Women are a force to reckon with in every field and the influence of their work on the socio-economic development of Nigeria is glaring to all. The international women’s day served as a huge platform to highlight and celebrate the amazing work and tremendous impact that these women make in the community.
The LLA annual list not only celebrates women in social enterprise, entertainment and health but also recognizes the value that women in tech add to our community. These women are actively making a difference in the tech field and even helping other women navigate their journey through this space.
Ada Nduka Oyom — She is the founder of She Code Africa and Co-founder Open Source Community Africa where she’s focused on matters bordered around Women in tech and Open Source respectively. Through She Codes Africa Ada has impacted over 10,000 women members across 17 African countries with her team and driven the growth of women in STEM in Africa while championing gender diversity in tech through it. Her expertise in Developer relations and staunch advocacy for developers within Africa has earned her roles in several top organisations globally including her current engagement as the Ecosystem community manager for Sub-saharan Africa with Google.
Abisola Oladapo — She is the CEO/Co-founder Agnes Health, the world’s first AI powered multilingual midwife (Sister Agnes). She leveraged her medtech and software engineering knowledge to painstakingly and expertly co-create an intuitive technology called Agnes, designed by women, for women.
Anna Ekeledo — She is the Executive Director of AfriLabs, a pan-African network of 320 tech hubs in 51 African countries. She is leading AfriLabs to develop programmes and building partnerships that support innovation hubs and other stakeholders that raise high potential entrepreneurs that stimulate economic growth and social development in Africa. Prior to joining AfriLabs, Anna was involved in pioneering various impact-driven projects and new business units with organisations such as the Visiola Foundation, Wild Fusion Digital Centre, Google, Lagos Business School – Nigeria, and Ingenico – a French global financial technology company. Also, she is the Regional Innovation Lead – Africa at the EdTech Hub – the world’s largest education technology research and innovation project which seeks to help improve education technology in developing countries.
Cynthia Obioha — She is the quiet force behind the localisation and growth of Meta’s products in emerging economies since 2017. Cynthia leads a diverse team from Africa and also the Middle East, passionate about building and bringing meaningful products to people across the region, helping them build community and leveraging the power of the internet to find value. Prior to Meta, she worked at Google Nigeria then the United Kingdom as a Technical Account Manager and Solutions Consultant, driving partner integrations with Google products. Cynthia is currently pursuing an MBA at the prestigious IESE. With a heart for constantly bringing joy to the less privileged, in 2016, Cynthia founded the Bloom Story Organisation, a charity that hosts an annual Christmas Bloom Party for orphaned and vulnerable children and offers them a complete Christmas makeover and fun experiences. Cynthia’s curiosity about various life topics and her desire to spread knowledge led her to launch and host ‘Time With Neriah’, a vibrant Instagram Live conversation where her guests based on their life experiences, provide practical tips on topics such as financial awareness, building relationships and leadership. She now dedicates her time to coaching and mentoring young African leaders, especially women, to pivot their careers and grow rapidly and steadily in their professional journey.
Eniola Edun — is currently the CEO and Co-founder of Gamr, a gaming platform that helps gamers discover and organise tournaments, build communities, increase viewership and get rewarded while projecting Africa’s latent talents to the world. In her previous role as a General Manager at TechPlus Nigeria, She led the strategy development and operations of arguably, Africa’s largest tech event which connects, fosters and enables tech inclusion among the youth population for social change and enterprise via Events, Esports, bringing together thought leaders around the world on a centre stage annually with tens of thousands in attendance including gamers, innovators & investors. She is also the co-founder of AWARRI, a Robotics and AI startup whose mission is to enable the development and adoption of advanced AI & Robotics technology on the African continent.
Morenike Fajemisin — She is the Co-founder Whispa; a mobile application that allows young people to privately access sexual and reproductive health information, products and services. She is also a Pharmacist and the 2016 winner of the BMGF/Bayer 120 under 40 award and in 2019. She also won the Ingenuity fund grant and her innovative mobile app WHISPA was selected by World Health Organisation Africa as one of the Top 30 Innovations to look out for.
Olayemi Wonuola Keri — She is the Chief Executive Officer of Heckerbella Limited, a technology business transformation company that enables African businesses to simplify their processes and define the future. A Chair, Non-Executive Director and Advisory Board member of various organisations and an award-winning commercially minded technologist with 20 years’ experience in the Information Technology and Telecommunications industries, operating at CEO and C-suite level across the public and private sectors. She is the co-founder of Rising Tide Africa, a women’s movement initiated with a vision to increase women’s participation in angel investing as an asset class and promote education, cross-border investing and investor-mentoring across Africa. She is a Director of the Lagos Angel Network and serves on the Board of Africa Business Angel Network (ABAN) as well as the Investment Committee of Acumen Resilient Agriculture Fund (ARAF); managed by Acumen Capital Partners. She is a mentor to various digital and technology-enabled start-ups.
Tomilola Adejana — She is the Co Founder and CEO of Bankly, a fintech company that digitizes cash and provides micro businesses/individuals working in the informal sector a safer path to savings. Bankly is the “bank to the unbanked,” meeting the needs of the financially excluded by providing the personal and technological touchpoints they require to digitize their cash and grow their income in a safe and simple way.
You can still view the list exclusively here: https://leadingladiesafrica.org/iwd-owen-omogiafo-lola-odedina-ojy-okpe-maryam-augie-abdulmumin-blessing-omakwu-bolanle-austen-peters-confidence-staveley-weruche-opia-and-more-these-are-nigerias-100-most-inspirin/
