By Ndidiamaka Ede
African young women have joined their counterparts globally and have continued to make impacts in the areas of technology. Some of them have proven the ability of women to excel in all walks of life, notwithstanding the rate of stereotyping and male dominance in Africa, often imposed by cultural beliefs.
The tech sector is a very prominent aspect that society cannot survive without. Think of applications in schools, offices, homes, churches, and even in social and private sectors. Young women, like men, have continued to make life better by contributing to the tech world.
Here is a list of young women that the technology industries cannot do without:
Rachel Sibande
She is a 37-year-old Malawian young lady, a scientist, and the founder of mHub, Malawi's first tech hub for assisting women in pursuing technology. It is a technology hub for innovators. Because of her love for technology, she established the Girls Coding Club, Children's Coding Club, a Robotics Club, and a Machine Learning Community Camps.
Sibande is a technology advocate and an independent consultant. According to her, she is also a Google scholar and an inventor of a thermal chemical process for powering rural mini-grids.
Tarneem Saeed
She is a Sudanese lawyer, an industrialist, and the founder and CEO of Alsoug/Cashi, a marketplace that allows customers to check prices of items virtually and connect with sellers. Her tech marketplace Alsoug was the first to receive foreign investment in Sudan after the US economic sanctions were lifted. She graduated from the London School of Economics and Political Science and launched Alsoug in 2015.
To make an impact in her state, she left the UK for Sudan to build the largest online marketplace. She once said, “We are delighted that Cashi has been able to keep growing and serving the Sudanese people in these trying times.”
Odunayo Eweniyi
She is a 29-year-old young Nigerian woman making waves in the tech industry. She graduated from Covenant University in 2013 with a first-class degree in computer engineering. She is the CEO and co-founder of PiggyVest. She is also an activist and has won several awards, including the Future Awards Africa Prize for Technology.
Her name appeared on Forbes' 2019 African Technology List, and she was awarded Forbes Women Africa Technology Personality of March 2022, among other awards. Her words have always been, "You can make it as anything in tech." As an activist, Odunayo is the co-founder of the Feminist Coalition.
Jihan Abass
She is a Kenyan young lady, founder, and CEO of Lami Insurtech Technology. She is about 29 years old and graduated from the University of Oxford. Her wish to make an impact on people's lives prompted the founding of Lami API, a B2B2C insurance company to digitize insurance products across Africa. Interestingly, Lami Insurance Company, founded in 2018, has a presence in five regions spanning Africa.
Betelhem Dessie
She is a 24-year-old Ethiopian young lady, a software engineer, and also a web and mobile tech developer. She is the founder and CEO of iCog-Anyone Can Code (ACC). Born in Harar, Ethiopia, she trains children aged six to 13 on topics ranging from robotics and AI to programming. CNN and BBC have regarded her as a young pioneer in the emerging Ethiopian tech scene.
Angela Semwogere
She is the founder of Coding in Heels, specifically advocating for girls and women to embrace Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). She is also the General Manager of Spidd Africa Ltd. Semwogere studied Information Technology (IT) at Aptech in Kampala, the capital of Uganda, where she hails from. She is one of the members of Uganda's emerging technologists, not limited to the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR).
Miss Nneile Nkholise
Born in Lesotho, South Africa, she is a mechanical engineer who graduated from the Central University of Technology in Bloemfontein, South Africa. She is the founder of iMed Tech, established in 2015, aimed at developing young women in Africa and creating opportunities for them. Her work in the tech industry has earned her several awards, including the African Youth Awards. She is also the CEO of Thola Inc. She was recognized by the World Economic Forum as a top female African innovator. She co-founded Thola, a global agricultural procurement platform.
Ifeoluwa Dare-Johnson
She is a Nigerian and founder of Healthtracka, a digital health platform designed to make health testing easy for Africans. She graduated from the University of Ilorin, where she studied Biochemistry. According to her, she speaks at global conferences and writes articles periodically to inspire others to pursue their dreams.
There is one common feature among the African young CEOs and co-founders of startup tech companies: they are driven by the vision to make a change in their society and have a positive impact on the lives of young people, especially young women and children. Most of them are advocates. It may be because they understood the nature of Africa in undermining the strength of women and children. So, they are at the forefront of fighting for the rights of women and children through technology.
The list of young African women in tech who are ready to make a change in their environments is inexhaustible. Some other notable individuals are: Sara Dusek (South Africa), Yanmo Omorogbe (Nigeria), Tomilola Majekodunmi (Nigeria), Fara Ashiru Jituboh (Nigeria), Farida Bedwei (Ghana), Nthabiseng Msia (South Africa), Miishe Addy (Ghana), Nelly Chatue-Diop (Cameroon), and Viola Nuwaha (Uganda), among others.
