Top International Business Women To Follow On Twitter
Every two months I pull together a list of women I’m following on Twitter that I think are worth you knowing about. It seems though that, when it comes to social media, many of us do not cast a net far and wide for connections. Having been based in North America now for a few years, many of my connections are from the US and Canada.
Yet I’m pleased to say that WomanzWorld is global, and therefore I’d like to do a special shout out to women around the world who I think are doing great things.
@kenyanpundit (South Africa)
Ory Okolloh is a dynamic force and co-founder and of Ushahidi, an open source project that aggregates information from the public for use in crisis response. Currently living in Johannesburg, South Africa, she tweets about issues around citizen journalism, the role of technology in Africa, and the role of young people in reshaping the future of Africa. She’s also a frequent speaker at conferences including TED Global and Poptech and, like me, is passionate about seeing more women in technology.
@MerryRiana (Singapore)
This young millionaire is a successful entrepreneur touching hearts and changing lives. She’s also a best-selling author and motivational speaker who’s won multiple awards and is a true media celebrity. She’s dedicated to implementing strategies for creating an extraordinary quality of life for individuals and organizations throughout Asia as a recognized leader in human-development training. She’s a shining example of the accidental entrepreneur changing the world.
@NicoleSimon (Germany)
Nicole Simon is a social media consultant based who wrote the German book on using Twitter. She tweets about social media trends with a focus on micro blogging and helps start-ups and companies understand why going international is not complicated. She also runs the German Girl Geek Dinners, co-moderates the forum Global Business Women on Xing and serves as advisor for several European conferences.
@GirlyGeekdom (London)
Sarah Blow is the founder of Girl Geek Dinners and Girly Geekdom, a thriving blog allowing women and young girls to embrace their inner geek. She tweets about the latest news on women in IT and neat gadgets, and on her blog she aims to bring fun, exciting and inspirational content along with valuable news on science, technology and engineering.
@bernadettedoyle (Ireland)
Bernadette Doyle is a small business marketing expert with a strong focus on how to attract clients to your business and create multiple streams of income. She’s got big ideas and great experience in managing clients and is passionate about helping us create multiple streams of income. Plus, her lovely accent is a pleasure to hear on her useful TV Channel with top tips.
@sarahprout (Australia)
Sarah Prout is the author of The Power of Influence, a guide on how to achieve business success through online networking. She is also the founder of Sprout Publishing, She tweets about how to build influence using web 2.0 strategies and passion. She’s managed to build a great brand with hard work and tenacity and a love of life. She also does her own beautiful design work on her website, which I often look to for inspiration.
@joparfitt (Netherlands)
Author of 27 books, she shares tips and advice on writing & publishing books, articles & memoirs. If you’ve always wanted to publish a book but need some expert coaching and the right nudge, then Jo’s your lady. She has a charming English accent and resides in the Hague and offers a number of great resources on her site. She’s also a supporter of the suitcase entrepreneur lifestyle.
@Celestine Chua (Singapore)
Celestine Chua is passionate about helping others achieve their highest potential and live their best life through her Personal Excellence Blog. She is the founder of The School of Personal Excellence (TSOPE), where she conducts workshops and 1-1 coaching to help others achieve excellence.
@QueenRania (Jordan)
No list would be complete without Queen Rania of Jordan on it. At home, she focuses her attention on education, encouraging the public, private and non-profit sectors to work together for a positive change in the educational system. Globally, Queen Rania is an advocate for educational opportunities for all through the United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative. She tweets a lot!
@andreaexpat (Malaysia)
Andrea Martins is the co-founder of the site ExpatWomen.com, an online resource for women living and working overseas. Through her website, she aims to inspire women to success abroad through stories, country resources, interviews and motivational and inspirational articles. She’s super generous and helpful and has helped women the world over.
@christinelu (China)
Christine Lu is the founder of The China Business Network, an online resource that helps those working between China and the west to be more successful. She has also organized GeeksOnaPlane tours, Tedx conferences and acts as an advisory for many companies. In 2011, she will be launching Affinity China, a Chinese luxury travel and cross boundary investment platform.
@NikkiPilkington (UK / France)
Nikkie Pilkinton runs her own successful internet marketing company, helping small businesses to promote themselves through social media & SEO. She’s been doing internet marketing since 1994, so knows her stuff and as a result, she’s become pretty renowned across Europe for creating effective strategies online.
@businesschicks (Australia)
Emma Issacs has inspired a ton of women to be more remarkable through Business Chicks, a national community enriching the lives of women in business in Australia with great events, strategic partnerships, a great magazine called Latte. They’re aiming to have 250,000 members by 2015.
@2BalanceU (Sweden)
Heidi Forbes Öste is a Social Strategy Advisor and Trainer, and author of The Art of Social Strategy. With over 20 years experience consulting in public and private sector on strategic use of new technologies, she tweets about social entrepreneurship and social media advocacy and is passionate about connecting people globally for building and maintaining mutually beneficial relationships.
@EBsuinessAdvice (New Zealand)
Rosemarie Begbie is the founder of Click Happy, an online business and computer consulting service. She also runs the Enterprising Women Club for New Zealand business women. She tweets about social media and online business tips and trends. Plus, she’s from my hometown Wellington, so that immediately makes her top notch.
@wendy_moore (Australia)
Wendy Moore is the founder of Savvy Web Women, an online community showing women how to be internet savvy. She speaks extensively on social media, building internet business success and how to be comfortable using internet tools and resources. She’s also got a big community of awesome women who are going places.
@Vanesak (Argentina)
Vanesa is an entrepreneur and new mom who is heavily involved in entrepreneurship, technology and venture capital. She’s a facilitator for www.palermovalley.com for entrepreneurs based in the Palermo district of Buenos Aires and has been the social media liaison at TedX events. She’s also very vibrant and positive on Twitter in both Spanish and English.
Make sure you follow them and previous Top 20 women on my Twitter list. Also, a big shout out goes to my awesome intern Adelina Wong who helped pull this international list together.