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Salima Visram on the TechTO stage

Salima Visram

Founder & CEO, SAMARA

Social EnterpriseTorontoOn TechTO stages since 2016

Salima Visram created the Soular Backpack in 2015 — a school bag with a solar panel that charged a lamp while Kenyan children walked to and from class, so homework didn't need kerosene. She grew up in Kikambala, Kenya. She now runs SAMARA, the leather-free bag label she started in 2017 and named for her sister.

On the TechTO stage ×1

TECHTO10:43

Hack of the Month: Salima Visram of Soular

TechTO · December 2016
Watch on YouTube ↗

First seen on the TechTO stage in 2016. Every talk is searchable — ask the archive about Salima ↗

In their words

if you inherently believe that you can do something there's nothing that can stop you and it literally does not make a difference if you're male or female

TechTO, Dec 2016 · watch at 05:59 ↗
A few quotes can’t cover everything Salima said on the TechTO stage. 1,600+ talks are searchable.Ask about Salima ↗

Around the web ×1

Article
From The Soular Backpack To SAMARA: One Impact Entrepreneur's PivotForbes
2019

Quick answers

What was the Soular Backpack?

A backpack with a solar panel wired to a battery. It charged on a child's walk to school and powered an LED lamp at home, in villages without electricity. Visram launched it in 2015.

What is SAMARA?

A Toronto label selling leather-free bags, which Visram started in 2017 and runs with her sister Samara. Earnings from it funded the Soular work.

Where is she from?

Kikambala, on the Kenyan coast — the community the Soular Backpack was built for. She studied in Canada at McGill.

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Maintained by TechTO · facts sourced and dated · last reviewed Aug 2, 2026