A lot of people believe in great things but it is actually a few people who take the initiative to do the great things they believe in. I heard her story and got inspired. This young lady had a dream, took daring decisions and bold steps even though a bit risky.
Regina Agyare is a young social entrepreneur who is passionate and loves Technology. She has been in the technology industry for 8 years and has worked in varying positions as
Product Manager for Internet Applications at Rancard Solutions, Product Manager for E-business
Applications and Management and Information Systems Supervisor at various companies.With the dream of changing the African single story through technology, she has taken great initiatives so there could be more positive stories coming from Africa.
She attended Ashesi University where she studied Computer Science. She found herself working in a bank after completing school where she worked very hard to develop a lot of their web applications and set up that department. She was unfortunately denied promotion because She was a
female and young. She felt devastated and resigned from the job and got employed at another bank. There, she had a good salary, bonuses, she could get special recommendations and afford a great life but she felt unfulfilled because that did not match her dreams. With an alarm of making a change ringing in her head all the time, she obeyed and resigned.
She then moved on to start a company, Soronko Solutions which has a mission of using basic technology to drive human potential and a vision of developing the next generation of critical thinkers and innovators in STEM. The company also leverages on developing innovative technology solutions across different channels such as Web, Mobile, POS and ATM to solve problems. She is currently helping small and medium scale enterprises in Ghana create visibility and grow their businesses with technology.
In her high school days, she had a dream of becoming a rocket scientist, she couldn’t further with that because the educational system wasn’t structured in a way which could help her make this dream a reality. So then brooded on these questions; “how can I create a better environment for young children like me who would want to build rockets?” “How can they be fostered and nurtured to think about Africa’s problems?” “How can they become critical thinkers and problems solvers?”
These thoughts drove her to the rural areas where she had different sessions with children on Science and Technology games which required critical thinking. During those sessions, she found out that the boys were aggressive and the girls always stood back watching.
There again, she thought about how she could get girls to take part in creating technology to have the female perspective. Then a brilliant brainchild was born.
She set up “Tech needs Girls”, a mentorship program which trains girls between(6-19) how to code, build mobile applications and websites. She invites other females who are either computer scientists or engineers to have coding classes with the girls every Saturday. These girls are now designing web applications which is really amazing!
Her hardwork paid off! Below are some awesome opportunities and achievements of hers;
•Her story was published in the Lean In for Graduates by Sheryl Sandberg COO of Facebook.
•She is an Aspen Institute New Voices Fellow,Global Shaper of the Accra hub of the World Economic Forum, Vital Voices Fellow,Change Leader with Tigo Reach For Change and YALI Washington Fellow 2014 and will meet Obama and Michelle.
•Finalist for the African Digital Woman of the Year,awarded Women of Courage Award for Technology and Tech Needs Girls was awarded in the Ghana CSR Diary Awards
•Had the Crown Princess of Sweden come to the Slum to visit Tech Needs Girls and was invited to speak at Harvard University and TEDxLabone.
•She is on the project advisory board to help advice the UN Committee for the Rights of a Child update the Convention for the Rights of the Child for a Digital Age.
If you have a dream, just go ahead and work it out!
Source: Yibella.blogspot.com
