Vogue Spotlights Six Nigerian Women at the Forefront of West Africa’s Tech Boom
In the past five years, West Africa’s tech space has witnessed a boom, with an increase in innovators and tech entrepreneurs – using technology to provide simple and accessible solutions to everyday problems. From accessible payment services to fintech platforms helping people grow their savings and making it easier for Africans to participate in the global scramble for cryptocurrency, West Africa’s tech scene is now livelier than ever. Across the continent, tech hubs have sprouted in places such as Egypt, Kenya and South Africa, with Nigeria – Africa’s most populous country leading the pack.
While tech companies are tackling many issues, from making data on the continent accessible and providing health services to revolutionizing African fashion, financial technology companies are among the biggest in Nigeria. Even as the industry reaches new heights, the inclusion and participation of women are not quite where it should be as statistics states that in Sub-saharan Africa, women constitute just 30% of the tech industry’s professionals.
Vogue spotlights six women in Nigeria who are working to change that statistic. These bright women are rising to new heights in the global-tech space and redefining it from the inside out. More about them below:
Odunayo Eweniyi
In 2016, a picture someone shared of a wooden box they used to save money inspired Odunayo and her cofounders to create Piggybank, now known as Piggyvest. Today, Odunayo is the Chief Marketing Officer of this savings and investment platform and also cofounder of FirstCheck Africa, an angel fund and tech community for African women.
Yewande Akomolafe-Kalu
With a degree in psychology from Birmingham City University and experience working in the fashion and entertainment industries, today Akomolafe-Kalu is the head of storytelling and branding at Flutterwave, one of Africa’s largest fintech companies. On getting more women into tech, Yewande said:
“One of the main stumbling blocks is that girls don’t realize tech is an option. We need to demystify the tech industry so people know that it’s an entire ecosystem. We need to be intentional in hiring more women and making them more visible; in presenting them with options; to show them that tech jobs are within reach and that they’re achievable.”
Damilola Odufuwa
As co-founder of the Feminist Coalition, Damilola champions equality for women in Nigerian society with a focus on education, financial freedom and representation in public office. These values play out in her role as the lead PR at Binance, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency companies. On getting more women into tech, Damilola said:
“There’s a lot of misinformation about what types of roles are available in tech – breaking them down will encourage more women to get into the industry. Every day, we interact with technology in a variety of ways and they all present opportunities to make a difference. It doesn’t have to be about coding.”
Eloho Omame
The co-founder of FirstCheck Africa, Omame is a graduate of the London School of Economics and has an MBA from London Business School. Eloho’s first big job was Lagos Innovates, a portfolio of startup support programmes pitched to the Lagos State Employment Trust Fund, which they then built. After that, she launched an entrepreneur support organisation called Endeavor before launching FirstCheck Africa with Odunayo Eweniyi in January 2021.
Oluwaseun Runsewe
Runsewe began her career as an analyst before joining Paystack as a business lead. Now the vice president of growth at Softcom, she is committed to making financial services accessible to everyone
On getting into tech, Oluwaseun worked as an analyst for the Big Four consulting firm KPMG advising financial service players on strategy and business planning. She also coordinated an Africa-wide project to move the needle on banking, payments and financial risk management.
”Then, in 2016, Oluwaseun got an email introduction to the CEO of Paystack – a company that helps businesses in Africa get paid by anyone anywhere in the world – and joined as a business lead as it entered new sectors and pushed the frontiers of Nigeria’s digital economy.”
Adia Sowho
Adia Sowho is the interim CEO of Thrive Agric and non-executive director of Hover Developer Services. Sowho has built a reputation for being a problem solver within Nigeria’s business, tech and media space. With a career that spans developing mobile content, technology and financial services, today she is focused on changing the tech culture in Nigeria and inspiring more young women to get into the industry.
Congratulations to these achievers.