‘Technovation Challenge to boost girls’ ICT access’

The contest which had in attendance over 50 girls from about 13 secondary schools in Lagos and Ogun state, according to WITIN,  is a global technology entrepreneurship program for girls, created to discover their ingenuity in apps development and programming.Speaking at the event, the Coordinator and President of WITIN, Mrs. Martha Omoekpe-Alade, who said the […]

The contest which had in attendance over 50 girls from about 13 secondary schools in Lagos and Ogun state, according to WITIN,  is a global technology entrepreneurship program for girls, created to discover their ingenuity in apps development and programming.
Speaking at the event, the Coordinator and President of WITIN, Mrs. Martha Omoekpe-Alade, who said the Abuja version of the programme comes up on February 8, disclosed that the association (WITIN) is a regional coordinator of the initiative.
According to Alade, the challenge is the largest and longest-running global technology competition exclusively for girls to inspire the pursuit of STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths).
She said, “This contest allows girls learn how to code and develop mobile apps, conduct market research, write business plans, and create a “pitch” for funding. They are also taught life skills such as how to identify a problem, design and test a solution, collaborate with a team, and communicate to different audiences.”
Alade explained that the initiative is in line with the Ministry of Communications Technology’s drive to bridge the growing gap in ICT between young females and their male counterparts.

She listed participating schools this year to include Queensland Academy; Vivian Fowler; Fountain Heights; Unilag international school; Flor-Peak Comprehensive college; Homeland College; Honeyland Schools; King David Model School among others. She informed that each team that participated worked with both a classroom teacher at their school and a female mentor/role model.
While encouraging parents to pay keen interest to what their wards are into, Alade disclosed that the national pitch will hold in April in Nigeria while the world pitch holds in California, USA around May this year.
She recalled that last year, the winners from Nigeria emerged top 10 globally, stressing that the winning team developed a mobile application to solve traffic problem in Nigeria.
The Vice Principal, Academics, Queensland Academy, Olokuntoye Adetayo said the apps development and entrepreneurship mentoring will not only help bring the best in the girls; but also inspire them into creativity and fundamentals of technological innovation.    
He called for support from various stakeholders in the country to help give the initiative the needed to support that will see it grow.