Rene Parker is a social entrepreneur with extensive experience in building and scaling social ventures. As a key leader at RLabs, she played a pivotal role in transforming it from a small community project in Cape Town into an award-winning global social enterprise. Under her leadership, RLabs has expanded to 24 countries, inspiring global replication and impacting over 65 million people.

Passionate about empowering women entrepreneurs, Rene spearheaded RLabs Women, a dedicated support network for women-led businesses, and founded Junk.Fund, an innovative crowdfunding platform that distributes seed funding to women entrepreneurs. Most recently, she formed and directs the RLabs Global team, dedicated to setting up and supporting hubs around the world. She has also taken on the role of Angel Investor and co-founded RLabs Angels, which invests in high-growth startups across Africa, further driving innovation and economic empowerment on the continent.