20fifty was recently been acknowledged as one of South Africa’s Top Gender Empowered Companies,through the Standard Bank Top Women programme. The Commission for Gender Equality, United Nations endorses this programme. Standard Bank Top Women is South Africa’s leading gender empowerment brand. Standard Bank Top Women celebrates and acknowledges organizations for prioritizing gender empowerment as an integral part of their business strategies. 20fifty is a leader of gender empowerment and transformation in South African business within our sector. But, it’s no surprise to us, as our 20fifty energy is led and fuelled by incredible women leaders. Here, we introduce you to our Women of 20fifty. Catherine Lückhoff Catherine Lückhoff is renowned for her propensity towards big picture thinking. Catherine’s career journey is one of adventure, driven by curiosity and delivering exceptional results. Her career adventure traverses several sectors. Catherine founded an integrated communications agency and launched the first PaaS for on-demand niche audio streaming services. She has also helped companies such as Mozilla Firefox and Naspers connect into Africa. And now, she is our CEO at 20fifty.
Catherine’s guiding belief draws from a deep well of principled development and drive towards improving the future. To Cath, people matter. Therefore, so does improving the future they will inhabit. Meanwhile, her roles have required imagination, grit, and the ability to bring smart and interesting humans together to push boundaries and solve problems. Outside of 20fifty, Catherine is a renowned mentor, speaker and presenter. Her speaking experience includes presenting at the AWS Summit CPT, Tech4Africa, Midem, MLOVE; at SXSW as a panelist, GSMA Connected Women, Global Media Forum, Digital Futures Society Summit, Youth Alliance for Leadership and Development in Africa, #FastForward, AfricaCom, and more. Cath is also an Advisory Board member for Wallifornia, an Entertainment and Technology hub based in Belgium, where startups, professionals & investors develop together the future of their industries. Catherine’s accolades and awards include:-
A nominated member of the African Leadership Network and a mentor for TechStars Africa (Barclays Accelerator), SW7 and NetProphet SparkUp!
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Most Innovative Woman in Cloud Innovation – South Africa 2019 (Influential Businesswoman Awards)
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Mail & Guardian 200 Young South Africans
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Judge for the ITU Telecom World 2018 – Global SME Awards Programme
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GSMA Global Mobile Awards Judge 2015 and 2016
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Included in FinWeek’s “SA Women Making it Big in Tech” in 2015
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Featured in Destiny Magazine’s “Power of 40” Supplement
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Nominee for Female Tech Entrepreneur of the Year 2022 by the Female Founders Initiative EMEA
And so much more! Watch this space, as Catherine has just taken off to shift into her spot on the #90DayFinn programme. A rigorous selection process led to her selection for this programme. Helsinki Partners is a city-owned non-profit supporting international businesses to succeed in Helsinki. Helsinki Partners selects and places 15 entrepreneurs, investors, corporate executives, event organizers, and tech talents from all over the world to live in the Nordic capital and find opportunities for 3 months. During her time in Helsinki, Cath led 20fifty in just the same way as she always does: leading our determinedly connected collective.
Melanie Mauch As Technical Team Lead at 20fifty, Melanie is not one for sitting still. Melanie is the team lead that tracks and ensures our consistent delivery of exemplary work. She’s a well of knowledge and wisdom, so generously shared across the team. Melanie is also a PhD Candidate, pursuing her Doctorate in Informatics. Prior to this, Melanie completed her Masters in Socio-Informatics (Cum Laude), and Bachelor of Science (BSc) Honours Degree (Cum Laude). Melanie started her career as a Software Developer at one of South Africa’s largest financial institutions. She then moved on to a role as DevOps Engineer at a premier software development house. Later, she moved up the ranks, into her role as Cloud Engineer, and then Technical Lead. After 9 years, Melanie joined our team at 20fifty. She is also fully AWS qualified. Melanie places extreme emphasis on mentoring, coaching, and capacitating our team, while remaining deeply involved in our backend development cycles. Her natural ability to nurture talent, spot opportunities to discover new solutions to unique problems, and her principled approach, brings a calm, focused energy to our team.
Taryn Glone Investing in and exploring diverse career opportunities have driven Taryn from day one. Charting an entrepreneurial journey before joining the corporate world, Taryn became a key part of the product decisions, managing teams. Taryn built an impressive portfolio that attracted key agencies in SA and the UK. As a keen believer in the value inherent in design, Taryn focuses on understanding user flow throughout systems and design functionality. For Taryn, design should not be an afterthought; it should be prioritized alongside functionality to produce exceptional products. Taryn’s career trajectory began in a design and development role, before moving into web development in the NGO sector. Taryn moved into the corporate world, fulfilling the roles of Head of Design, Senior Front-End Developer, Project Manager, UX/UI Lead, Systems Coordination, and more. Taryn joined 20fifty during 2022. She quickly settled in, bringing her quick wit and commitment to precision delivery to the fore.
Erika Muller The work may be done, but who’s making sure everything’s paid? At 20fifty, that’s Erika Muller. As a top achiever in the finance realm, Erika holds a Professional Certificate In Taxation, and is currently pursuing her Occupational Certificate as a Tax Technician. Erika received a bursary for her studies, as a result of her outstanding results and determination. It’s that efficient determination that keeps the business of 20fifty on track, matched with Erika’s excellent communication skills and diverse experience. Erika is also backed by her National Diploma in Company Administration, meaning every bit of digital documentation (we’re paper-free, remember?) is perfectly in place, and exceptionally delivered. As an accomplished Financial Manager, Accountant, and Administrator, Erika has also owned and sold several small businesses. With a special interest in property renovation, Erika has also worked across the property, real estate and hospitality sectors. Particularly, Erika is our business’ solutioneer, back office style. We’d be lost without her efficient excellence in all that she does.
Cath Jenkin As our fractional Head of Content at 20fifty, Cath works closely with the team to drive strategic communications. She generates precision-engineered content that reflects our business approach, team, growth, and adventurous exploration towards the future. Cath joined our team during 2022. Backed by her Bachelor’s Degree in Communications, and certified in Project Management, Cath is renowned for her extreme organizational skills. As Top Dog at Bulldog Development Studio, Cath leads and capacitates multiple teams across the globe. Cath has been driving strategic content machines for more than ten years. She cut her teeth in the communications and IT world through her work with a FET institution and an NGO. Cath lives by the mantra “underpromise, overdeliver” and would be simply adrift without her GCal.20fifty is a connected collective of solutioneers that solves the right problems, for the right clients, at the right time. How can we help your business build for 2050 and beyond?