With over a decade of experience working in digital technology across multiple industries, Ebi Awatodi, at just 33 years, has had a career many only dream of.
Her areas of expertise include marketing communications, brand strategy, digital /new media, product activation, brand amplification and corporate sponsorships, in addition to working as an engineer, software developer and interactive designer.
Ebi was born in Lagos, Nigeria but spent most of her childhood living in different countries around the world because of her father’s career as a Nigerian Airforce officer.
She studied Electrical and Electronics Engineering at the University of Nottingham, United Kingdom and holds a master’s degree in computing around artificial intelligence and visualisation of information from Imperial College, London.
She began her career as what she calls an ‘advent technologist’, working as a software developer for the first five years of her career. She co-founded a business start-up called Connect2Car where her team built a mobile application that allowed people to interface with their cars. After her time with Connect2Car, she worked with a number of agencies which focused on enterprise, website development and mobile platforms. She quickly moved from creating software to leading the teams that made the software. After a series of high profile jobs, Ebi started a job as Head of Corporate Communications as well as Head of Events and Sponsorships for Etisalat, Nigeria. During her time there, she created and executed the idea for the Etisalat Prize for Literature, which rose to become Africa’s most prestigious literary prize. She also created the Etisalat Music platform.
In 2014, Ebi started out with Uber as General Manager for Lagos and grew to become Uber’s General Manager for West Africa. During her time as General Manager of Uber, Lagos, Ebi introduced the inclusion of cash payments for riders in Lagos, a move that was crucial to Uber’s penetration in Nigeria. Under her leadership, Uber Lagos recorded a 10-times growth in the company’s supply within six months, as well as a hundred-fold growth in demand. While she was the General Manager for Uber West Africa, Uber’s business grew from 15 cars on day one to become a top 20 market in the EMEA region, served as a pilot market for various product launches and passed the first ever motion on ridesharing in Africa. She was also the Product Manager, Global Payments Growth for Uber worldwide.
She is currently the Senior Product Manager at Uber worldwide where she leads the Amsterdam Money Product team, ‘a multi-disciplinary team of over 100 product managers, engineers, designers, data scientists and UX researchers making payments more magical for Uber customers globally’.
#TechHer loves her because she is a shining example of the value of passion, ambition and hard work.
Farida Bedwei is a software developer, software engineer and computer scientist. In her over 15 years of working in the development and implementation of mobile and enterprise software, Farida has made her name as one of Africa’s brightest and most successful technological minds. She has developed multiple mobility platforms and content management systems. Farida has also worked in the telecom software industry, developing mobile gateways and services for mobile networks and content providers and is known particularly for her expertise in software architecture.
Farida was born in Lagos, Nigeria to Ghanaian parents and spent her early childhood living between Dominica, Grenada and the U.K until her family moved to Ghana when she was 9 years old. When she was 10, Farida was diagnosed with cerebral palsy, an incurable neurological disorder that affects body movement and muscle coordination.
As a child, Farida developed an interest in computers, an interest her parents noticed and encouraged by enrolling her in a one-year computer course at the St. Michael Information Technology Center when she was only 15, making her one of the youngest students in the class. She holds an IMIS Diploma and a Diploma in E-Technology. She also has a BSc in Computer Science from the University of Hertfordshire, UK and a Project Management Professional Certificate from GIMPA. She is a member of the Ghana Institute of Management.
Throughout her life, Farida has not her disability stand in her way or even slow her down. In 2011, she co-founded Logiciel, a Ghana-based Fintech company that develops banking systems for the microfinance industry and provides technology solutions which promote financial inclusion for the unbanked. She serves as the Chief Technological Officer of Logiciel, where one of her many roles includes evaluating the banking industry and coming up with practical solutions which are easy for people with no formal banking training to use. In 2015, she led the creation and successful implementation of gKudi, a web-based banking software suite for the micro-finance industry which is currently used by 130 micro-finance institutions in Ghana.
Farida is also an author and a disability-rights advocate, and has been featured on many media platforms; notable amongst them is CNN’s African Voices in February 2015. She has also won a number of local and international awards, most recently at the World Youth Forum in 2018 where she was awarded for her remarkable achievements in technology in Africa. Her book, The Definition of a Miracle, is a fictional account of experiences she had as a child growing up with cerebral palsy in Ghana.”
She is also creator Karmzah, the world’s first superheroine with a disability. Farida explained that she created the heroine because "Persons with disabilities are usually portrayed as being feeble and asking for handouts, in the media. I want to change that perception. We have weaknesses and strengths like everybody else and it’s about time the focus moved from what we can’t do to what we CAN do.”
She has been named the most influential woman in business and governance for her work in computerizing the microfinance industry. She currently serves on the Board of the National Communication Authority and Sharecare Ghana (an NGO which raises awareness for persons with autoimmune and neurological conditions).
#TechHer loves her because she is a role model to everyone- male or female, disabled or not. Farida promotes platforms that encourage more women to study technology related courses. She is a member of the Girls in ICT Committee – a group established to encourage more women to pursue IT careers.
Farida is living proof that disability doesn’t mean disadvantage!
On the 27th of November 2015, TechHer, a community of women working in an around technology organized its first ever Web Development class.
The class was in response to the needs of its budding community on ways their lives and business processes could be enhanced or further enabled by technology. Thirty-five women registered for the event.
Chioma Agwuegbo, Founder of TechHer talked briefly through blogging guides and sustainability and then the facilitators of the class, Adedamilola Olawale (Sprout Consulting) and Dimgba Kalu (Learn Code), gave an overview of web management and development.
WhoGoHost, Nigeria’s premier hosting and domain reseller, who gave 10 domains and hosting plans for a year as a gift to the women. A raffle was held to determine the winners of the domains and hosting plan, and the women have since registered their sites.
Printivo, ace digital printers supported the event, designing and delivered TechHer’s roll-up banner.
TechHer is also grateful to Enspire Incubator for the arm of fellowship extended in the use of their premises for all our events.
The class continued on Friday the 4th of December 2015 and focused on installing WordPress on sites, web design, and population.
The Nigeria Innovation and Information Technology Expo (NIITEX) was borne out of the desire to celebrate technological advancement and innovation in Nigeria as well as create a platform for Nigerian businesses to market and potentially export Nigerian innovations to other parts of the world.
NIITEX launched its debut edition with a was a 3-day Tech Expo that started on the 11th of April 2016, at Ladi Kwali Hall, Sheraton Hotel Abuja.
Participants registered were in excess of 150, and there was a keynote address from the H.E the Deputy Governor of Jigawa State.
Mr Bankole Oloruntoba from Enspire Incubator discussed issues related to Tech/start-up Ecosystem, on the role of communication and connectivity in National Development. Alhaji Yusuf Kazaure of Galaxy Backbone Limited also spoke in details about the broadband and accessibility in Nigeria.
Several panels were convened featuring speakers cutting across Agriculture, ICT, E-commerce etc. to share experiences, industry insights, and interact with participants present. Some of them included Ugonna Uwaeze of Nkata.com; Uche Dim, founder of Fill Ya Tank; Jaheil, Founder of Hello Tractor; Dimgba Kalu, Co-founder of Projaro, Dayo Kolewo of Chowhub, Angel Adelaja of Fresh Direct, and a host of others.
TechHer’s participation at the event both as a partner and session facilitator was made possible by the kind support of the Intel She Will Connect programme, and catered to the branded items distributed to participants at the event.
TechHer hosted a Masterclass Session on Digital marketing and Cybersecurity facilitated by Anna Egbagbe and Azeernah Mohammed. At the end of the day one event, TechHer gave out gift packs to all attendees. The gift items included TechHer branded T-shirts, TechHer customized Pens, and a book titled ‘Nameless’.
TechHer’s sessions enabled participants to
The hub held its first Legal Clinic at Yabans Restaurant Wuse 2 on 17th March 2016 with over 15 women and men in attendance. The event sought to unbundle business registration and taxation in Nigeria, sourcing and receiving start-up funding, with an open session for questions. The event was supported and live streamed on radio by Amplified Radio.
The opening session featured introduction of women, and business registration procedures. Miss Nana Nwachukwu urged start-up companies to register their business as business names and not as Limited Liability Company or NGO’s with Corporate Affairs Commission. She gave reasons for that, and explained exceptions too.
Miss Bukola, another volunteer lawyer in the room led the session on taxes and remittances, admonishing business owners to avoid penalties by ensuring their books were in order. She enlightened attendees on the two types of business registrations; business name and limited liability company registrations.
Also, attendees were intimated on a potential grant and benefits for the Association of Poultry Farmers in Abuja and the need for people working in the space to join the body.
Participants asked questions around trademarking, copyrights, and funding management. Fatima Bashir, one of the attendees asked which registration should come first for her new cosmetics business; Corporate Affairs Commission or Trademark body. It opened up a new discussion around trademarks, and how they “protect brand names, logo and other designs that identify your products to your customer.” Instances where either form of registration came first were given, with attendees told to strive to achieve both before commencing operations.
Andy Madaki, a cyber and info security analyst anchored the last session, with a talk on funding a business. Mr Andy advised attendees to raise money from their immediate environment (family), social media channels, international agencies in line with their pattern of business, grants, and scholarships from embassies. Mr Andy shared several funding opportunities available to Nigerians by several foreign bodies.
The programme ended with closing remarks from Nana Nwachukwu and a networking session. Attendees left with branded gift items from TechHer.
TechHer NG, a community that aims to demystify technology for women in Nigeria, partnered with Social Media Week Lagos to produce ‘The Digital Woman: Creating safe, aware, and empowered citizens’ at the just concluded week-long social media and technology conference.
Speaking on the need for the session, Chioma Agwuegbo, Founder of TechHer NG, said, “Technology remains the most sustainable gateway for the promotion and protection of women in our society today. We decided to show women, via our experts, the various ways technology can solve problems, to inspire them but also to equip them with the tools to do it themselves.”
Featuring a diversity of perspectives drawn from experts on advocacy, politics, business, and innovation, participants engaged with Cynthia Mbamalu, Program Manager at YIAGA Africa and member of the Strategy Team of the Not Too Young To Run Movement. She shared experiences on building the most successful youth movement on the continent in recent times, and galvanizing youth energy via social media to successfully advocate for a reduction in age for political candidacy in Nigeria.
They listened to Angel Yinkore, a psychologist from Stand To End Rape Initiative who spoke about technology being the bridge between data and the humanization of the stories of survivors. She also spoke about driving crowdfunding campaigns via digital. Angel represented Ayodeji Osowobi, the Founder of Stand To End Rape Initiative.
Ized Uanikhehi, Founder of Digiclan Africa, taught participants practical lessons on building a career as a digital marketer. Using the story of her growth and success as a lever, the digital evangelist, with over ten years as a marketer enjoined participants to embrace networking events with strategic intentions.
Bankole Oluwafemi, the only man on the panel, discussed the power of technology in forcing difficult conversations around women’s rights. He also, in honor of Safer Internet Day, gave practical tips for attendees to protect themselves online. He taught on the use of password managers, but also implored attendees to utilize sanction tools provided by social media platforms to protect themselves from trolling, cyberbullying, and other forms of abuse.
The session, which was well attended, featured a raffle draw with guests winning lots of prizes, and a question/answer session, affording the guests opportunities to interact with the experts.
The Digital Woman, which held on the 8th of February 2018, was part of the 7th edition of the larger Social Media Week conference hosted in 12 cities around the world. The theme of this years event was “Stories: With Great Influence Comes Great Responsibility”
