Joana Baptista

Joana Baptista is a social entrepreneur and public speaker who empowers young people, particularly girls, to pursue their ambitions in traditionally male-dominated fields. An entrepreneur since the age of 12, she founded She dot, a social enterprise creating children's picture books that challenge stereotypes, now available in seven languages across Europe with endorsements from Peter Tatchell and Miriam Margolyes OBE. She also co-founded UniPear (now merged with UniReach) to support underrepresented communities accessing Oxbridge. A two-time TEDx speaker and Women of the Future Young Star Award winner, Joana equips audiences with practical insights on youth entrepreneurship, social impact, and using business as a force for positive change.

At 12 years old, Joana Baptista launched her first business venture, winning funding from O2 Think Big and establishing a code club with Barclays Bank a year later. Now, having founded three startups, a tech podcast, and an economics magazine, she has built a career rooted in the belief that entrepreneurship can drive meaningful social change. Her social enterprise, She dot, creates children's picture books that challenge stereotypes and tackle social issues, now available in seven languages and sold across Europe with endorsements from Peter Tatchell and Miriam Margolyes OBE. Alongside this, she co-founded UniPear, a platform supporting underrepresented communities in accessing Oxbridge, which has since merged with UniReach to expand its impact. Her work has taken her from delivering workshops for 20 primary school children to launching conferences for hundreds of sixth form students, supported by organisations including Visa.

Joana's commitment to social impact has earned her recognition across educational, corporate, and governmental platforms worldwide. She has chaired panels for Facebook's International Women's Day and at Cambridge University for GirlGuides, presented to HRH Princess Anne, and delivered talks at World Summit AI. As a two-time TEDx speaker, she combines relatable storytelling with practical insights, making complex topics accessible to diverse audiences. Her economics magazine and tech podcast reach over 1,700 readers from 76 countries, where she explains key concepts and highlights role models in STEM and economics. Her expertise has led to advisory roles, including with the Institute for the Future of Work within the House of Commons, and she was fully funded by the US embassy to attend a leadership conference hosted by Harvard, Babson, and Converse. Among her accolades, she became the youngest ever recipient of the Women of the Future Young Star Award in 2017, alongside winning the WeAreTheCity Rising Stars Entrepreneur & Startups Award and Women in Tech Most Promising Junior 2018. She currently serves as an Impact Fellow at the Conduit Club whilst studying Economics & Management at the University of Oxford.

Through her speaking engagements, Joana equips audiences with actionable strategies for building businesses that generate both profit and positive social outcomes. She demonstrates how young people can address systemic challenges through entrepreneurship, offering practical frameworks for creating inclusive workplaces, supporting underrepresented talent, and designing ventures with social purpose at their core. Her presentations leave audiences with renewed confidence in the power of Generation Z to tackle long-neglected problems, alongside tangible tools for fostering innovation and social responsibility within their own organisations. Whether addressing students, corporate leaders, or policymakers, Joana inspires lasting change by showing that entrepreneurship, when guided by purpose, can leave society better than it was found.