sharing, Rachel became the first local licensee for TEDxLilongwe in 2016. Her TED talk was delivered 3 years earlier in 2013 and captures her passion and interests in using technology for Agricultural development.

Early life and education
Sibande was born in 1986 in Lilongwe, Malawi  to a Malawian family,[9] the daughter of Ethel (née Muyaba) and Ben Chavula, and the oldest of five children. Her father is an Accountant and her mother was a Home Economics teacher at Vocational college who later become a development specialist working with communities on rural development.

She attended Our Lady of Wisdom Secondary School, a catholic school based in Blantyre, Malawi. Rachel was later selected to attend the University of Malawi’s, Chancellor College in 2001 at Age 15. She pursued a Bachelor’s degree in Science from 2001- 2005. In 2006, Sibande graduated from University of Malawi with a Bachelors majoring in Computer Science with a credit.

In 2006, shortly after her graduation, Rachel took up her first job as a developer at Globe Computer Systems in Malawi and then moved on to teaching ICT at Malawi’s elite high school, Kamuzu Academy. She later left the Academy to pursue a Master of Science in Information Theory, Coding and Cryptography at the Mzuzu University in 2007. There, she also taught Statistics as an Adjunct lecturer in the Department of Mathematics. She graduated with a Master of Science degree with distinction average of 80% in 2010.

In 2010, Sibande got a fully funded PhD scholarship from Institute Markets Technologies (IMT Lucca) but had to forego the opportunity as it coincided with the birth of her first child. She later took on another PhD opportunity in 2015 from the Computer Science Department at Rhodes University in South Africa.

Working in elections
In 2014, Rachel worked as a technology expert on the team that developed and deployed a mobile and online voter verification system and a citizen journalism for real time monitoring of elections by independent observers. Almost 400,000 citizens verified voter IDs through digital platform. Over 1,500,000 messages sent through citizens reports and  from observers on incidences as relates to the electoral process. In 2015, Rachel offered technical support on a similar initiative in Tanzanian Elections and was also instrumental in being the lead ICT expert on the Zambian Elections in 2016.

Honours and Awards
·    Listed by FORBES as one of the 30 most promising young entrepreneurs in Africa (2016)

·    Listed as one of the top 40 innovators under 40 in Africa (2016)

·    Named Next Einstein Ambassador for Malawi at the Next Einstein Forum (2016)

·    Recipient from Southern Africa of the Google Anita Borg Scholarship; a prestigious scholarship given to female outstanding computer science students from around the world. (2015)

Personal life
Rachel is married to Chrispine Sibande; a Malawian Human Rights Lawyer. Chrispine has an LLM in Sexual Reproductive Health Rights from University of Free State in South Africa. He has been an ardent champion for minority rights in Malawi and is currently working on abortion law reforms in Malawi. Together, they have three children; Uwemi  born in 2010; Uzengi born in 2012 and Unenesko born in 2013.