Women's Technology Empowerment Centre (W.TEC)
Lagos, Nigeria, 2016, 27 April
The Women's Technology Empowerment Centre (W.TEC) celebrated the Girls in ICT Day on the 27th of April, 2016 with 80 girls from 5 public secondary schools in Lagos state, Nigeria. The event which started at 2:10p.m. and ended at 3:10p.m held at the National Library of Nigeria, Alagomeji - 227, Herbert Macaulay Way, Yaba, Lagos Mainland, Lagos state, Nigeria.
The focus of the programme was to help girls have better understanding of the opportunities in the ICT sector.
The various sessions designed for the day featured female tech leaders, physically and virtually through short films, which gave the girls opportunities to start thinking about exploring career opportunities and options related to ICT as they advance in their studies.
The event then kicked off with a welcome speech by Ms. Folashade Lasisi, Programme Officer at Women's Technology Empowerment Centre, W.TEC and recognition of schools & dignitaries was done by Ms Eunice Olarinoye, an Intern at W.TEC.
Mrs. Temi Majekodunmi, a Principal Solution Consultant with Oracle Nigeria spoke about how technology has helped to make work easy in various industries or field of study. She shared her personal experience with the girls about how technology has helped her to structure her career path and how she has advanced in the world of ICT.
An audio visual animation clip/video tagged ''Neelie and the Clikkers - more girls digital' was played for the girls for 3 mins. The video made the girls understand that technology is very broad, technology is also about helping people get problems solved and there are so many jobs and opportunities out there for girls and women.
The next presentation was made by Ms. Folashade Lasisi. Her presentation highlighted what ICT gender gap is, reasons why there are few women in the technology field and why more women should embrace technology. She also cited examples of techie and non-techie women doing extremely well in the ICT sector.
The last presentation was made by a passionate technologist- Mrs Yetunde Johnson- Managing Director of Slingshot Technologies. She shared her personal experience on how she loves to solve problems using technology and how those solutions have helped others to also solve their problems too. She brought her presentation to an end after establishing in the mind of the girls that technology is everywhere.
There was a question and answer session after the presentations, after which the vote of thanks was done by Mr. Yemi Odutola, Communication Officer at W.TEC.
Comments from Participants
Below are samples of responses to the evaluation form received from participants:
Question: Please make general comments about the programme.
Feedback from the participants:
I love the programme because it has helped to decide on what I want to be in future. - Lawal Ganiyat
The programme was very interesting and educating – Oguntolu Damilola
The sessions were very interesting, I learnt a lot about ICT, I will pursue a career in ICT. - Agbata Juliet
I will use technology more, I will help solve people's problem with ICT. - Ngozi Gift
