Lagos, Nigeria – May 20, 2024
In commemoration of the 2024 International Girls in ICT Day themed “Leadership”, in this light the Women’s Technology Empowerment Centre (W.TEC) collaborated with Oracle Academy to organize an impactful Tech event for select 176 secondary school girls from 10 secondary schools in the Lagos Mainland area (both private and public) at Sabo – Yaba, Lagos.
The event, designed to inspire girls to pursue and appreciate the opportunities from careers in ICT fields, featured engaging career talk sessions led by amazing women in tech from Oracle Nigeria, who shared from their wealth of experience, motivating stories, and tips to inspire the young girls about technology and the vast opportunities it offers, this they did for the various sessions for the programme.
The International Girls in ICT Day is a day set aside by the UN aimed to inspire a global movement to increase the representation of girls and women in technology. In this light W.TEC supports this movement by bringing together enthusiastic select girls for an impactful and insightful event where W.TEC connects them with successful women in ICT in a bid to midwife their tech-dreams to reality by broadening their horizons with knowledge on how they could successfully be more intentional in pursuing careers in ICT.
The main highlight of the event was the project presentations by participants of the W.TEC Academy. The ICT projects they showcased, which they developed during our classes, were both mind-blowing and truly inspiring. Notably, the participants from Surulere Girls Senior Secondary School presented a website they created for their school. Their project stood out and was recognized as the best project presentation because it addressed a problem with a solution that corresponded to the identified problem. This showed how creative the students were, along with several other participating schools.
The event was held at the Genisis Hall, Yaba Baptist Multipurpose Building, Sabo – Yaba, Lagos on Wednesday May 15th 2024.
The event featured the following activities:
• Career talks
• Leadership session for girls.
• Break-out mentorship sessions
• Project presentations
• Prize presentations
• ICT – Themed Interactive fun games
We extend our heartfelt gratitude to our special guest for gracing the occasion. They anchored the main sessions on leadership for girls, facilitated breakout mentorship sessions, and delivered insightful career talks. Additionally, they served as our esteemed panel of judges with Oreoluwa Lesi, Executive Director/Founder, W.TEC for the project presentations:
Bekere Amassoma
Program Manager, Oracle Academy, Sub-Sahara Africa
Kehinde Adewunmi
Technology Sales Manager, Oracle Nigeria
Yinka Akinbamidele
Technology Sales Manager, Oracle Nigeria
Taiwo Salako
Representative of Lagos State Ministry of Education District IV
Notable Comments:
- Oreoluwa Lesi: The Executive Director, in her address, appreciated the W.TEC Team, our event partners, and attending students for making the day a success.
- Yemisi Efunnuga: The Programme Coordinator encouraged the girls to be resilient and stay focused on their goals, irrespective of the challenges they encounter.
- Taiwo Salako: The Representative of Lagos State Ministry of Education District IV urged the girls to take advantage of the rich career tips shared with them by the speakers.
- Kehinde Adewunmi, Technology Sales Manager, Oracle Nigeria, and Bekere Amassoma, Program Manager, Oracle Academy, Sub-Sahara Africa: They shared their success journeys in the ICT sector, urging the girls to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the ICT sector.
We would also like to extend our appreciation to the leadership of Lagos State District IV, the management of all the schools that participated in the event, the members of our Girls Advisory Council, both former and serving (alumnae of W.TEC SheCreates Camp) and entire W.TEC Team, for their immense contributions to the success of our event.
Photo gallery: Event photo album
Press Coverage: The Nation News Papers
For media inquiries, please contact:
Adeyemi Odutola
yemi@wteconline.org
About W.TEC:
Women’s Technology Empowerment Centre (W.TEC) is a non-profit organization committed to promoting and advocating for the increased participation of women and girls in technology and STEM fields.