Nnedimma Nkemdili "Nnedi" Okorafor is a Nigerian American writer of science fiction and fantasy for both children and adults. She is best known for her Binti Series and her novels Who Fears Death, Zahrah the Windseeker, Akata Witch, Akata Warrior, Lagoon and Remote Control. She has also written for comics and film.
Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) is an umbrella term used to group together the distinct but related technical disciplines of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The term is typically used in the context of education policy or curriculum choices in schools. It has implications for workforce development, national security concerns, and immigration policy, with regard to admitting foreign students and tech workers.
BCSWomen is a Specialist Group of the British Computer Society, The Chartered Institute for IT, that provides networking opportunities for all BCS professional women working in IT around the world, as well as mentoring and encouraging girls and women to enter or return to IT as a career. Founded by Sue Black, as of March 2020 the Chair of BCSWomen is Andrea Palmer. BCSWomen has the aim of supporting women working in and considering a career in Information Technology.
The Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing (GHC) is a series of conferences designed to bring the research and career interests of women in computing to the forefront. It is the world's largest gathering of women and non-binary technologists. The celebration, named after computer scientist Grace Hopper, is organized by the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology. GHC 2022 conference was held hybrid in Orlando and virtually at the end of September 2022.
Megan J. Smith is an American engineer and technologist. She was the third Chief Technology Officer of the United States and Assistant to the President, serving under President Barack Obama. She was previously a vice president at Google, leading new business development and early-stage partnerships across Google's global engineering and product teams at Google for nine years, was general manager of Google.org, a vice president briefly at Google[x] where she co-created WomenTechmakers, is the former CEO of Planet Out and worked as an engineer on early smartphones at General Magic. She serves on the boards of MIT and Vital Voices, was a member of the USAID Advisory Committee on Voluntary Aid and co-founded the Malala Fund. Today Smith is the CEO and Founder of shift7. On September 4, 2014, she was named as the third U.S. CTO, succeeding Todd Park, and serving until January, 2017.
Many scholars and policymakers have noted that the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) have remained predominantly male with historically low participation among women since the origins of these fields in the 18th century during the Age of Enlightenment.
Marieme Jamme is a Senegalese-born French-British businesswoman and technology activist. In 2016 she founded the iamtheCODE Foundation and served on the World Wide Web Foundation board. In 2017, Quartz Africa included Jamme in their "Quartz Africa Innovators 2017" list. In 2013 she was nominated as a Young Global Leader at the World Economic Forum. In 2017, she won the Innovation Award at the Global Goals Award as a Goalkeepers for her work in advancing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, curated by UNICEF and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, for globally supporting girls and young women and advancing the UN's Sustainable Development Goals. That same year, she was listed as one of BBC's 100 Women.
Ethel Delali Cofie is a Ghanaian entrepreneur, IT professional and consultant. She is a founding member of Women in Tech Africa. She is also the CEO and founder of Edel Technology Consulting.
Oreoluwa Somolu Lesi is a Nigerian social entrepreneur and UK-trained economist and information technology expert. She is the founder and executive director of Women's Technology Empowerment Centre (W.TEC), a non-profit organisation that empowers women and girls socially and economically through education in Information technology. W.TEC was established in the year 2008. She is a fellow of Ashoka and a recipient of the Anita Borg Institute (ABIE) Change Agent Award.
The Women's Technology Empowerment Centre (W.TEC) is a non-profit organization that provides technology education for women and girls in Nigeria. W.TEC offers services and programs including mentoring, training, technology camps, awareness campaigns, collaborative projects, and research and publication in order to empower women.
Ruthe Farmer is an American policymaker and activist. She is focused on inclusion and leveraging existing infrastructure to scale change for girls' participation in technology and engineering. She is founder and CEO of the Last Mile Education Fund and also serves as the Chief Evangelist for CSforAll and she was a senior policy advisor for tech inclusion at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy in the Obama administration and Chief Strategy and Growth Officer at the National Center for Women & Information Technology.
Njideka Françoise Harry is a World Economic Forum Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship Fellow.
Women in Tech Africa (WiTA) is an organization with a focus on entrepreneurship expansion and multiplying the numbers of females in technology, especially in Africa. It was founded by Ethel D Cofie. Over the years, WiTA has strategically focused on enabling women to drive Africa's growth story and create an impact on personal life through technology. Currently, its target audience comprises aspiring female tech entrepreneurs between the ages of 18 and 40. Women in Tech Africa is the largest group on the continent with membership across 30 countries globally with physical chapters in Ghana, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Somaliland, Germany, Ireland, Kenya, Tanzania and Mauritius.
Ivy Barley is a Ghanaian entrepreneur, women in tech advocate, and the co-founder of Developers in Vogue. In January 2022, GhanaWeb featured Barley as one of the 3 Ghanaian ‘Women in Tech’ making strides on the international corporate scene. In 2017 and 2019, Barley was listed as one of the Top 50 Most Influential Young Ghanaians by Avance Media.
Nkiru Balonwu is an entrepreneur and activist based in Lagos, Nigeria. She is known for her views of women as the solution to Africa's problems and is the founder and chairperson of African Women on Board, an independent, women-led African non-profit organisation focused on advancing narratives to improve realities for women and girls of African heritage. She is also founder and managing partner of RDF Strategies, a consultancy firm that provides advice on strategic communication and stakeholder engagement across sectors from law, technology, finance, advocacy, international development, show business consulting, political engineering and communications
Nkem Okocha is a Nigerian social entrepreneur and activist who founded Mamamoni, a FinTech social enterprise that empowers poor rural and urban slum women with free vocational skills and mobile loans.
Elicia Maine is a Canadian academic. She is the W.J. VanDusen Professor of Innovation & Entrepreneurship within Simon Fraser University's Beedie School of Business. She was the founding educational coordinator for New Ventures BC, and the founding Academic Director of Invention to Innovation (i2I), an award-winning graduate program in science & technology commercialization offered in traditional and online formats. Within Simon Fraser University, she serves as Associate Vice President, Knowledge Mobilization & Innovation, providing oversight of SFU Innovates.
Ibilola Amao is a Nigerian and British engineer, principal consultant of Lonadek Services and consultant for the vision 2020 initiative. She received several awards such as most active women business enterprise IWEC 2016, Energy Institute Champion 2016, C3E international woman of distinction Award, Access Bank “W” 100, and the 2019 Forbes Africa rising star Award. She was a Vital Voices (VV) GROW fellow, a member of vv100 and a WEConnect international fellow. Ibilola was also the co-founder of the cedar STEM and entrepreneurship hub.
Asmau Ahmed is a Nigerian-American entrepreneur, technology advocate, and beauty expert. Ahmed is an advocate for women in technology and entrepreneurship.
