Were training Africans to be contributors to global economy, not consumers –Oladepo, technopreneur
By Agatha Emeadi
Oladiwura Oladepo is the Executive Director, Technology for Social Change and Development for Initiative (Tech4Dev), a not-for-profit organization she co-founded with her partner, Joel Ogunsola, to combat deep-rooted gender bias in the Nigeria tech space, where women are outnumbered by the ratio of 9 to I. With a passionate push, she set up technological hubs for women and girls to give them a place at the table. In this interview, Oladepo explains that the organisation was established to provide economic prosperity for Africans.
Before setting up Tech4Dev, what were you doing?
Well, before starting Tech4Dev alongside my Co-Founder, Joel Ogunsola in 2016, I had accumulated experience across various roles within organisations in the private sector, such as Lagos Business School, Accenture and Netcom Africa. Aside from professional work, I honed my business acumen by earning a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree from the Lagos Business School before getting a Masters degree in Advanced Management from Yale School of Management in the United States.
Again, I had always been eager to volunteer anywhere I found myself across the different roles and schools that I attended. I remember in my MBA class at Lagos Business School, I led a volunteer project team that was designed by my classmates, called Project Teaming with Talents (TWiTs). We focused on empowering student entrepreneurs with the right business acumen to be able to grow and excel in their businesses. We worked with 10 student entrepreneurs from the University of Lagos. We provided them with mentorship and career advice to grow their businesses. That was the first volunteer project that I managed end-to-end and that set a pedestal for where I am today.
How did your journey into the world of technology start?
My journey started in 2014 during the Ebola virus outbreak in Nigeria. My father, who is now retired, was a Professor of Public Health at the University of Ibadan, Oyo State.
He had expressed concern that the government was not doing much to provide information about the Ebola outbreak to the people quickly. He noted that even people in the city did not have sufficient information about the virus. With the fear that the disease might likely spread faster in urban areas due to the increased frequency of human interaction, we swung into action based on that information. Ogunsola and I brainstormed and thought about the best way to quickly disseminate the information to the public on how to prevent the spread of the virus.
At the time, Ogunshola was working at Microsoft and already had the technology knowledge and expertise. Then we came up with the idea of developing an informational website called “Stop Ebola.” However, it was difficult to find people with the technical expertise we needed to build the site. Eventually, we got someone, though the website development timeline took longer than expected. Eventually, the site was finally set up and began running. Again, Ogunshola was able to get some ambassadors to push awareness about the website through the Future Project where he was a volunteer. During the lifecycle of Ebola in Nigeria, the website helped disseminate information and had almost a million visits. Surmounting that hurdle and getting the solution live was an eye-opener that marked the beginning of Tech4Dev.
You have also been passionate for Africans to explore opportunities to deploy their digital skills. Tell us about that, please.
After the “Stop Ebola” project, we went on to set up Tech4Dev with the mission to solve the worlds greatest problems in three core areas which include Public Health, Civic Engagement and Digital Education which would go on to become the focus of what we do now. The moment we realized that technology was the future, we wanted Africans to have access to the right skills, and become contributors and not only consumers. Again, technology provides access to opportunities for decent work. Given the statistics of poverty on the continent, we envisioned that empowering people to gain digital skills that would improve their socio-economic realities was the right direction to go. In 2019, we decided to fully focus on digital education, which involves digital skills training as well as job matching and advocacy.
So, how are you driving this change through Tech4Dev?
Our determination is to drive economic inclusion for under-resourced and under-represented communities not just in Africa, but across the globe. We will use digital skills empowerment and advocacy as a tool and pathway. The aim will be to ensure that we can provide decent work and entrepreneurship opportunities to the communities. That is how we are driving change as an organization.
Therefore, to achieve the goal, we have worked with several indigenous and international organisations, and public and private partners to roll out several digital and technology skills and programs to different beneficiary groups.
At the moment, we are going beyond Africa. We have recently opened an office in the United States to expand our mission as an organization. Our mission is to create opportunities for the under-represented, under-resourced and low-income communities across the world.
Lets look at the Women Techsters Initiative. What is it all about?
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My passion for gender parity and improved economic outcomes led to the creation of The Women Techsters Initiative. The vision is to improve the economic power of women in Africa, particularly those in underserved and under-resourced communities using technology skills as a pathway to enable them to access jobs or start businesses.
The programmes under the initiative are unique in that they are split into advocacy and empowerment. The advocacy components include our Open Days, which enable women to make decisions to start a career in technology through learning from other experienced women in the trade. Tech Girls Drive is built to empower young girls in primary and secondary schools with the right information about Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). It is with utmost hope that in the future, the girls will be technologically compliant.
Then, they will move into our empowerment programme starting from the boot camp which is a three-week intermediate experiential learning programme to the fellowship and business incubation. We also have the masterclass which is for women in technology already, who wish to specialize in other areas of technology.
Since its inception, the Women Techsters sub-programmes have directly reached 101,645 beneficiaries. The Tech Girls Drive is also at 81,665 with girls across 22 African countries. Beneficiaries from the Fellowship stand at 1081, Bootcamp 7,972, Open Day 10,265, masterclass 662. The unique point of the Women Techsters Initiative is that the empowerment training leads directly to job opportunities and entrepreneurship.
Are you satisfied with the number of women embracing STEM?
I am not satisfied with the status quo, which is why I am striving to make a change. For example, in urban areas across Africa, the number still stands at eight men to two women in terms of participation in technology. In suburban areas, the number is close to zero participatory rates for women in technology. So, we are still far from where we want to be. My main goal is to see womens participation in STEM reach a 50-50 ratio because when one looks at Africas population ratio of women to men, it is almost 50-50, so, why cant we have a 50-50 representation in STEM? Thats why we want to contribute to our quota by reaching five million women across Africa by 2030.
How was growing up?
I was born in Ibadan and raised in a loving family of seven. I have two sisters and two brothers, then my parents. My father is a retired professor of Public Health at the University of Ibadan while my mother is a retired public health nurse and civil servant. While growing up, we were raised and taught the value of service and resilience. My parents being who they are, we learnt the power of perseverance. They taught us that “impossibility” was a mere obstacle, not a barrier. They nurtured our independence and allowed us to make choices, from choosing our secondary schools, universities and courses. This instilled in us the confidence to tackle challenges head-on, with minimal reliance on others. Again, equality was paramount in our household. My sisters and I were raised with the same self-reliance as our brothers. We never felt limited by our gender. We were empowered to be strong, and capable and to be the “African princesses,” ready to conquer any obstacle.
We saw a huge role model in our mum who is a fiercely independent woman and she taught us that our gender is our strength and a gift. These values, instilled with love and guidance, shaped me into who I am today. My daily life demands quick thinking and decisive action, skills honed by my upbringing. I face challenges with confidence, knowing I possess the tools my parents provided me to navigate any storm.
What has been your high point in your career?
My high point in my career was when Tech4Dev got awarded its first US$1 million grant. I was so ecstatic and elated. Then I wrote my team members a long heartfelt mail stating that we just unlocked a next-level milestone as an organization. It meant that our approach and ways to deliver on our interventions needed to see a more significant shift.
Any low moments?
One of our low times was when our regular donor could not do it that year; it threw a wrench into our plans. Because we already had beneficiaries who were expecting our free programme for the year. How do I tell them that we couldnt afford to run the programme for the year? It was a sad experience. However, I told myself, that Tech4Dev was set up for a reason – we want to provide economic prosperity for Africans and by extension, marginalized groups across the world. We, therefore, did it through personal funds and the support of friends.
What advice do you have for women who struggle with getting a hold on their career in technology and otherwise?
I will always encourage women in technology or any career path to seek out communities and mentorship opportunities that can help them achieve their goals. These could be possible by attending forums and events focused on womens growth and advancement. I can tell that I am inspired by the story of Belinda Opola, a fellow of the Women Techsters Class of 2023 from Kenya, who overcame challenges to achieve success in the technology industry. Belinda had taken a six-year career break and when she was ready to return, she found it difficult to fit in, but her perseverance and the supportive community provided by Tech4Devs fellowship programme helped her get back on her feet.