It’s 2024, and black women continue to make significant strides in the tech industry. Female talent from all across Africa, including Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa, are reshaping the technology narrative. This article highlighted five exceptional African women making waves in the tech industry. Their unwavering determination and resilience leave a lasting impression in the tech sector.
- Odunayo Eweniyi
Odunayo is a Nigerian business executive and activist. She is the Co-founder and Chief Operations Officer of Piggyvest and co-founder of the Feminist Coalition. After graduating in 2013, she launched Push CV with Somto Ifezue and Joshua Chibueze, and two years later, the three of them started PiggyVest.
In 2019, Odunayo was honoured as the SME Entrepreneur of the Year in West Africa at The Wealth and Society West Africa Awards; she was also featured on Forbes Africa’s List of 20 New Wealth Creators in Africa that year. She’s been recognised by various organisations, including Business Day’s Spark 2019 Women to Watch and YNaija’s Most Influential People in Technology. Her accolades extend to 2020 when she was named one of the Lord’s Achievers Awards Honorees and featured on Okayafrica’s 100 Women 2020 list. In 2021, Odunayo partnered with Eloho Oname to launch First Check, a platform of female business angels supporting women-led and women-focused startups in Africa, and in 2022, she won the Forbes Woman Africa Technology and Innovation Award.
2. Ifeoluwa Dare-Johnson
Ifeoluwa Dare-Johnson is the founder/CEO of Healthtracka, a health tech company that allows customers to manage their health from home while providing direct access to laboratory tests and at-home sample collection for various health conditions. While speaking with Tech Cabal, Ifeoluwa said she decided to come up with a home lab testing to make the long process of going to the hospital more convenient and seamless for people, and this will encourage them to do frequent and timely health check-ups.
3. Jihan Abass
Jihan is a Kenyan entrepreneur and businesswoman who is the founder and CEO of Lami Insurance Technology, an insurance technology company based in Nairobi, Kenya, and Lami Direct Insurance, a digital vehicle insurance company. In 2020, Abass was picked to represent Africa at InsureTech Connect 2020, and in 2021, Quartz named her an Africa Innovator. In 2022, Aljazeera Africa Direct covered a documentary about Jihan’s Business, and she was also featured as the cover story in Lioness of Africa 2022.
4. Ire Aderinokun
Aderinokuna is a front-end developer and Nigeria’s first female Google Developer expert. She is the co-founder and COO of Helicarrier, a company that builds cryptocurrency infrastructure for Africa, which is also behind products like Buycoins Pro and Sendcash. She organised Frontstack, a conference for front-end engineering in Nigeria. She started a small scholarship program to sponsor Nigerian women to take a Udacity Nanodegree in a technology-related field of their choice. Ire Aderinokun, also the founding member of the Feminist Coalition, demonstrates her commitment to driving positive social change.
5. Angela Semwogerere
Angela Semwogerere, from Uganda, is the general manager of Spidd Africa Ltd. She is also the Founder of Coding in Heels, a social Enterprise that focuses on inspiring Girls and women to embrace STEM with her focus on technology. She is a consultant and a member of Uganda’s National Taskforce on Emerging Technologies. She has over ten years of experience in the IT and telecommunication industries. Speaking with Project Hello World on the lessons she learnt in her founding ‘Coding in Heels’, she said, “I have learnt never to underestimate people; for one, I have heard it said many times that STEM Technology is too hard for women and yet over the years little girls from all around the world and all walks of life have grown up to do exceptional things and build great careers, despite their familial, cultural, educational or financial backgrounds”. She desires to share her knowledge and play a significant role in closing the digital gender divide by inspiring more women to join the tech industry.
Like them, many other women in the tech industry have influenced other women and made waves in the tech field. From pioneering startups to leading multinational corporations, these visionary women leave a mark in the industry, inspiring the next generation of tech women and entrepreneurs. As they continue to drive progress and advocate for inclusivity and diversity, their impacts extend beyond tech, fueling a journey towards an equitable future for Africa and beyond.
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