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It has been reported time and time again that across the globe, women remain underrepresented in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). This is especially true in many African countries including Nigeria.
With this in thought, Afrotech, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) put together its first STEM camp where secondary school girls were tutored and trained to develop basic hands-on skills in renewable energy, coding and robotics.
Founded by Adeola Shasanya, an Electrical engineering and Renewable consultant at the Lagos State Electricity board, Morenike Johnson, a Chemical Engineer and Yvonne Allanah, a Mechanical Engineer, Afrotech has a vision to create a Nigeria where the number of women in the Science and Technology industry would rise and women would feel welcome, accomplished and appreciated for their efforts and achievements in these industries.
The three day boot camp which commenced on Tuesday, 8 August to Thursday, 10 August 2017 had young girls from different secondary schools in Lagos as participants.
On day one, participants were taught the fundamentals of renewable energy. The students also had Yewande Odumosu, an Information Technology (IT) expert who previously worked at Google and Vodacom and Gbonju Akingbade, Director, Techplus, speak to them on the importance of technology. The students took classes on coding on day two and day three had robotics and programming sessions by Dhack institutes.
According to Afrotech founders; “there is usually a 1:10 ratio of women to men in these industries. The main problem we face is trying to fit in such a male-dominated field and this can only be achievable when women stop seeing themselves as inferior and understand that they are just as capable as men in getting the job done. If there were more women who felt empowered and capable enough to take on these jobs, the gender gap will slowly start to close.”
Asked how the numbers of women in STEM could increase, Shasanya told BusinessDay that; “We realised that the best way to do this was by encouraging more young girls in Nigeria to take up STEM at secondary school and university levels and stick with it even after school. That is why we created Afrotech.”
