You know about HerTechTrail’s community and her academy, but do you know about her heroes? “Alone, we can do so little; together, we can do so much.” – Helen Keller HerTechHeroes was created as an opportunity for people who are passionate about what we do at HerTechTrail and want to contribute directly to the growth and success of black women in tech globally without having to do the work directly. The programme is entirely remote, and membership is unlimited by age, gender, social class, or location. In 2022, HerTechHeroes contributed to our achievements: financial support to train 2000+ black women in our tuition-free cohort learning programmes supported 12 women with laptops provided network data to 300 women to aid learning. One of the laptop beneficiaries of the 3rd quarter in 2022, a TechTrailer named Ruth David, shared that she was excited to be selected for the laptop support as she usually worked with her office’s laptop, which restricted her from reaching certain levels in her UI/UX learning. HerTechTrail presents a new laptop to Ruth David A mother of one and design enthusiast, Nkechi Azunna, shared with us how being a laptop beneficiary of the Q4 2022 laptop support programme turned out to be one of her biggest highlights of the year. “Hertechtrail turned my wish into reality. Like I said, I always wanted to be in tech, but I didn’t have any idea how to start. Hertechtrail made it easy for me to start. I can’t remember being chosen for a gift before, and one that I really needed at that time, so it was quite remarkable for me.” Tech Mom, Nkechi Azunna Our community manager, Idongesit Akpan, shared this with us: “Before becoming the community manager of HerTechTrail in June, I was a trainee in the digital marketing track of Cohort 3. During my training, I was given data support various times for emerging the student of the week from my track. It gave me encouragement and strength to finish the three months. I also got a laptop from the Q2 2022 laptop support programme. My journey as a digital marketer has been made easier since then.” Idongesit Akpan, Community Manager at HerTechTrail The story of Claire Igwe (our current Academy Director) is an amazing one. Having graduated from the academy in the very first cohort and now being a part of HerTechHeroes- contributing to the lives of other black women, she still amazes everyone that comes across her story. Imagine if she didn’t get trained. Just imagine. She went from being a total newbie to working remotely from Nigeria. The stories above are just a small fraction of the momentum and impact being created by the programme. The lives of black women in tech are improving daily, and we’re glad for the current HerTechHeroes who are making this happen. Currently, we have over 10 heroes in the programme, and it is open to willing members so we can all work together to achieve more. This year, we intend to achieve a lot more than we did in 2022 and touch as many lives as possible in and out of Africa. Would you love to join hands with us as we solve the problem of global inclusion in tech? Check out the programme for full details (registration, activation and rewards). WE CAN’T WAIT TO HAVE YOU JOIN HerTechHeroes!
Tag Archives: HerTechTrail
Apr
Women are being awesome friends to each other in the most amazing ways that are great for progressing their careers. This series will bring you sweet, and encouraging stories of female friendships among techies every month. Be sure to come back for more! This month, I got talking to a TechTrailer- she currently works as a product designer and volunteers to coach UI/UX design with a non-profit organisation. She shares with us how amazing her female friends have been to her in ways that are great both for her and her career. Hi Sis, what do you think about the term ‘women supporting women’ and how female friendships can help a tech sis make significant progress in her tech career? First, let me say one thing: I wish we didn’t have to live in a world where there was that demarcation. I wish we lived in a world where we don’t need to have discussions about equal rights, like that kind of world where it’s not even a thought, like, why do I have to have that conversation where everybody is equal normally? I know the feeling, yeah. I wish we lived in that kind of world, but I know the kind of world we live in. One thing is that I’m a very introverted person, but the friendships I’ve had in my life that have added things to me, to be very honest, are with women. That’s why I don’t like it when people bash female friendships by saying things like, “Women will do you this or that.” People will do you shege! That’s the truth! It’s not about women; it’s about people. A person who is bad is bad, regardless of whether they’re a woman or a guy. A person will show you shege if they’re bad. Source: Pexels Let me say that I’m biased toward women. If I see an opportunity, and I know a lot of people like that, the first person I’ll think about is a female friend. Let me put it this way: Recently, a friend called me up, and in most cases, I’ve not spoken to this person in a really long while; they just call me, say there’s an opportunity, and ask if I’m interested. Most of the lasting friendships where I might not even speak to them for a while yet, but when we meet up or talk on the phone, we still have a lot to talk about, are female friendships. I know that some people might have a different experience, but for me, that’s the experience I have. It doesn’t mean that I don’t have male friends, but they’re very few, like very few, and it’s easy for the relationship to die down, unlike my female friendships. There are people I went to school with, and I graduated from OAU (Obafemi Awolowo University) in 2018, and that’s been many years. We might not speak for a long while, but when we do, there’s still that rapport and that friendship. there’s no thought or fear of them thinking badly of me or anything like that. I know they have my best interests in mind. That’s how I feel about female friendships. Awesome! I can relate to having great female friends because that’s my current reality. I feel bad when people bash female friendships too and I realise it stems from the experiences they have had. I’m hoping many more women come to experience the comfort and support of female friends who truly have their backs. Do you want to try guessing the identity of this TechTrailer? Go right ahead! Did you enjoy reading this? It might be your story next. If you’d love to be featured, reach out to @Wonu.Wealth in the general community on Slack. If you’re not there yet, you are welcome to join us.
Apr
If you’re interested in how a woman can go from being a total newbie in the very first cohort of the HerTechTrail Academy to being a tech sis who now earns in hard currency—the USD type specifically—you want to read this conversation to the last sentence. Source: Zikoko Memes Disclaimer: She did not take part in a get-rich-quick scheme, she put in hard work smartly! Big Woman! Let’s jump right in. You were in cohort 3, right? Hahaha! Cohort One. ARE YOU SERIOUS?! Yeah, I’m serious. You’re the proper definition of “day one”! In fact, before Cohort 1, before HerTechTrail had Cohort 1 proper, we had this very short boot camp. It lasted 2 weeks or so, during which Alex taught UI design. That was my first introduction to product design. In fact, before I saw that ad, because it was on Twitter I saw it- “Come and learn product design for free.” Before I saw that ad, I honestly didn’t know the meaning of product design. I decided to give it a try because I was already learning HTML and CSS, and with how it was presented, I felt like it was related, so I decided to give it a try. I went for the boot camp. It was pretty interesting; it was my first introduction to anything related to product building and design, so to speak. I decided I was going to move forward with it, but the cohort hadn’t started properly, so I had to find other ways to learn. After the two-week boot camp, there were about 3 or 4 people who finished and were serious about it. We were still having meetings with Alex; he was giving us small projects and all of that. I wanted to learn more, so I started attending other boot camps. When I saw that HerTechTrail was going to do a proper cohort kind of boot camp, I decided to jump in, and we were very few during that cohort; a lot of people didn’t take it seriously, to be honest, and it wasn’t as organised as it is now. At the time, only Alex and one other person taught, and we only had a product design track; we didn’t have a UI/UX track. I was in another boot camp then, but I still wanted to do this one. I followed through. Source: Pexels One thing about me is that when I’m doing something, I actually take it seriously, no matter what it is. Once I put my mind to it, I take it seriously and will see it to the end; unless there’s something big or serious enough to cut short my progress, that’s the only way I’d stop it. They gave us a project—you know, the capstone project. The way we did it then was that we had an idea, and different groups would do it. We were only three then, and one person said her laptop was faulty, the other person wasn’t even around, so I ended up being the only one doing the whole thing, and afterwards, I graduated as the best student overall. Source: Pexels AHAHN from cohort one? First ever! Hahaha! From there, Gloria asked if I could help with the designs—the day-to-day designs and all that. I said I could do it. I’d already done a few projects on Fiverr, so I was a bit more confident in myself. I started doing that, and from there she said, “You’re going to be coaching next,” and in my mind I’m thinking, “Eh! I’m going to be doing what?” I love it! Ei God! I was so scared. Like, my first class, eh? Omo! It was scary, but at this point, I’m so glad that she put me in that position where I had to start teaching people because you never know how much you know until you start trying to tell people about it. You begin to think, “Oh! So I know all this stuff? You become more confident in your skills and in speaking to people. Do you get it? Yeahhh You become more confident in speaking to people, and that helped me a lot. Then I started coaching, and the next cohort will be my third bootcamp with HerTechTrail as a coach. Wow! That’s profound. I didn’t know you were with HerTechTrail even before cohort 1. Yes, lol. Me and HerTechTrail have been together for a long time. How far back was this? How long ago was it when you started with HerTechTrail? The first short bootcamp I told you about was in November 2020, which I remember vividly. The first proper bootcamp was, I think, around April 2021. Okay! So you’ve had this very interesting journey with HerTechTrail so far, and one of the strong points for us is that we’re helping women build not just tech careers but proper, sustainable tech careers. Yeah… I know your story is very sweet in this aspect because you’ve had freelance experience. You’ve left Naira for people who have Naira and are now earning in dollars, in hard currency. Please give us that part of the gist. Source: Zikoko Memes Okay. As I said, my first ever paid job was in December 2021, and it was a job I did on Fiverr. You know freelance jobs can be tricky; they don’t come all the time. I was looking for something more stable. HerTechTrail referred me to a company looking for a product designer, and I was going to be their first and only product designer. Omo! It was scary because, in my mind, I still felt like I was a learner. How could I be their first and only product designer? I had the interview, and it went well. To be honest, with UI/UX my first salary was less than #150k. It was a remote role, and that’s what made it better for me because, you see, waking up every morning to an office, omo! I don’t think I can do that in […]
Break the glass ceiling, Embrace Equity, Women in Tech
Breaking the Glass Ceiling As A Woman In Tech
Mar
Hey Tech Sis! It’s Women’s History Month, and I’m sure you must have heard stories about amazing women in various spheres who are said to ‘Break the Glass Ceiling’ Do you ever wonder what the phrase means? When I first heard it, I imagined that one day I’m attending a tech conference hosted in a beautiful hall with a glass ceiling and then I see a popular tech sis who suddenly throws stones at the ceiling… Lmao! That isn’t what we mean. The “glass ceiling” refers to the unnoticeable but widespread barriers that keep women from rising to the top leadership positions. It is something that has existed for a long time, with historical examples dating back to the early 1900s. Despite recent improvements, the glass ceiling still affects many workplaces today, and women are still underrepresented in positions of leadership. Picture Source: iStock The impact of the “glass ceiling” on women is undeniable. They have fewer opportunities for professional advancement and lower earning potential, thus maintaining gender inequity. Organisations also suffer from the effects of the glass ceiling, as they miss out on the diverse perspectives and skills that women can bring to leadership positions. Despite the obstacles women face in shattering the glass ceiling, numerous African women have had amazing success in a variety of fields. For example, working to bridge the gender gap in tech, we have Gloria Ojukwu, a technical data-driven product strategist, project manager, UX researcher, writer, and engineer who loves to solve problems with technology. She has experience with efficient program management, and she currently serves as the co-organizer and program assistant for the Google Cloud Community (from Google). She is also the founder of HerTechTrail, a non-profit organisation that provides education and support to African women through the HerTechTrail Academy and a strong community of 12,000 vibrant African women looking to build sustainable tech careers. By awarding scholarships that allow African women tuition-free access to top education in a wide range of tech skills, HerTechTrail Academy works to significantly lower the barriers to entry into the field of technology. In addition to the over 8,000 learning scholarships granted and the over 300 data support awardees, HerTechTrail has a laptop support program where she provides laptops to her community members quarterly. Gloria Ojukwu Ifedayo Durosinmi-Etti is the founder and CEO of Herconomy, a female-focused fintech startup committed to developing financial resources for women. Herconomy is the first digital platform in Nigeria for female business owners and professionals. It aims to empower women and connect them to resources like grants, fellowships, scholarships, jobs, and other opportunities. By participating in the Africa Startup Initiative (ASIP) Accelerator Programme and becoming Amazon’s first recruitment partner in Nigeria, Durosinmi-Etti recently broke several glass ceilings. Ifedayo Durosinmi-Etti Nigeria’s foremost transportation-driven transportation startup, Shuttlers, was co-founded by Damilola Olokesusi, who also serves as CEO. In the congested cities of Lagos and Abuja, Shuttlers is revolutionising how business people and organisations commute. Damilola is a “Forbes 30 Under 30 (2019) Recipient for Technology” and has been selected by the UK government for a technology exchange in 2020. She has received recognition, including the Digital & Tech Award at the Women in Africa Contest in Morocco in 2017 and the Award for the Best Idea at the Aso Villa Demo Day. Under her direction, Shuttlers successfully raised $1.6 million in seed money and announced plans to expand into additional African metropolises. Shemoves Shuttles, an initiative she started in 2020, is an all-female shuttle service (sponsored by Ford Motor Company) that has impacted over 600 female professionals by transforming their commute time into learning time. Damilola is well-positioned to keep driving innovation in the technology, transportation, and other industries in Nigeria and around the world. Damilola Olokesusi We hope that the success stories of these African women leaders demonstrate to you that breaking through glass ceilings is possible with hard work, consistency, and determination. If you’ve been on the lookout for a strong community of African women building sustainable tech careers, HerTechTrail is just for you. Join us! TechTrailers, the ceilings are ours for the breaking; let’s shatter them all!
Digital Marketing, HerTechTrail Academy, Tech Education, Women in Tech
HerTechTrail: Advancing Women Economically through Technology
Mar
According to a report from the National Center for Women & Information Technology, women made up only 26% of the computing workforce in 2020. This represents a decline from previous years, indicating that the gender gap in technology is actually widening rather than closing. It is clear that the gender gap in technology remains a significant issue, and there is much work to be done to address it. Everything is being done to encourage diversity and inclusion in the tech sector, but the pace of change has been slow anti7yt what do you mean by the last word? At HerTechTrail, we are bridging that gap by equipping African women to get started in and build sustainable tech careers with relevant and in-demand tech and digital skills. We do this by providing an enabling community where women techies can thrive and by providing access to tuition free learning opportunities in a variety of skills including data analytics, product management, digital marketing, product design, and UI/UX design in the HerTechTrail Academy. As a testament to the progress we are making, meet Oluwabukola Anjorin, a product manager. “My learning experience at HerTechTrail was valuable. It was practical and comprehensive. Classes were interactive and tutors were accessible. I was very confident in the knowledge imparted to me and my abilities, so I started applying for PM roles almost immediately after I concluded the PM Pro course. Fortunately for me, I got an internship role with a start-up company a month after our graduation. When I started working on tasks given to us every week, I confirmed that I had gotten the best training from HerTechTrail. I was able to carry out the tasks because we had practicals in class and assignments as well. As a result, I needed little or no supervision and my mentors were very pleased with my work at every time” Oluwabukola Tweet The pattern of Oluwabukola’s story is consistent with the thousands of women and girls we have supported through their journey building sustainable tech careers across 5 cohorts in the academy with the 6th cohort being onboarded. Our work is aligned with Goal 5 of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals which is to Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls and as such we’re excited that this year’s theme for International Women’s Day, 8 March 2023 (IWD2023), is “DigitALL: International Women’s Day has passed, Wonu. Tweak this paragraph. Innovation and technology for gender equality.” This theme is aligned with the priority theme for the upcoming 67th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW-67), “Innovation and technological change, and education in the digital age for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls.” We are therefore more driven and continue to intensify our efforts in providing support and inspiring African women to be outstanding and blaze trails in all aspects of Tech careers and business. In the 6th cohort of the HerTechTrail Academy now in session, we are set to train 5,000 African women who will have access to our community and the following perks: 100% Remote Learning Media Hackathon & Prizes Community Learning Opportunity to WIN a laptop 3-month intensive learning Access to remote job opportunities Certificate LinkedIn Profile Optimisation We acknowledge that having more women involved in the technology industry results in more creative solutions and increases the likelihood of advancements that promote gender equality and meet the needs of women. In fact, a lack of women inclusion, comes with massive costs: according to UN Women’s Gender Snapshot 2022 report, women’s exclusion from the digital world has shaved $1 trillion from the gross domestic product of low- and middle-income countries in the last decade—a loss that will grow to $1.5 trillion by 2025 without action. Collaborate with us to empower more women economically by providing tuition-free access to learning much needed technical skills. Get started here.
Dec
Dear Small Business Owner, Have you ever heard the saying, “Doing business without advertising (marketing) is like winking at a girl in the dark? You know what you are doing, but nobody else does?” This statement was first made by Steuart Henderson Britt sometime around the mid-1900s. Ages ago! Do you know what it means, though? Come on, let’s break it down. Take a minute to imagine winking in the dark, will you? Hilarious right? I mean, who will see you? Even if you were in a room full of people, it’s still dark, right? Think of the energy you expended on winking; think of what you aimed to achieve by winking—all in the mud! It’s pointless! and frustrating too, sigh! This is the same as running a business without marketing it. You know what you’re doing; you know the solutions you provide; you know the value you make available; you know the needs you meet; you know the better service you can provide; but like winking in the dark, you know what you’re doing but no one else does. I’m sorry to break it to you! While it’s funny to imagine in our mind’s eye, this quote has become a profound business truth. THREE REASONS WHY YOU MUST MARKET YOUR BUSINESS 1. Perception These days, whether you like it or not, the people, places, and things that society perceives or even acknowledges as “the best” are typically not the best. Simply put, they are the best-marketed ones. This reason alone should be enough for you to prioritise marketing your business. 2. Saturation You might want to do some research to see how many other businesses like yours exist. Just do a Google search and see. The fact is, the current global market is highly saturated and more technologically advanced. Easily, there are a hundred, if not several thousand, competitors shouting at your customers daily, trying to get their attention, keep it, and win their business. How exactly will your customers and potential customers hear your voice among the noise, even if your product or service is the best? 3. Upgrade In the present global competitive business environment, we must be distinguished from the noise as having the best solution, options, product, values, or service. Not only that, but we must also instantly single ourselves out, establish trust, build rapport, and show our customers why they should allow our business to be heard. While this is often a challenge, in the end, it is always well worth the effort. You provide solutions, make money, and build relationships when done right. Three birds, one stone—you’re welcome. In conclusion, often, we or someone we know have an effective solution, a great product, or excellent service, yet we rely on family, friends, a website, or “word of mouth” to get it known to the world. You need to get out there with your solution, product, or service and be seen, or you are just wasting time, money, resources, and energy. Learn how to take your marketing game from 0 to 10 in our next digital marketing blog post. See ya!