It has truly been an incredible year at Wetech, and as we approach its end, we want to take a moment to reflect on and recap our numerous achievements. This blog post will serve as a spotlight, showcasing everything we’ve accomplished in the past year and offering a sneak peek into our exciting plans for 2024.
Here’s a quick breakdown:
- Expanding Growth
- Opening Doors for Our Community
- Launching a New Campaign and Founders Conference
- Securing Partnerships and Grants
Now, let’s dive in, shall we? 🚀
1. Expanding Growth
Our mission at Wetech is to empower women in the tech industry through networking, impactful programs, and community building. We take pride in the strides our community members have made in their tech careers. Here’s a glimpse into the impactful initiatives we carried out this year.
Events and Webinars:
To kick off International Women’s Month, we hosted #WTSessions23 in March, a workshop series created for women at different career levels in tech to learn how to perfect their resumes, master the tech interview, and land jobs they’ve always wanted. These sessions were led by tech professionals like Chisom Nwokwu, Grace Ademola-Adenle, and many others. The workshop impacted over 500+ women, with over 80% of attendees finding it instrumental in their job-hunting process.
Mentorship Program:
Recognizing that a big part of our community members are in the early stages of their careers, we kicked off the Wetech Mentorship Program. Cohort 2 was a hit, with over 600+ applications, 30+ mentors, and 50+ mentees covering 13 different tracks. The program lasted 12 weeks and ended with a graduation ceremony where Oreoluwa Ruth Ajayi stole the show.
Oreoluwa impressed everyone with the Particle+ app, winning the top prize. This app is not just any e-commerce platform — it gives personalized shopping recommendations, focuses on sustainable fashion, and ensures your payment and checkout are secure. On top of that, she was awarded a cash prize of 50,000 Naira. 👏🏽
2. Opening Doors for Our Community
Collaboration with Tunga:
Tunga unveiled its Tech Impact Academy (TIA) a transformative program tailored to empower African software developers to hone their skills and launch successful careers in the tech field. In response to their call for female technical talents, we proudly nominated three exceptional women from our community — Oyinda Dawodu, Fatimah Akanbi, and Osamudiame Ruth Igbinoba — who embarked on an enriching 4-month journey in the academy.
This unique program is a game-changer, providing participants with specialized technical skills and opening doors to global job opportunities. Throughout the four months, these talented women underwent comprehensive training in their chosen tracks, passionately working on intuitive projects. Their commitment and expertise were evident as they not only met but exceeded the expectations, earning commendable grades.
As the program progresses, these remarkable individuals are currently in the process of securing job internships, a testament to the valuable skills and experiences gained through their participation in the Tech Impact Academy.
3. Launching a New Campaign and Founders Conference
Amplify Campaign:
In our commitment to giving a voice to the underrepresented, we initiated our Amplify campaign video, showcasing remarkable women in tech such as Folu Otubanjo, Key Account Lead at Paystack; Olumide Shode, Founder/CTO of Alarrta; Esther Eze, Founder of Faces of Web3; Dr. Ojuolape Kuti, Research lead at Busha, and Ariyike Adetimehin, Product Designer at Mono. This video campaign serves as a powerful tool to magnify diverse voices, particularly those of women across various tech disciplines, spanning engineering, product design, and startup leadership. Recognizing the existing gap, we launched this campaign as a clarion call for change, encouraging women to share their authentic experiences — from the wellspring of their motivations to their unique perspectives on diversity and beyond. Through this initiative, we have not only given voice to women, making their experiences heard and seen, but we’ve also contributed to the flourishing growth of our community.
Female Founders Conference 2023:
Diverging from our traditional annual flagship event, we introduced a more intimate gathering focused on female founders — Women Defining Tech Entrepreneurship Conference. This exclusive event drew over 350+ participants, including attendees, venture investors, emerging female founders, speakers, sponsors, volunteers, and tech industry leaders. Here, they engaged in meaningful connections, explored funding and job opportunities, and had the chance to pitch their startups to esteemed investors for a grand cash prize.
Our lineup featured inspiring speakers, from Miishe Addy, Co-founder and CEO of Jetstream Africa, to Dolapo Morgan, Investor at Ventures Platform Fund, delving into topics like decoding the art of VC funding: pioneering perspectives from entrepreneurs and backers. The event also hosted the PitchHer contest, with Morayo Ojikutu, CEO of FLOW, emerging as the winner of the impressive 1.5 million naira prize and additional awards. FLOW, her innovative educational platform catering to individuals aged 7 to 18, empowers young minds through the fusion of positive psychology and social-emotional learning, fostering a growth-oriented mindset for academic excellence and personal growth.
Securing sponsorships from renowned organizations like Founders Factory, Lagos Innovates, AnitaB, Internswitch, CcHUB, and JetStream Africa, our conference buzzed with diverse activities. Additionally, Crafter, an AI-driven platform revolutionizing team workflows, conducted a Beta program raffle. The lucky winner of the N50,000 prize was Aghama Jesurobo.
The conference participants thoroughly enjoyed the event, with 80% of attendees expressing satisfaction, 46% noting an increased sense of belonging in the tech community, and 53% feeling more inspired about future career opportunities. For an in-depth look at the conference, follow the link below:
4. Securing Partnerships and Grants
Microsoft Tour & Hackathon:
As our community grows, we cherish the chance to strengthen our connections beyond the digital realm. We love gathering in person, getting to know each other, and building meaningful relationships. Recently, we partnered and received an invitation from Microsoft to tour the African Development Centre in Lagos, and seized the opportunity to join the annual hackathon alongside our friends from STEM Bridge Stars.
During the hackathon, our community members teamed up to work on real projects from this year’s mentorship program, adding innovative features to create a final MVP (Minimum Viable Product). After a dedicated period of hard work, each team presented their final projects, and we were thrilled to see Team Safe Haven emerge as the winner. They developed an app designed to empower individuals affected by domestic violence. This experience not only strengthened the bonds within our community but also enhanced their technical skills. It’s through such collaborative endeavors that we continue to grow, learn, and make a positive impact.
Check out this recap video on Instagram capturing our time at the Microsoft office: https://www.instagram.com/reel/CxvDFXNMv9_/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=YzZhZTZiNWI3Nw==
The Autodesk Foundation Grant:
As a non-profit organization, we are constantly seeking funding opportunities to bolster our community initiatives. Imagine the joy on our faces when we learned that we’ve been chosen as one of the recipients of a $20,000 grant in collaboration with the Autodesk Foundation! This generous grant is set to play a pivotal role in supporting our day-to-day operations and advancing community initiatives. We are truly grateful for this invaluable support. 🌟💙
As we bask in the success of this year, we’re thrilled to announce the upcoming Women in Tech Flagship Conference 2024, a special edition marking our 5th anniversary! We eagerly invite you to join us again for this landmark event. The vision is to expand on the initial conference and add interactive workshops and career fairs. If you’re an organization, community, partner, or sponsor interested in being part of next year’s milestone event, we warmly invite you to express your interest by completing the partnership form here [https://forms.gle/MSzKNLsGjgBmCcgs6]. Your partnership would be beneficial in helping us create more opportunities and platforms for women in tech.
We’re beyond proud of everything our small but mighty team achieved in 2023 and eager to come back bigger and better next year! The journey thus far has been remarkable, but rest assured the best is yet to come. See you all in the New Year! 🥂
Create an impact today by contributing to a meaningful cause. Donate here: https://www.wetechng.com/donate
