Thato Schermer is a passionate young South Africa, enthralled by the possibilities for Africa in the future. She is passionate about business for the greater good, technology’s potential to solve problems in Africa, writing, and driving the cause of women’s empowerment.
After completing her honours business degree at the University of Cape Town, alongside a Business French qualification from the Paris Chamber of Commerce and numerous international internships, Thato started her career as a management consultant at a global management consultancy.
She worked predominantly in the digital practice, with her work spanning industries such as banking, infrastructure and technology and geographies such as East Africa, Spain, Turkey and Asia-Pacific. After the adventures that management consulting brought, Thato joined Discovery Vitality as the Chief of Staff to the CEO, working on a variety of strategies and projects supporting his office.
Thato then joined Life Healthcare where she delivered on a new concept of delivering low-cost, high-tech primary healthcare to South Africans. Prior to founding her technology startup, Thato joined Uber as the South Africa territory manager for Uber for Business, Uber’s B2B offering where she also served as Co-Chair of Women at Uber for Europe, Middle East and Africa, where she managed and directs 40 leads across 16 countries to drive the agenda for increased diversity and inclusion of women in tech.
Most recently, Thato co-founded Africa’s first virtual clinic for women’s health, Zoie Health. The technology platform offers women’s health services virtually to make healthcare easier, more accessible and more caring. Although they only launched in August 2021, they have already positively impacted thousands of women’s lives so far.
Thato was been awarded with the Top 200 Mail & Guardian Young South Africans award and the Top 50 Inspiring Women in South Africa award.
Beyond work, Thato keeps busy by reading, travelling, cooking and writing (she is currently completing a children’s book).