Moyinoluwa Adeyemi is an app developer, tech enthusiast and blogger from Ogun State, Nigeria. Moyin’s love for technology and her passion to use it to solve problems has led her to create more than 7 mobile apps that provide innovative solutions to a myriad of problems. Her apps have tackled everything from tourism to education to social interactions. She has also worked as a software engineer.
She has a B.Sc. in Mathematics and Computer science from the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife alongside certificates in Oracle and apps development from Udacity.
In 2016, she created an app that tells the time in Yoruba which is available on android platforms. She is currently an android developer at Off.Grid:Electric where she is part of a team working on an app that enables people in Sub-Saharan Africa to have access to clean energy.
Some of the apps she has worked on include Tour9ja, created in 2012. It is an android app that allows tourists/natives in Nigeria to know more about the states in Nigeria. Moyinoluwa was part of the team that created the application. In October 2013, she developed a web application/android mobile app called ‘Efficacy’ at the National Software Competition, where she emerged as the 1st runner up. Efficacy was designed to detect counterfeit drugs in Nigeria. She was also part of the team that developed an educational app called “Kawe” (which means read in Yoruba language). Kawe came in 2nd place at Google ILO.
In November 2013, Moyinoluwa and two of her colleagues, Adeyemi Olaoye and Adegoke Obasa created another app called “Molebi” (meaning family). The app was created with the intent to connect families. The application allows you to add your family members from all social networks and then create a family tree.
Moyin is also very passionate about increasing the visibility of girls and women in technology. She started the first Women Techmakers group in Nigeria at her university in 2013 and she regularly organizes and hosts conferences for the Google Developers Group in Lagos.
She loves learning and sharing her knowledge about technology; she helps young girls get started with programming and she has a blog where she talks about a variety of tech related issues and the latest in tech news.
Moyin is currently a senior andriod developer at ZOLA Electric, a company working on the frontlines to make clean, reliable and affordable energy available to all.
#TechHer loves her because Moyinoluwa is an inspiration to young women thinking about a career in technology. As she always says, “We want more women with laptop bags”. She craves to see more women in technology inventing great and brilliant ideas. She is also proof that hard work pays.
To say that Judith Owigar’s work is revolutionary would be massively understating it. As one of Kenya’s foremost social entrepreneurs, Judith is working on the frontlines to ensure that there is a significant increase in the number of women and girls working and thriving in the tech ecosystem in Africa.
Judith is the co-founder and president of AkiraChix, a social enterprise radically changing the lives of women in East Africa by providing training, mentorship, and outreach programs for women in technology. She and her friends started AkiraChix in response to the challenges and outright bias they faced as women working in the tech space in Africa. They created AkiraChix as a way to provide a space where women could come together and learn from each other. Judith’s work with AkiraChix has been a significant boost for women innovators in Africa. AkiraChix’s vision to ‘nurture generations of women who use technology to develop innovations and solutions for Africa’ has contributed immensely to empowering women in Africa both technologically and financially and has enabled women serve and lead their communities.
Judith Owigar is Kenyan by birth. She attended the University of Nairobi where she graduated with a degree and a master’s degree both in Computer Science.
Judith started her career as a tech support specialist at Turnkey Africa, a Kenya based company that provides solution to insurance and banks in Africa. In April 2008, she moved to Ibid Labs where she worked as a developer. Miss Owigar has also worked with the Japan Center for Conflict Prevention. In 2010, she attended iHUB’S maiden launch (iHUB is an innovation hub for the technology community in Nairobi) and noticed they were only a few ladies in attendance. This prompted her and her friends to co-found AKIRACHIX as a way to increase the ratio of women to men in technology. Programs at the organization are developed to reach young women at different levels including but not restricted to Primary Schools, High Schools and Universities; there are also programs for those working in the technology field and those who wish to have a career in technology.
In 2012, Judith founded Juakali, (which means GET IT DONE in Swahili) an online platform that creates opportunities for low income earners to have a better livelihood. The platform serves as a link between skilled manual workers from Kenya’s informal sector and jobs in construction companies. Through JuaKali, Judith is pioneering an original model to increase employment in Kenya through building the capacities of the informal economy.
Judith has received a number of recognitions and honors for her work, notable among them are the Anita Borg Change Agent award in 2012, the top 40 women under 40 award for women who have made a significant impact on Kenya, economically and socially. She is an East Africa Acumen Fellow and an International Focus Fellow. She was listed as one of 10 African voices to follow on Twitter by CNN. She was a speaker at the renowned Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing to the Global Entrepreneurship Summit in 2015 where she shared the stage with Former US President Barack Obama and President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya.
Judith currently serves in Africa WeTech (Women Enhancing Technology) Leadership Council and the St. George’s Primary School Alumni Association.
#TechHer loves Judith Owigar because she is passionate about technology and believes there should be no stereotype in the tech industry. Judith’s work provides an entry point for many women and girls who may want to enter the IT/Tech industry but feel discouraged because of the prevalent male dominance in the industry. We see her as a role model/ mentor to women and girls who want to identify their potential in the tech field. Also, her support for other young women in the field by creating training sessions to empower them with skills like coding, web development and technical skills truly excites us here at TechHer!
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!
Hilda Moraa is a Kenyan with a B.Sc. in Business Information Technology from Strathmore University. She obtained a Masters in Entrepreneurship from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT), Kenya.
By research, Hilda published and wrote numerous research papers and journals on the thematic focus of ICT, development and entrepreneurship. She is also the author of “A Kenyan Startup Journey”. She became a millionaire at 26.
Hilda is a co-founder at WezaTele Limited, a leading provider of innovative and mobile solutions in the supply chain, distribution and financial solutions in Kenya. Miss Moraa has over 5 years’ experience in technology, market research, entrepreneurship, and distribution of FMCGs in emerging markets in Kenya.
These are Moraa's awards:
Her Work
From May 2009-September 2010, she worked as a Master Data Analyst for Coca-Cola; a global beverage and distribution company. She saw the challenges they faced within their distribution systems and decided to develop an ordering solution prototype as her final year project.
In October 2010, she dedicated her time to training and mentoring the Keri Residents. These were students from Strathmore University looking for advice and guidance in IT, programming skills and basic IT management skills to allow them innovate and grow viable businesses.
In January 2012, she founded AfriHive; a content hub and one stop shop for co-working spaces across Africa to access useful resources, services and lesson as to remain sustainable in the long run.
She was the Strategist and Senior ICT Researcher for iHub Nairobi from August 2011-December 2013. At iHub; a local innovation hub for the technology community, the 22-year-old Hilda met Sam Kitonyi and Newton. Hilda, Sam and Newton founded WezaTele Limited.
WezaTele started by building mobility solutions for commerce, supply chain, distribution, and mobile payment integration. Their first product; My order Enterprise solution; is a mobile customized solution that facilitates supply chain, circulation and distribution visibility. Hilda’s team grew from just two people to a full organization of over ten employees.
In 2013, Weza Tele won the IBM global smart camp competition at the Tech4Africa conference. By 2014, Weza Tele had worked with several SME’s in many countries including Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania and Zimbabwe.
Miss Moraa started sharing her opinions, facts and experiences in the tech entrepreneurship ecosystem through Vc4Africa network.
Hilda founded a Kenya tech entrepreneurship network called Kenya Tech Entrepreneurship Virtual Network in July 2015. The network stemmed from the need of sharing local startup experience, knowledge and lessons to ensuring the young people are building scalable and valuable startups. These of course are to impact positively with return on investments. Since July, the network has grown with more than 100 tech start-ups in Kenya.
In June 2015, she became a consultant at FinTech; she worked with SME’s and startups on challenging opportunities in the Innovation and Fintech sector.
Miss Mora started running a peer mentorship series with iBizAfrica in April 2016. She shared her experiences, lessons and support to incubatees among other young upcoming/early stage entrepreneurs. She did this to encourage, empower and support in growing their ideas and businesses in the right direction from an early stage.
Presently, she works as the Managing Director/Business and Product Development Officer for PesaZatu which means “our money” in Swahilli. PesaZatu is a leading peer to peer/mobile lending market place in Kenya and Sub-Saharan Africa.
Why TechHer Loves Her
She is a problem solver, her entrepreneurial passion and drive is ignited every day due to the failures and successes she has encountered. Miss Moraa is an achiever and an extraordinaire who believes now is an incredible time for us young people to shine and do amazing things to impact our society/community.
Information gleaned from the Internet.
Damilola Teidi hails from Kogi state, Nigeria. She is a graduate of Information Technology from Eastern Mediterranean University, North Cyprus. Miss Damilola has a Master’s Degree in Strategy and Innovation Management from University of Southampton, London.
She is the co-founder of Gomyway.com; a ride sharing company in Nigeria. Miss Teidi has worked as a developer and a business analyst with Cchub. Damilola has created stored procedures, triggers, asp pages and database tables for SMS push applications for customers using SQL queries. She is indeed versatile in creating web pages for various companies using asp.net.
Miss Teidi has profound knowledge in the programming language - C#
Her Work:
In 2011, Damilola worked as a Software developer at Socketworks in Lagos for a period of 2 years and 5 months. While working at the Socketworks, she created an online shopping mall using PHP. She also worked on a web portal that enabled prospective students of a polytechnic in Nigeria apply for the polytechnic's exam online. There was over 8000 applicants who used this portal successfully.
In July 2012, she developed a fashion website called Styjunki born out of her passion for style and fashion. Did we forget to mention that Miss Damilola is also a Model? Yes, she is a model. She designed and still manages the development of the website. She curated content for all the profile pages as well as the social media management for Styljunki.
As a researcher in October 2013 with Kinetik Solutions Limited London, she carried out research on gathering solutions and data for relevant documentation for the organisation. She also researched around a new innovative product and developed a prototype for technology partners.
From July 2014- September 2014, Miss Teidi worked at the Programme Management Office as an intern at University of Southampton, United Kingdom. Teidi helped the university computer-based system to undergo a formal test lifecycle which covers test planning, analysis and designs.
In November 2014, she was the Business Analyst for Pre-incubation of one of Nigeria’s leading Tech Innovation hub called Co-creation Hub in Lagos. Damilola managed the administration bringing new committed social entrepreneurs to the Hub portfolio. She managed growth hacking session and progress reports to key officers.
Why TechHer Loves Her:
Looking at Damiola’s resume we can say she’s goal driven, persistent and hard-working. She has been able to combine both her passion for modelling and her career in Tech. She used technology to enable and improve the fashion/style sector in Nigeria.
Information gleaned from the Internet.
Barbara Mallinson is the Founder and CEO of Obami; which means 'Mine' in Zulu. She is married to Ennis Jones. Barbara is a graduate of University of Capetown where she earned a B.Sc. in Marketing and Economics. Barbara is an advisory board member for Mobile World Capital, a global initiative driven by the city of Barcelona and GSMA. She is the only sitting African.
She has received several awards in the Tech space such as: -
Her Work:
She founded Obami in 2007; a community learning platform that combines social networking tools. These social networking tools include profiles, profile pictures and news feeds. It helps to bring pupils, teachers and parents together to connect and exchange ideas. It also provide school administrators with a comprehensive platform to make school management easy and effective. The platform features digital assignments, worksheets, quizzes, tests, exams and questionnaires.
In 2010, she took part in Old Mutual’s “Do Great Things” campaign. She was also identified as one of the Mail & Guardian’s “Top 200 Young People to Take to Lunch” after spearheading successful innovative companies. These companies set a new standard on the local and international front.
From 2004-2005, she was the marketing Executive for Euromoney Institutional Investor Plc. She worked as a marketing manager at Axicom Limited from 2005-2006.
Why TechHer Loves Her:
Technology is a great enabler that can transform lives and society. However a successful one for us is when someone is able to use such medium to change or improve the way things are being done. Barbara has utilized the social networking space to enhance and enrich the education sector of her country which is such an amazing innovation.
Nkemdilim Begho is the daughter of Chris Uwaje who pioneered the conceptualization Framework and content drafting strategy for the establishment of the National Information Technology Development Policy for Nigeria.
Mrs Begho is the Managing Director of Future Software Resources Limited- an IT solutions provider focused on online solutions, e-learning and IT security. Nkemdilim volunteers and mentors young and less privileged children in Nigeria. She has a B.Sc. in BioInformatics from Ludwig-Maxmillians Universitat Munchen, Germany.
Nkem has been featured on several newspaper and magazine publications as an expert speaker on ICT in Africa.
Her Work:
She started her career as an Application Developer at Max Planck Institute for Psychiatric Research, Munich Germany in December 2002. Mrs. Begho developed software tools to aid genetic research, and plugins for Micro-array database (Java).
In 2005, Mrs Begho was the Channel Manager for Leapsoft Nigeria Limited.
Between December 2004- December 2009, she worked as Bioinformatics Consultant and Software Developer for Affectics Pharmaceuticals. Nkem developed a chemical compound database called Affectis KemSuite (Java PostrgreSQL) Affectis KemSuite is an in - house developed compound database system with chemical intelligence, which enables company wide data integration. Affectis KemSuite delivers all essential functionalities that ISIS Base,Chem Office or IDBS have, including the support of all data formats primarily used by the pharmaceutical industry.
She’s one of the Board Members of the World Summit Youth Award from 2010 till date;Board Member of the World Summit Youth Award, a global e-content contest with core focus on the acceleration of the Millennium Development Goal implementation.
In February 2008, she became the Managing Director of Future Software Resources Limited- a website design & web-solution provider located in Lagos, Nigeria. She was also among the Research and Development Team, for National Information Technology Development Agency on E-Government Interoperability Framework.
Other services her company offers include online marketing, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), content management system development, online recruitment, graphic design, brand development (logo design and branding), workflow, business and educational software development and IT consultancy services for Nigerian corporate and start-up businesses, as well as the public sector.
Her company innovated the first digital business cards in Nigeria.
In September 2009, she was part of the NITDA Open Standards Framework on Creation and development of the open standards framework for Nigeria.
Why TechHer Loves Her:
Her success is founded on a passion for driving innovative thinking, building a globally recognized technology brand and setting trends in the Nigerian Technology sector
Marlise Montcho, hails from Benin. She is a telecoms engineer and an inspirational leader who is passionate about technology, social change, and entrepreneurship. Marlise has a certification in business and entrepreneurship from University of Texas, Austin. Here’s more on her educational background:
Marlise has a Bachelor’s Degree in Analysis and Policy Development from Faculté des Sciences Economiques et de Gestion.
In 2012, she bagged a Degree as a Telecommunication Engineer.
Marlise is an active member of Junior Chamber International Network. She has been named as one of the fifteen Africa's women tech leaders in 2015 and one of the 100 visioning women to watch in 2016.
She is the founder and president of an NGO called FemTICDEV. She also runs a blog called www.handinewlook.net.
She is the deputy chair of the Committee on Technology of Africa Youth Movement and the regional ambassador of GlobalTechLeaders and AfricaITWomen.
Marlise has received several awards and Honours such as:
Why TechHer Loves Her:
She is a role model to girls and women in Benin Republic. Marlise mentors women in technology where one of the benefactors of the initiative recently won a blogging award in Benin. We love to see women helping other women grow using technology as a tool.
About Her:
Linda Chinwetelu is a young Nigerian currently ruling the world of technology. She started from her little corner and is expanding rapidly! She works currently as a software developer at Hotels.ng; an online travel agency founded by Mark Essien that specialises in hotel bookings within Nigeria.
She has a passion for self-development which was fueled by her parents. This has helped to set her on the path to becoming the 'geek' she is today.
Linda has a B.Sc; Second Class Upper in Computer Science and Statistics from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka in 2014.
She is a brilliant web developer who spent most of her university holidays teaching herself using Bucky’s Beginner Web Development videos and other learning materials.
She is also proficient with using the following programming languages: JavaScript, PHP, MYSQL, MongoDB. She also likes working with these technologies: Sphinx Git, NodesJs, React JS, jQuery and Linux Servers.
Her Work:
Between August 2013 – December 2013, she worked as a web development Intern at Syscomptech; an Internet service company in Lagos State.
Some of her achievements during the Internship program include creating a classified job ads site using a classified ad Script - Osclass.
She was also responsible for building the ‘Employee Profile’ and ‘Resume Upload’ component for a job recruitment website. She helped to co-implement a redesign on the homepage of an Economics Consulting Website and also represented Syscomptech in meetings thus translating Client-User requests for Implementation.
She started working at Hotels.ng in October 2014 as a Software Developer. Her role and achievements here include managing data migration between servers, debugging of legacy codes, building new features, managing outsourced developers and writing PHP code to implement app features. She also writes Structured Query Language (SQL) queries to interact with databases and Client and Server Side JavaScript for different applications depending on specifications. She also played an active role in the refactoring of the code base and a subsequent rewrite.
Linda Chinwetelu's work has been recognized both nationally and internationally;
In February 2014, she emerged as Second runner up in the British Council Culture Shift III Hackathon competition in Nigeria. During the competition, Linda Chinwetelu and her team built an interactive digital image bank to connect the creative industry with an audience.
She also developed a web image upload bank with functionalities which includes Upload, Search, Categorize and Social shares.
In October 2015, she received the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing (GHC) Scholarship Award under the auspice of the Anita Borg Institute. She was also a volunteer blogger at the GHC.
Why TechHer Loves Her:
Linda’s profile is interesting to read. This serves as an inspiration to women, especially young girls. We like her because of her love and interest in self-development.
She once said that she learnt to code because she was determined. In an interview, she talked about knowing what she wanted to do and how she went about it.
“…That was the exact moment, I knew. “I am going to learn how to do that,” I said to myself. The next holiday, I got Bucky’s Beginner Web Development videos and lot of books on web development. Then, I told my dad that I would need his monetary support to fuel the generator in order to have adequate power supply.”
Information gleaned from the Internet.
