Women Techsters Fellowship Class of 2023 Create 79 Solutions
The Women Techsters Fellowship is a year-long virtual learning program delivered through 6 months of intensive training, 6-month internship & mentorship, and enrolment into a mentorship program to equip women with in-demand technology skills and the competence needed to build tech careers and tech-enabled businesses.
The Fellowship is a program under the umbrella of the Women Techsters Initiative, an experiential learning technology upskilling program for young girls and women within the ages of 16 and 40 years across Africa. The program is aimed at bridging the digital and technology knowledge divide between men and women in the technology ecosystem, as well as ensuring equal access to opportunities for women and girls.
The Initiative’s goal is to provide resources for African women to access decent job opportunities in the future workplace, and the necessary skills and support structure to enable women to start and scale technology-enabled businesses and deep-tech start-ups.
The Initiative aims to empower 5 million African women over the next ten years (2020–2030) through various activities held simultaneously across different countries.
In 2022, the Women Techsters Fellowship admitted 1466 women across 15 African countries under 8 learning tracks; Product Management, Product Design, Cybersecurity, Software Development, Mobile App Development, Data Science & AI, Blockchain Technology, 3D and Mixed Reality (AR/VR).
The Women Techsters Fellowship class of 2023 kick-started its learning phase in August 2022 with six months of intensive instructor-led training. The Fellows wrapped up their learning phase with their capstone project.
The capstone project is the program’s final and most significant project. It provides an opportunity for Fellows to showcase the skills and knowledge they have acquired during the 6-month training by addressing a real-world issue. The project is a culmination of the educational experience and a testament to the Fellows’ hard work and dedication to their studies during the Women Techsters Fellowship Program.
The major goal of the capstone project is to test the Fellows’ ability to apply technical skills and knowledge to a real-world problem or issue, while working in cross-functional teams made up of members from various learning tracks to achieve a similar outcome.
The Fellows were divided into 79 groups, and 1,000 of these Women designed 79 Solutions around SDG’s 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9 and 11. These solutions include FixMyDevice, an online IT support, and Service that focuses on Nigeria’s mobile device market and provides an efficient and reliable ecosystem of repair and maintenance of mobile devices for gadget owners without the fear of sub-standard services that tend to be offered by regular gadget repairers; SMARTBIZ, an online platform which helps SMEs to optimize the digital space and simplify operations for small businesses; Zero Stigma, a solution for an HIV/AIDS organization, particularly addressing the stigma faced by affected individuals; PharmTracka: An app that patients can log in to record their readings, receive prompts and reminders to take their drugs and health readings as well as provide the pharmacist with up-to-date records to monitor and provide the needed support among other amazing projects.
The top 20 capstone projects would be selected and exhibited during the upcoming Women Techsters career week and job fair.
