Today, globally, whether in politics, entertainment or the workplace, women are vastly under-represented. However, while talent is evenly distributed, the lack of equal opportunity is undeniably present in all sectors and particularly in mobility. In this predominantly male environment, some women have proven that they too have a decisive place. In this World Entrepreneurs’ Week, we wanted to honor 15 leading and influential women in the field. Discover these ambitious business leaders and managers who are revolutionizing the world of mobility.
Our selection :
Sophia Rödiger
Co-Founder & CEO @bloXmove
For more than 10 years, Sophia Rödiger, a business psychologist and author, has been shaping innovation and transformation initiatives in the mobility field. Most recently, she led the global startup hub and the global transformation of Mercedes-Benz Mobility. In May 2021, together with Dr Harry Behrens, she co-founded bloXmove, a decentralised platform that connects energy and e-mobility. The goal? To automate, secure and accelerate essential transactions between companies, vehicles and customers. Particularly committed to womenintech® and the Female Founder Collective, Sophia strongly supports international networking and the visibility of women. Since July 2022, she has been elected as a board member of the blockchain working group at Bitkom, the largest digital association in Germany.
Natalie King
Founder & CEO @Dunamis Clean Energy Partners, LLC
Natalie King is a corporate lawyer and the founder and managing director of Dunamis. The company is a certified MBE (Minority Business Enterprise) and provides turnkey green energy solutions for its clients. Dunamis offers best-in-class LED manufacturing, energy auditing services, financing options and energy efficiency consulting. Headquartered in Detroit, Dunamis is taking advantage of the Motor City’s tremendous industrial expertise to begin building a globally competitive electric vehicle charger business. Under King’s nurturing and inspiring leadership, Dunamis is now a multi-million dollar business with over 150 employees.
Manal Habib
Founder & CEO @MightyFly
Manal Habib is passionate about aviation. A graduate of MIT and Stanford, she has a strong technical background in aerospace engineering. So it’s no surprise that in 2019 she chose to found MightyFly. The company’s goal? To re-imagine the future of logistics via large autonomous cargo planes. In other words, the forward-thinking MightytFly team is building its own autonomous hybrid eVTOL aircraft. With a cargo capacity of up to 500 livres, a range of 600 miles and a speed of 150 mph, the delivery of goods and parcels for businesses, healthcare facilities and government will be fast and efficient. The company closed a $5.1 million seed round in April 2021.
Monja Mühling
Co-Founder & CEO @Smartlane GmbH
Smartlane GmbH, was founded in 2015 by Monja Mühling and Mathias Baur. The Munich-based company has developed Smartlane Transport Intelligence, a software based on Artificial Intelligence. Its goal? To optimise transport in logistics. Based on many years of research, Smartlane Transport Intelligence enables the digitisation and progressive automation of transport planning. With a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Technology and Business Administration with a focus on management, Monja is in charge of the main aspects of the company’s strategic development and the growth of the target audience.
Alisha Fredriksson
Co-Founder & CEO @Seabound
Alisha Fredriksson is on a mission to tackle the climate crisis by decarbonising shipping. Prior to developing her company, Alisha launched a climate programme and established global partnerships at Generation, a non-profit organisation founded by McKinsey & Co. She has also been involved in the creation of a marine electrofuel startup. She continues her fight against climate change, founding Seabound with the brilliant Roujia Wen just one year ago. Previously, her professional partner, a Cambridge graduate, worked on Amazon’s Artificial Intelligence project: Alexa.
Madison Rifkin
Co-Founder & CEO @Mount
Madison has always been a tinkerer. In fifth grade, she had the opportunity to enroll in an innovation program, and she hasn’t stopped since. One of the first products she built was a smart bike lock. She later sold it to famous scooter distributors like Bird and Lime. In 2020, she and Rishab Nayak founded Mount, an application that makes electric vehicles (scooters, bicycles) available in holiday rental properties. The aim is simple: to give users a carbon-free way to explore the city they are travelling in. According to her, “the best travel and life experiences are based on sharing.”
Yasmine Fage
Co-Founder & CEO @Goggo Network Venture Partner
A graduate of Sciences Po Paris and an MBA from Columbia Business School, Yasmine Fage is a former Associate Partner and Head of Public Sector at McKinsey & Company. She then became an investor in early stage companies via VAS Ventures. Since 2018, she is now an entrepreneur and CEO of Goggo Network, a company co-developed with Martin Varsavsky that aims to solve today’s transportation challenges. Their vision: to provide autonomous, electric and shared mobility solutions for all people. His motivation, determination and ambition enabled him to raise €24 million in venture capital from Softbank and Axel Springer Ventures.
Raven Hernandez
Co-Founder & CEO @Earth Rides
Raven Hernandez is a brilliant 26-year-old graduate of Pepperdine Law School in Malibu. However, her passion for law quickly faded away in favour of health… She wants to reduce air pollution for everyone’s well-being and encourage the use of green vehicles. To get her head in order, she travels around the world for a few months. When she returned to her hometown of Nashville in October 2020, she and her husband decided to launch Earth Rides, an environmentally friendly carpooling service using a fleet of high-quality, 100% electric vehicles. Among the models offered: Tesla Model Y, S, X, 3, Mach-e Mustang, Volkswagen ID4. Recently, Earth Rides was named a finalist for the Nashville Entrepreneur Center’s NEXTAward.
Tiya Gordon
Co-Founder & COO @itselectric
Tiya Gorden has 20 years of leadership experience in a variety of disciplines and for some of the country’s top companies and institutions. Just over a year ago, she co-founded itselectric with Nathan King. The company provides charging stations for electric vehicles (EVs) in cities. It partners with building owners to unlock access to untapped electricity. In return, they have the opportunity to earn passive income while making it easier for everyone to charge their EVs. Their work has received top industry honours, including the Cooper Hewitt National Design Award; the inaugural Cannes Golden Lion; the Emerging Filmmaker Showcase at the Cannes Film Festival; and being named the second most innovative design firm in the world by Fast Company.
Selinay Parlak
Co-Founder & COO @Bluedot Technologies
This young entrepreneur with a passion for electric cars and new forms of transportation co-founded Bluedot alongside Ferhat B. Based in San Francisco, the company’s mission is to make sustainability more affordable to accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles in the US. As such, Bleudot provides electric vehicle charging station solutions to businesses. This dynamic young entrepreneur is a jack of all trades, with interests in cryptocurrencies, sustainable energy, health and new technologies. Recently winner of the Women4Climate competition, Selinay Parlak does not intend to stop there…
This year’s World Entrepreneurship Week is an opportunity to promote the innovative projects of 10 bright and capable women. Too often under-represented, they are undertaking ambitious and innovative projects to optimize today’s mobility and maximize the user experience. However, we would also like to highlight 5 responsible and influential women in the sector. Discover those who are leading the way in the management and responsibility of large companies in the mobility sector.
Amanda Woo
CEO @AirAsia SuperApp
An experienced marketer, Amanda Woo began her career at Y&R Advertising and then Moët Hennessy, where she led brand management for Malaysia and Singapore. She then switched careers to L’Oreal, and ran one of the famous professional hair care brands for four years. In 2012, she joined AirAsia and found herself leading a number of business initiatives in various entities of the group. Unquestionably, her leadership has been instrumental in expanding AirAsia SuperApp’s business in key ASEAN markets to the point where, in 2019, she is promoted to CEO.
>> Also to be read : AirAsia, from simple airline to Super App…
Maria Tsavachidis
CEO @EIT Urban Mobility
Dr Tsavachidis is the Director General of the EIT Urban Mobility, a European knowledge and innovation community aiming to accelerate the transition to more sustainable urban mobility. How do we do this? By encouraging positive changes in the way people move around cities to make them more liveable places. Before joining the European Institute of Innovation and Technology, she was Head of Innovation at Siemens for 10 years. She started her career as a researcher in the field of intelligent transport systems and holds a PhD in traffic engineering from the Technical University of Munich.
Aicha Evans
CEO @Zoox
Aicha Evans holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Engineering and has held various senior engineering positions in companies such as Rockwell Semiconductor, Conexant and Skyworks Solutions. She joined Intel Group in 2006 where she stayed for over 10 years, serving as Senior Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer. In February 2019, Aicha Evans became CEO of Zoox, a company aiming to improve transportation by developing a fully autonomous fleet, thanks to Artificial Intelligence. From then on, she became the first African-American female CEO of an autonomous vehicle technology company. In 2022, she led Amazon’s $1.3 billion acquisition of the company.
Florence Leveel
Directrice Générale, BU MaaS @RATP Smart Systems
A graduate of Science Po and HEC Paris, Florence Leevel has over 15 years of experience in digital marketing and the Internet industry in France and the United States. After six years as marketing and communications director at Mappy, she was promoted to managing director of the company in 2019. Her mission will be to accelerate Mappy’s transformation to meet the new challenges of MaaS, in close collaboration with all market players. A year ago, she became the Managing Director of the MaaS business unit of the RATP Smart System group, facing new challenges, and not the least of them…
>> Also to be read : RATP Group accelerates on MaaS with its new Business Unit
Catherine Guillouard
CEO @RATPgroup
Dr Catherine Guillouard is a graduate of Science Po and the École Nationale d’Administration (ENA). She holds a PhD in European law (Panthéon-Sorbonne) and started her career at the French Ministry of Economy. Four years later, she joined the Air France group as a project manager. She will have a career within the aeronautical group for almost 10 years as a director in several areas (Airline Operations, HR, Finance). This executive continued her career for 10 years in groups as a director before being appointed by decree of the President of the French Republic as CEO of the RATP group. For more than 5 years, she managed one of the world leaders in urban transport. Finally, just a month ago, she left her position and became President of Ingenico.
