”The Future is Female” campaign by W.TEC is a colourful showcase of women in technology to inspire more women to the Nigerian tech space. Thus, by celebrating women who are successfully working in the tech sector, W.TEC is establishing a clear reference to young women that such is possible for women, while also demystify the tech stereotypes against them.
Our second personality to be featured by the campaign is Mrs Nkemdilim Uwaje Begho, Founder/CEO of Future Software Resources Ltd. An IT service company.
Furthermore we are very excited to introduce Mrs Nkemdilim Uwaje Begho to you:
- At the start of your career, what do you wish you had known? What, if anything, do you wish you had not believe?
I wish I had understood the power of relationships better. I would have invested more time in growing my network and my relationships. As they say, your network is your networth. I am learning that this is very true
- If you could make one change to get more women in tech jobs, what would it be?
I would create a woman quota for tech jobs and ensure that companies have to have a certain percentage of women in technology jobs.
- Which words of phrases do you most overuse (in English or any other language)?
Pay attention to detail.
- What trait do you most attribute to your success?
I’d say consistency, determination and passion and the spirit of excellence.
- What’s your proudest moment?
This is a very hard question, as there have been many proud moments and it is hard to single out just one. Let’s focus on 2018 – this year my proudest moment has been speaking at the African Development Bank Meetings on the same panel as Ngozi Okonjo Iweala.
- What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?
You’ve gotta fake it till you make it.
- What astonishes you the most about the city you live in?
I live in Lagos – the New York of Africa – what astonishes me the most is how vibrant and bubbly the city is. Lagos never sleeps, there’s always a fun joke around the corner or an unbelievable sight like a horse galloping on a major expressway.
- On a lighter note, what question would you wish people should stop asking you?
How does it feel to be a woman in technology?
- What woman in tech inspires you?
Juliana Rotich – she’s been able to given African women in tech a voice and has pushed many boundaries.
Now that we have met Mrs Nkemdilim Begho (nee Uwaje) personally now lets Learn more about her;
A seasoned professional in the IT Service Industry, Mrs Nkemdilim Begho has served as the Managing Director of Future Software Resources Nigeria Ltd (Futuresoft) since 2008. Under her leadership, the company has been strategically re-branded and re-focused on three core areas; Digital Marketing Solution, E-Learning & IT Consultancy, thus establishing it as one of the top Digital & IT solution providers in Nigeria.
As a change catalyst, Mrs Begho recognized that the African technology space is in it’s infancy and requires significant innovations in order to leap-frog and compete in global spheres, this spurred her desire to design initiatives and solutions that ensure Futuresoft provides tailored-made Digital & IT solutions for scaling African businesses that are delivered in accordance with global standards.
Driven by her passion for delivering quality education to African children the award winning i-Connect Project an ICT4D initiative focused on education and ICT was borne. The project is the Winner of the 2012 Etisalat Prize for innovation and the 2013 AR-CSR Sustainable Solutions Showcase. Futuresoft’s STEM focused simulation platform Simulation City (www.simcity.ng) is an offspring of the i-Connect project.
As one of a few Nigerian women in the industry, Mrs Begho’s successes are founded on a passion for driving innovative thinking, building a globally recognized technology brand and setting trends in the Nigerian Technology space. She believes that innovation and change requires adequate support from the public sector and has thus been involved in various public sector initiatives and projects like the Wazobia Linux initiative, the E-Government Interoperability Framework Project and The NITDA Open Standards Framework Project.
Respected and recognized as a leader in her industry, Mrs Begho is regularly featured in a myriad of newspaper and magazine publications and is frequently invited to speak about the future of ICT in Africa, the challenges of African entrepreneurs as well as the role of Information Technology for development and change. She was featured in Forbes Africa as one of the Top 10 Female Tech Founders to watch in Africa, as well as listed on the African Women Power Network Top 40 African Leading Women’s list and named one of the top 100 most innovative in the Nigerian Tech Space by YTech 3 years in a row. She is also featured as one of 100 Lionesses of Africa and was recently featured on the Ventures Africa 42 most innovative Africans list.
More recently she has stretched her wings beyond core technology and co-founded 3 thriving tech driven startups – Anne Li Unique Ideas (www.alwaysme.ng – Manufacturing & Fashion), Compare Insurance Nigeria (www.compareinsurance.com.ng – Insurance) and Fucaire Lifestyle Ltd, publishers of ASPIRE Luxury Magazine (www.aspireluxurymag.com – Luxury Brand Consultancy).
She also serves as an advisory board member for Social Media Week Lagos and has done so for the past 2 years.
Furthermore she is an active board member of the World Summit Youth Award, a global online econtent contest focused on the implementation of the SDGs through Innovative Digital Solutions. She regularly volunteers for mentoring and empowerment programmes like the PIN Ajegunle.org Initiative, the W.TEC Initiative, IMPACT, The Visiola Foundation, Techquest and the Educate The State Initiative (www.educatethestate.com) where she shares her ICT knowledge, as well as her business and life experience with young Nigerians and less privileged children. She is also the co-founder of The Bake for Change Development Foundation (www.facebook.com/bakeforchange), an NGO focused on empowering street children through skill acquisition, vocational training and educational scholarships.
Mrs. Begho is a firm believer in mentorship and is part of the pan-African Mara Mentor Network and SME Boutique Women’s Exclusive Club (SWEC) Mentors. Furthermore she is currently taking part in the MIT Enterprise Forum (MITEF) Coach the Coaches Entrepreneurship program, which commits her to mentoring the next generation of top performing startups.
Mrs. Begho embarked on her professional career in Germany at the Max Planck Institute (MPI) for Psychiatric Research in the department for Statistical Genetics and Proteomics and later worked at Affectis Pharmaceuticals AG, Germany before returning to Nigeria. She is a graduate of Ludwig Maximilian University (LMU) & Technical University Munich (TUM), Germany, where she received a BSc. Hons in Bioinformatics.