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Regina Honu - An Epitome of Women Empowerment
[sidebar_widget sidebar_id="sidebar-1" width="1/1" el_position="first last"] [spb_text_block pb_margin_bottom="no" pb_border_bottom="no" width="1/1" el_position="first last"]Regina Honu, a Ghanaian software developer and social entrepreneur, is one of the few women making strides in technology in Africa. She has advocated for greater engagement of young people in STEM.
These could be seen when she founded the Soronko Academy and Tech Needs Girls,Ghana. The Soronko Academy is the first coding and human-centered design school for children and young adults in West Africa. Named by CNN voices as one of the 12 inspirational women who promote STEM, she was also named as one of the 6 women making an impact in technology in Africa. She is raising the next generation of women in technology and is one to watch in emerging economies.
Her success story has featured on international media platforms such as BBC and Aljazeera as well as the Impatient Optimist blog by The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. This inspirational story was even published in Sheryl Landberg's "Lean In" where the author examines why women's progress in achieving leadership roles has come to a standstill, the root causes and then offers compelling solutions that can empower women to achieve their full potential.She attended Holy Child High school, Cape Coast for Secondary Education and is an alumnus of the prestigious Ashesi University.She then started Tech Need Girls, Ghana, a movement aimed at training Ghanaian girls in technology related studies. Regina faced challenges like stereotyping, sexism and discrimination. Nonetheless, she found opportunities through STEM to realise her dreams.
"I am using tech to leave a legacy and empower women and girls to reach their full potential. "
- Regina Honu
Her Tech Needs Girls movement has been blossoming with over 3500 girls in Ghana and Burkina Faso. And today, mentees of Tech Needs Girls have started companies, foundations and received scholarships to study at Ashesi University.Regina has had a myriad of awards and achievements, but just to name a few, she is a member of the World Economic Forum community of Global Shapers, and a recipient of the Big Six award from Coca Cola Ghana for her incredible contribution in Technology. After Tech Needs Girls was awarded in the 2014 Ghana CSR Diary Awards, Regina was awarded a Women of Courage Award for Technology.It marvels me how a young woman has achieved all these and more. Regina Honu is an epitome of women empowerment through her words and deeds and will remain a role model to many African women.[/spb_text_block]
Golden Nigerian Girls Shine at Global Technovation Challenge
[sidebar_widget sidebar_id="Sidebar" width="1/1" el_position="first last"] [spb_text_block pb_margin_bottom="no" pb_border_bottom="no" width="1/1" el_position="first last"]On the 10th of August 2018, at the Technovation World Challenge in Silicon Valley, USA, it was announced that team Save A Soul of five Nigerian girls in secondary school won the Junior Gold Award, emerging above other junior teams of girls from countries around the world including the USA, Spain, Turkey, Uzbekistan and China. Save A Soul has made Nigeria as well as all of Africa proud with this achievement.The annual Technovation challenge is organised by Iridescent, a non-profit organisation that inspires and empowers underrepresented people, with focus on girls between the ages of 10 and 18 to be STEM innovators, entrepreneurs and leaders by teaching them the skills needed such as programming to excel in their chosen fields.The aim of the challenge was to pitch an idea for an Android application that solves a real-world problem identified in the community of each team. The girls who take part in the competition are supported with resources and mentorship required to produce the desired outcome.
In order to reach the final stage after succeeding in the regional qualifiers held in Abuja, Nigeria, the application had to be chosen out of over 2000 applications. At the final stage involving only 12 teams, several brilliant concepts were shared including “Stop It” by a Spanish team which aims to alleviate gender violence by sensing aggression and contacting a local emergency number.Team Save A Soul pitched “FD Detector” (Fake Drug Detector), an app that they developed to be used for the detection of fake pharmaceutical products, an issue running rampant in many countries. FD Detector works by scanning the barcodes on drugs to determine their authenticity and verify their expiration date. This will prevent several lives being lost due to the consumption of fake drugs.Their school was able to support them for 5 months as they carried out research and developed the app. F-D Detector was awarded an incredible $12,000 in scholarships. In order to ensure that the app goes mainstream, the team are collaborating with the Nigerian National Agency for Food & Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC).The team, now fondly known as the “Golden Girls” consists of Promise Nnalue, Jessica Osita, Nwabuaku Ossai, Adaeze Onuigbo and Vivian Okoye, all in junior secondary, from Anambra State, in the South-East of Nigeria. They were mentored by Uchenna Onwuamaegbu-Ugwu, the founder of Edufun Technik STEM centre, an organisation that organises schemes such as Robotics workshops for children in low-income areas of Nigeria to learn about STEM. A female mentor for this all-girls achieving great feats to save lives in the country and potentially the world as a whole is truly inspiring news for other young ladies who have an interest in STEM.
"Leveraging technology to save lives is our utmost priority, that is why we have decided to maximize this opportunity to solve the incessant rate of death caused by fake drugs." – Team Save A Soul
"Leveraging technology to save lives" is a phrase that summarises the joint aim of the work of thousands of people around the world who partake in STEM careers and research. This common goal can be attainable regardless of gender or even age as shown by these incredible ladies.[/spb_text_block]
5 Kenyan Women in Tech Breaking the Mould
[sidebar_widget sidebar_id="sidebar-1" width="1/1" el_position="first last"] [spb_text_block pb_margin_bottom="no" pb_border_bottom="no" width="1/1" el_position="first last"]Kenya is the place to be doing business right now – A hotbed of innovation, Kenya is rolling out successful startups and some of the continents best business leaders. The world is falling in love with the Silicon Savannah – it is such a dynamic and exciting place to be an entrepreneur and intrapreneur right now. The country is a world leader in mobile money systems like M-Pesa and also has a long tradition of highly creative brand builders producing world-class solutions, designs and products. This month, we’re focusing on the women entrepreneurs of Kenya who are building incredible businesses, social enterprises, legacies, economies and placing Kenya firmly on the pan-African map. Here are 5 of the thousands of Kenyan women in tech breaking the mould:Dr Jennifer Riria
Dr. Jennifer Riria is the Founder and Group CEO of Echo Network Africa (formerly Kenya Womens Holding Group), a banking and insurance group serving nearly one million mostly rural Kenyan women.One of Africa’s leading women entrepreneurs, she has always been on a mission to transform the lives of women and their families in her home country. Riria has served in many leadership roles for which she has been recognized locally and internationally – in 2013 she was awarded the Ernst & Young (EY) Entrepreneur of the year for East Africa, and subsequently, the EY Entrepreneur of the Year Award 2014, at which point she was admitted to EY’s Global Hall of Fame.Her list of accolades goes on, and this powerhouse shows no intention of stopping. She was the winner of the Ernst & Young World Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2014, serves as chairwoman of Women’s World Banking and is a supporter and promoter of the Educate the Net 235 Girls programme, an initiative that supports underprivileged girls in their education.She has served on the boards of Kenyan and international organisations, including at the Nairobi Stock Exchange, being the first female to serve in that capacity. She has also served on the boards of Jitegemee Trust Limited, a microfinance company, National Bank of Kenya, and Kenya Post Office Savings Bank and has published two books: A History of Higher Education in Kenya and an autobiography.Dorcas Muthoni
Founder and CEO of OPENWORLD, a computer consulting company she started at the age of 24, Dorcas Muthoni is a force to be reckoned with.Today, OPENWORLD is the leading e-Government and business software services firm involved in the delivery of some of the most widely used Web and Cloud applications in Africa.It doesn’t end there – Muthoni is also the founder of a mentorship initiative for women in computing across Africa, AfChix. Since 2004, in Kenya and across other countries, AfChix activities have included organizing annual Computing Career Conferences with a special emphasis on encouraging the uptake of computing careers amongst young women and high school girls; continuous career development for technical women as well role-modelling to upcoming women in computer science. This passion and involvement has christened her as a role model for women in the African community. Muthoni has been on the Board of Directors of several global tech companies including Ushahidi and Enset.Amongst many other accolades, Muthoni is a World Economic Forum Global Council Member on Technology Values and Policy, an Internet Hall of Fame Inductee and World Economic Forum Young Global Leader.Through her day to day work as an entrepreneur and computer scientist, Muthoni seeks to see technology positively transforming the lives of the African society, governments and enterprises. She is a true inspiration to the next generation of young women in Africa who are interested in pursuing a career in IT, are involved in the world of tech entrepreneurship in Africa and she is definitely a woman to watch, both now and in the future.Patricia Ithau
Previously Managing Director at L’Oreal East Africa, Patricia Ithau built up the brand name in Kenya from “What’s L’Oreal?”, a company that employs over 280 people, with two manufacturing sites, and product sales that grew from 2 million to 40 million in just the three years that she worked there. Her results clearly speak for itself.She’s also held the positions of Marketing Director at Unilever East Africa, Managing Director at EABL (East Africa Breweries Ltd) and Director at Invest in Africa to name a few. Currently, Ithau juggles it all – she is Non-Executive Board Member at KEPSA (Kenya Private Sector Alliance), TMEA (Trade Mark East Africa), Barclays Bank of Africa, WPP-Sangroup, Jambojet and is the Regional Director at Stanford Seed, a Stanford Graduate School of Business initiative that’s working to end the cycle of poverty.Not only is this maverick a world-class businesswoman making waves in East Africa and globally, but she’s also giving back to her community by doing social good – an inspiration to us all.Helen Njoroge
“Passion drives you crazy – but is there any other way to live?” - Helen Njoroge, Founder of Tenders Kenya.One of the biggest challenges for many women entrepreneurs is finding new business opportunities. Tenders Kenya, the country’s first online tendering portal, is an online platform where businesswomen and men can get first-hand procurement opportunities available in the market. She is also the Head of Business Development at Professional Marketing Services Ltd, an award-winning agency delivering complete marketing concepts at any scale.Njoroge has extensive experience in the NGO sector and in particular, women economic empowerment and policy advocacy. She has continued to expand her horizons into new territory while at the same time growing her influence and impact in the areas for which she has been recognized for. Njoroge is passionate about empowering young girls to further their education – she passionately believes that investing in education is indispensable to promote equality of employment opportunities and strengthen economic growth. Increased education participation is also linked to more investments in the education and health of children – especially among women and particularly in developing countries.Njoroge was recognized as one of the Top 40 Women Under 40 in Kenya for her role in procurement in 2015.Judith Owigar
With a burning passion for education and technology, Judith Owigar believes that a combination of the two can result in a better quality of life for all and positively change the world. This led to her founding AkiraChix, an NPO that aims to develop a successful force of women in technology that will change Africa’s future. The organisation provides training, mentorship and outreach programs to increase the number of skilled women in technology and positively impact the community. She is also the Founder and CEO of JuaKali Workforce, an organisation that links skilled workers from the informal sector with on-demand clients, thereby creating livelihood opportunities. The easy online application allows you to fill out what job you need completed, where and when, after which you are matched with a skilled manual worker to hire for that job.Owigar says she is inspired by seeing women become more represented in the technology and STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields, and seeing men and women earning a living and live a life that they previously would not have had access to.[/spb_text_block]
Levers in Heels in the Canary Islands
[sidebar_widget sidebar_id="sidebar-1" width="1/1" el_position="first last"] [spb_text_block pb_margin_bottom="no" pb_border_bottom="no" width="1/1" el_position="first last"]Our Founder & Editor-in-Chief, Larisa Bowen-Dodoo, was invited to the II Entrepreneurship and Innovation for Development Conference in Gran Canaria, where she sat with Cristina Manzano, Director & Editor-in-Chief at esglobal and Canarian women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), to talk about Levers in Heels, and its mission to inspire the next generation of African female STEM leaders.
This conference was part of a Fulbright Specialist Program on entrepreneurship and innovation put together by the Canarian Association of Startups, Technology-Based Companies and Angel Investors (EMERGE), in partnership with Casa África - which forms part of the Canary Islands' government's foreign policy as a public and economic diplomacy tool.
"We discussed the role and visibility of women in STEM and entrepreneurship, the significance of inter-generational mentorship, and the need for women, particularly in STEM, to be more present and vocal now, more than ever. As we continue on this journey, I am more than hopeful that Levers in Heels' mission is not in vain."
Levers in Heels is working to build a bridge between African and Canarian women in STEM, to exchange synergies. Find out more about Levers in Heels, and how you can support here.[/spb_text_block]
Dr. Selina Ama Saah, a Chemistry Lecturer Engaged in Groundbreaking Research
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Dr. Selina Ama Saah is a lecturer at the Chemistry Department at the University of Energy and Natural Resources. Her research in substituting silicon in solar cells with lead chalcogenide semiconductors to reduce their cost and size, has the potential to change how solar energy can be accessed and harnessed in Africa. I caught up with her for an interview concerning her views on STEM and her research in particular:
- What is your general opinion on STEM education in Ghana?
"In Ghana, the sciences have been left for the guys with the idea that it is difficult and a woman cannot pursue it. So you find most women in the arts, with very few in the sciences. We need to encourage them. We also need to tell them it is doable. Because when you get to the lab, you realise that the females are more careful."
She adds that women actually practice science at home whether they know it or not:
"Cooking...putting salt into food. Salt is sodium chloride. It is all science. But because we don’t know, we think it is difficult. More vigorous advocacy would go a long way."
- How do you suggest we get more females involved in STEM?
"With a little funding, we can start boot camps with the aim to encourage women to pursue the sciences."
Dr. Selina Saah spoke of how accomplished women in academia could serve as mentors to the young and growing ones in their departments, by first identifying their interests and persistently encouraging them. She explained the need to feed them with information on numerous donor agencies supporting women to further their studies in higher education.
"Most women don’t continue because of financial difficulties. They say to themselves, "if there is no money, why don’t I go and marry?" But once they get to know there are agencies out there that are ready to support them, I am sure they will consider these options."
She recounted her own experience:
"I felt like I was dreaming during my first time in Chemistry class, in the university. In secondary school, we had more emphasis on inorganic chemistry and very little study on organic chemistry. So I called my dad, who was my best friend. We talked about everything, and I mentioned my difficulty to him. The following week, he bought me books on organic chemistry."
- What is your research on solar cells about?
"Silicon is expensive because of its high demand worldwide. The fact alone that it has to be imported in Ghana means the solar panels in which they are used in are high priced. Also, the solar panels’ bulky nature requires experts for installations."
The main aim of Dr. Saah’s research was to find alternative materials to silicon. She discovered that lead chalcogenide semi conductors serve as viable alternative materials as lead chalcogenide is readily available in the earth’s crust and less expensive. She is 60% through with this research, and has succeeded in determining two major components to these semiconductors; the absorber and the conjugated polymer (which are commercially available). She is yet to complete a solar cell by combining the lead substitute and the conjugated polymer.She also intends to place the solar cells on plastic substrates with an integrated circuit.
"The aim is also to make the solar cell more available in "sticker form". Assuming you have a phone, the cell could be a sticker you could place at the back of your device, charging while you take a walk with an integrated circuit wireless feature."
Dr. Selina Ama Saah is currently seeking collaborators to complete her research, and also commercialise this innovation of solar cells production in Ghana.[/spb_text_block] [spb_text_block pb_margin_bottom="no" pb_border_bottom="no" width="1/1" el_position="first last"]
About the author
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Lucy Quist; The Journey of a Focused Woman
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Lucy Quist, formerly the CEO of multinational telecom company, AIRTEL GHANA, is the obvious definition of “women empowerment”, while significantly portraying success in an African woman’s profession.She set several records, won numerous awards and was cited amongst Africa’s most influential feminine figures. The tale behind the evolution of this successful woman is the subject of my article, while educating is its prime purpose. Let’s get to know the story of the pragmatic woman.Lucy Quist popularly known for being the first woman CEO in the Ghanaian telecommunication industry, was born in 1974 in London. She spent her early years both in Europe and Africa. She studied in Wesley Girl’s High School in Cape Coast and attended sixth form at Presbyterian Boys' Secondary School, both in Accra, Ghana. She went on to study at the University of East London and graduated with a degree in Electrical and Electronic engineering.She debuted work as an engineer at Ford Motor Company. In an interview in March 2017, she spoke of the obstacles faced while trying to become an engineer. She identified hers as the inability to go as far as she wished at the time she expected it. However, she exudes determination and patience as she depicts how she eventually overcame that.
“Every time an engineer showed up to fix the machine, I thought that should be me.”
At that time she was just a regular factory worker who aspired to become an engineer. She talked about being prepared to grab opportunities. These opportunities eventually lead her to finally become an engineer.She later on joined the Royal Bank of Scotland. She then moved on to work at Millicom and Vodafone. This could be observed as a significant transition from her initial engineering career. However, in that same interview she spoke about wishing to “lead business after becoming a fully-fledged technical engineer”. She also spoke about the evident changes that occurred within her professional prospects, and the way she estimated the scope of that newfound goal.
“When you have an ambition and you cannot immediately picture how you can achieve it, you have to understand or evaluate the steps between where you are and where you want to get to.”
Consequently, she became the CEO of Airtel Ghana and the first woman CEO in the Ghanaian telecommunication industry. By setting this record, she became a pillar on which Ghanaian and African women as a whole can find inspiration and a role model.Following that milestone she laid, she ensued an educational project called “Evolve With STEM”. She intimately believes everything is laid on STEM. Thus, she encourages African youth to pursue an education with solid STEM foundations.
She actively campaigns, has educated and is a mentor for a certain number of young Ghanaians wishing to pursue their education. There is necessity to seek a model that is nearer, relatable as well as finding knowledge in her story and hope in her tale. This is because her journey shows us that achieving goals can be certain as long as the driving forces are greater than the resistive ones.[/spb_text_block] [spb_text_block pb_margin_bottom="no" pb_border_bottom="no" width="1/1" el_position="first last"]
About the author
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