Follow Us on Google
By Chinenye Anuforo
To achieve its goal of impacting 10,000 women in 2021 and five million women across Africa by 2030 through the Women Techsters initiative, Tech4Dev, a non-profit social enterprise working to provide access to decent work for Africans through digital and technology skills empowerment and advocacy, launched the #IAmAWomanTechster Campaign with an Art Exhibition on Sunday, September 12, 2021.
The Women Techsters is an initiative of Tech4Dev in partnership with Microsoft aimed at bridging the digital divide between men and women in the technology ecosystem by empowering five million women across Africa with digital and deep tech skills by 2030. The initiative is currently being delivered across five African countries, Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa and Egypt, to reach 10,000 women by the end of 2021.
The #IAmAWomanTechster campaign was born out of the need to advocate and inspire more women to consider technology careers, celebrate women who have built careers in these fields to serve as a model for other women and possibly provide guidance to the next crop of women through their career journeys.
To launch the campaign, Tech4Dev called for visual artists to share artworks celebrating women and women in technology and STEM fields. Out of 43 entries submitted, 16 finalists were chosen, with three of them, Ifeoluwa Aminu, Yewande Ambeke and Jessica Ogechi Louis, emerging as winners of the competition to go home with $500 each.
Speaking at the Art Exhibition and Campaign launch event, Joel Ogunsola, co-founder and director of partnerships and sustainability at Tech4Dev, highlighted the aim and objectives of the campaign: “We decided the best way to launch the #IAmAWomanTechster campaign was by celebrating women in tech and STEM fields using various art forms to showcase and support women within the technology ecosystem because representation matters.”
