september-2018

44 / TREND / Technology
TREND / 45
“After they leave the academy, students do
internships, get access to job opportunities or
start their own businesses”
but held only 24 percent of science,
technology, engineering, and mathematics
jobs according to the Office of the Chief
Economist of the US Department of
Commerce. According to Eurostat, in the
EU, on average women were just 32.2
percent of those employed in high-tech
manufacturing and knowledge-intensive
high-tech services in 2016. Furthermore,
as reported by the UNESCO Institute
for Statistics, in Sub-Saharan Africa
only 30.4 percent of professionals in the
sciences are female.
SOCIAL CONDITIONING
In the developed world, where women
are represented in the workplace as much
as men these days, the imbalance in the
technology sector has arguably more to
do with personal choice than anything
else: in general, men choose tech. jobs
more often than women. But why is that?
Africa might have the answer. According
to Ghanaian tech. entrepreneur Regina
Honu, in Africa women are actually dissuaded
from technology at a young age.
“Social conditioning starts early as many
girls are still made to believe that technology
is only for boys,” she says. “When I
was in high school, I watched a film
where a man was able to fly with a rocket
on his back. I designed a prototype of the
rocket and proudly showed it to my physics
teacher. However, he disapproved and
told me that girls don’t build rockets but
end up in the kitchen. So I shelved my
rocket-building aspirations,” she says.
As she grew older, Honu decided to
stop listening to people who told her
what she could or couldn’t do because
of her gender. She eventually graduated
as one of the top software developers in
her Computer Science class at Ashesi
University in Accra.
BREAKING THE MOULD
In 2012, after experiencing the socalled
“bro culture” – where women are
Name
Regina Honu
Born
1983
Position
Founder and CEO of Soronko Solutions and
Soronko Academy
Location
Accra, Ghana
Goal in life
Train the next generation of coders
Fun facts
Loved to read the encyclopaedia as a child
Met Barack and Michelle Obama in her role
as a Mandela Washington Fellow
Highlights
Featured on CNN as one the 12 inspirational
women who rock STEM (science, technology,
engineering and mathematics)
Buffett Award for Emerging Global Leaders
(2017)
Startup Entrepreneur of the Year and Social
Enterprise Startup of the Year at the Ghana
StartUp Award (2016)
left out, or are even sexually harassed –
while working as the only woman in the
IT department of a major international
bank, Honu decided to leave her wellpaid
job and follow her dream. She soon
founded her own software development
firm, Soronko Solutions, which now
builds websites and e-commerce portals
for over 30 businesses in Accra. Having
succeeded herself, Honu decided to
encourage young women to pursue a
career in technology by founding Tech
Needs Girls, a mentorship initiative that
teaches girls aged 6-18 how to code and
develop mobile and web applications.
The programme has already trained
over 5,000 women and girls in 8 regions
in Ghana, and recently expanded to
neighbouring Burkina Faso, where 685
girls have been trained. Since a lack of
resources was a stumbling block for
these girls to continue their development
after completing the programme, Honu
decided to found the Soronko Academy,
which is the first coding and humancentred
design academy in West Africa.
After they leave the academy, students do
internships, get access to job opportunities
or start their own businesses. “Early
training of young girls, changing their
mindsets, creating visible role models
and getting more female STEM teachers
would really encourage more girls to get
involved in technology,” says Honu.
THROUGH THE MOUNTAIN
“Although more African women are
entering the tech. industry, a large number
of them are having to leave their jobs
after a few years as they can’t break the
glass ceiling in an industry that’s still
largely male-dominated,” says Ethel
Cofie, a leading tech. entrepreneur from
Ghana. Cofie founded her own software
company, EDEL Technology Consulting,
which was named “IT Consulting Firm
of the Year” at the 2016 Ghana IT and
Telecom Awards. Cofie, who is recognised
as one of the top five women influencing
technology in Africa, is also the founder
of Women in Tech Africa, which is now
the largest Pan-African network of
women in technology, with membership
in over 30 African countries.
Joanitah Nalubega from Uganda is
another successful entrepreneur in the
technology space. She cofounded Drug-
Dash, a mobile and web system that
supports drug-supply-chain managers at
Ugandan health centres with real-time
data on medicine consumption, demand
and supply in order to maintain stock
levels. DrugDash does this by redistributing
surplus drugs, while preventing waste
due to expiry, and allowing for accurate
resource planning. Nalubega is a qualified
industrial chemist, who has a passion for
finding solutions for the African health
sector by using technology. She also
works with AfriGal Technologies – a team
of young women – to design and develop
an alternative (mobile) diagnostics tool
for sickle cell anemia. “No industry can
effectively transform life for the better
when half of the world’s population is
not adequately represented in the workforce,”
says Nalubega, who is the Next
Einstein Forum Ambassador to Uganda
(2017-2019). She adds that women typically
bring a different perspective to the
table, which results in solutions that are
relevant and user-friendly for women
and men.
In Kenya, Ciiru Waweru Waithaka
started educational programme Kidz Go
Tech, which – in partnership with Safaricom,
Kenya’s biggest telecoms company
– organises monthly practical classes
with science-based experiments that
motivate children (particularly girls)
aged 5-13 to embrace technology and
use it to solve everyday problems.
Michelle Obama acclaimed the project
at The United State of Women Summit.
“I truly believe that the next Mark
Zuckerberg can be a 12-year-old
Ghanaian girl,” says Honu. Given the
manner in which female African tech.
entrepreneurs have taken the initiative in
recent years, you wouldn’t want to bet
against it.
Name
Ciiru Waweru Waithaka
Born
1975
Position
Founder and CEO of Funkidz, which runs
Kidz Go Tech
Location
Nairobi, Kenya
Goal in life
Transform Africa into a continent of male
and female industrialists
Fun facts
Likes skydiving
Designed the first educational
experimental robot in Africa and hopes to
launch it next year
Highlights
Women 4 Tech Award at the Glomo Awards
(2017)
In 2016, she got a special mention and
commendation from Michelle Obama for
being part of a positive education change for
children in Africa in the area of technology
and manufacturing.
“I truly believe that the next Mark Zuckerberg
can be a 12-year-old Ghanaian girl”
Jeroen van Loon