On 3rd June, 2020 In a Twitter thread a woman outlined a shocking alleged sexual harassment incident by Kendall Ananyi, founder and CEO of Tizeti; a broadband startup based out of Lagos, Nigeria.
At the time of the alleged incident, Kendall was a coach at the Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST) and this incident reportedly happened during the course of a mentor-mentee relationship.
MEST has since come out to say it has “zero tolerance for sexual harassment and assault at MEST and within the MEST community,’’ and has also promised to escalate action.
This comes on the heels of a series of recent rape and murder of young women and girls in Nigeria.
The world is a hard place to live, but existing in it as a woman is an even more dangerous sport.
Sexual assault is endemic of the inequalities, segregation, and structural bias that have been a norm for women all over the world.
Around the world, the tech industry is not exempt from all of this. Large pay gaps and unequal access to funding and opportunities are some of the barriers that women face in Africa, and throwing sexual assault into the mix makes an already impossible situation harder.
TechCabal cares about improving the impact and presence of women in the technology ecosystem, and to contribute to better conditions and protections for them. This, we do by consistently reporting about key issues; from pay gaps to unequal opportunities.
Acts like those alleged above are odious and regressive, and we strongly condemn them.
We are currently investigating more thoroughly and will provide more detailed reporting as we discover new information.
We know that sexual harassment and assault are regular occurrences in society. If you have had any incidents with any member of the African tech ecosystem, please send an email to team@techcabal.com and you’ll get a response immediately.
