These Initiatives are Helping More Girls and Young Women Get into Tech

In the month of March, TechCabal deeply explored diversity in the technology industry by putting out a portrait series and exhibition event which featured 50 women working in diverse capacities in the Lagos technology sector. We also explored what  inclusion models within the African context should look like, one of which is the need for more initiatives that work to encourage more young girls and women into the industry as well as support for already existing ones.

Participants listen to Managing Director, Mines.io, Adia Sowho at the Tech Women Lagos x kwikmoney workshop

In Nigeria, there are no less than 30 such initiatives targeted at getting more girls and women into technology, according to research conducted by TechCabal. These initiatives provide training opportunities and mentorship to young women across Nigeria through a variety of bootcamps, computing courses, after-school programmes, hackathon events and mentorship sessions with accomplished women working in the technology industry, among others.

Collectively, these initiatives have trained and mentored over 20,000 young girls and women across Nigeria and received national and international recognition for their work.

That there is a dearth in the number of women working in technology and related fields is not news. Nonetheless, to create holistic businesses and technologies that solve the world’s most pressing needs, ideas must come from diverse and well-represented sources across board.

Ratio of women in leadership positions working in technology and related fields in Africa

Find here, a link to the initiatives working to encourage more girls and women into the technology industry. Because this list is by no means exhaustive, we invite you to fill this form if yours or an initiative based or operational in Nigeria, is doing same and has not been captured here.

Here’s a quick glance at the initiatives on the list:

Kay Ugwuede Author