Tech in Nigeria is on the rise and seems to be flourishing. Just last year, Andela, a Lagos-based startup received heavy backing from Mark Zuckerberg, as he funded 18.5 million to support the startup. In 2015, Paystack came to much prominence, and as a result, secured heavy funding worth around $1.3 million.
However, to say that only men are dominating the tech industry in Nigeria wouldn’t be a fair statement whatsoever, as the women in Nigeria are also emerging as quite the influential forces – especially in the fields of Agriculture and financial tech. This is a brilliant thing to witness, as women are now shaping up the industries that once rejected them, which is a tale of not many years ago.
The negative attitude towards women’s involvement in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (Stem) is starting to change, thanks partly to initiatives such as the Stem outreach and mentoring programs established by the Working to Advance Science and Technology Education for African Women (WAAW) Foundation, which operates in 11 countries. There is also Intel’s program She Will Connect Africa, which has trained more than 150,000 women in Nigeria, South Africa, and Kenya in digital literacy since it launched in 2013.
The involvement of women in the tech industry is now a requirement, not just a luxury that women are presented with. The rapid digitalization that takes place in Nigeria is heavily concentrated in the country’s metropolitan mega city, Lagos. Here, the startup culture flourishes, while big business has moved in: in 2015, global tech supplier Bosch opened a subsidiary in Ikeja, the capital of Lagos region, and Microsoft has an office in the affluent Lagos neighborhood of Ikoyi.
Labour in Nigeria is not only dominated by men, as women are also quite involved in the labor all across the country, however, computing and engineering are still fields that are pretty much dominated by men – and this might soon change, if the progress continues.
