Janet Longmore

Janet Longmore is the founder and CEO of Digital Opportunity Trust (DOT) and a champion for technology-driven, community-owned, and youth-led solutions in rapidly developing regions of the world.

Under Janet’s leadership, DOT has developed a global network of thousands of young people who are invested in their communities as leaders of change and social innovators. In communities across Africa, the Middle East and Canada, these young people are creating solutions to local challenges, starting businesses, and creating jobs.

A passionate believer in the power and potential of youth and technology, Janet works tirelessly to promote respect for youth as an untapped source of creativity, innovation, and talent. As a member of the steering committee for the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Internet for All initiative, she shares insights on how young people can be champions of digital inclusion, driving social and economic change in emerging economies.

In 2016, Janet was decorated with a Meritorious Service Cross by the Governor General of Canada in recognition of her strong example of social innovation and leadership that brings considerable honour to Canada. In 2018 she was appointed to the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation's Business Leaders Caucus, through which she works to develop guidelines on how to best use public resources to engage the private sector in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

While guiding DOT’s steady growth, Janet has built long-term partnerships across private and public sectors, including with Cisco Systems, IBM, The MasterCard Foundation, and agencies such as Global Affairs Canada (GAC) and USAID.

Janet is a Schwab Foundation Social Entrepreneur and a Senior Ashoka Fellow; from 2014-2016 she was an active member on the WEF Global Agenda Council on Emerging Multinationals. Janet is a recipient of the CATA Alliance Sara Kirke Award for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (2011) and has been recognized as a Trailblazer and Trendsetter by the Women’s Executive Network Top 100 Most Powerful Women in Canada (2012).