“To the women doing this, there’s no female brain and male brain, we are all persons not just gender. Career and professions don’t have gender. It’s about your ability, not your gender. So if there is something you can do, you don’t have to look at who is in there. They are a human being just like you.”
— Anne Amuzu, CEO Nandi Mobile
In an industry where men outnumber women, the tech scene in Ghana has seen some tremendous growth over the years. From software development, training, influencing, blogging, engineering, to leadership roles with top global I.T giants, these women are blazing the trail for women in this space here in Ghana. They are influencers and role models not just for young women aspiring for a career and impact in the tech space but any young person aspiring to reach the skies in tech here in Ghana.
Here are women influencing tech.
Lucy Quist
Lucy Quist is an international business leader and a former CEO of Airtel – one of Ghana’s largest telecommunications companies and industry leader in data and digital innovation. She passionately believes in harnessing the potential of people to deliver outstanding results in business to improve society.
At Airtel she grew customer market share for both voice and data transformed Airtel into one of the most loved telecom brands in the daily lives of Ghanaians. This transformation has been recognized repeatedly with the company winning over 20 major awards during her tenure.
Her vast business experience has seen her work in the UK and Portugal as well as in West, Central and East Africa. Lucy is a great advocate for STEM encouraging greater student participation in STEM to accelerate development.
She is an accomplished speaker on many subjects in business leadership and technology. She has been on platforms such as TEDxEUSTON, the Leadership and Ethics Conference at Columbia Business School and the African Development Investment Convention in Zurich. She was featured on BBC’s Power Women series http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-38033551
Lucy serves on several international and local Boards including the International Board for African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS), Petra Trust Company Ltd, the Business Environment Enabling Programme under UKAID, the Industry Advisory Board for Ashesi University and The Exploratory – an initiative of the African Women Advocacy project.
She is a founding member of the Executive Women Network, a non-profit organization of women in senior management and executive positions committed to inspiring, empowering and supporting women executives to succeed.
She holds a first class degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the University of East London and is a Chartered Engineer with the Institute of Engineering and Technology, UK. She also holds an MBA from INSEAD in France.
Mitwa Kaemba Ng’ambi
Mitwa Kaemba Ng’ambi is the current CEO of AirtelTigo Ghana.
Prior to taking up the AirtelTigo CEO appointment, Mitwa Kaemba Ng’ambi was the CEO of Tigo Senegal.
She has had vast experience in the telecommunications industry, having worked with mobile operations such as MTN and Airtel prior to joining the Milicom Group in 2016.
She has also worked in various countries, including Finland, Denmark, Namibia, Benin and Zambia.
Mitwa has also held roles across technology and commercial leading teams responsible for the strategy and business planning, marketing, sales and distribution, mobile financial service and IT solutions delivery.
Ethel D. Cofie
Named one of the top 5 women impacting I.T in Africa, Ethel is the CEO and Founder of EDEL Technology Consulting- I.T Consulting Company in West Africa and Europe (I.T Consulting Firm of the Year-Ghana Telecoms and I.T Awards) and founder of Women in Tech Africa (Africa’s Largest Tech Group) with members in over 30 African countries and in the diaspora and growing.
Ethel also created Women In Tech Week, a global event which started in 2016 which impacts over 10,000 women globally. She’s been featured on BBC and have had her opinion pieces published on CNN on topics of technology in emerging markets, and women leadership. When Ethel is not running EDEL or Women in Tech Africa, she advises and consults on technology growth in emerging markets. She sits on a number of boards across the continent.
Former U.S first lady, Michelle Obama believes, “Ethel is a blessing to her generation.”
Regina Honu
Regina Honu is a Ghanaian Social Entrepreneur, software developer and founder of Soronko Solutions, a software development company in Ghana. She has just opened Soronko Academy, the first coding and Human-centered design school for children and young adults in West Africa. As one of the few women making significant contributions to Africa’s development through innovative technological solutions, Regina has received multiple awards for her tireless efforts, including being named by CNN as one of the one the 12 inspirational women who rock STEM. She was also named as one of the six women making an impact in Tech in Africa and one of the ten female entrepreneurs to watch in emerging economies.
Watch this: Ghana Talks Business TV: Regina Honu
Her success has garnered international attention with features on platforms such as CNN African Voices, BBC, Deutsche Welle, Aljazeera as well as the Impatient Optimist blog by The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
She was unveiled as the 2016 Vlisco Brand Ambassador. In an interview with the CNN’s African Start-Up she is described as a Ghanaian tech guru who wants to develop the next generation of women in technology.
Regina’s story was also published in Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In book.
Regina started Tech Needs Girls Ghana movement which aims to train and educate more Ghanaian girls into studying technology related courses. The movement is well noted for teaching girls how to code.
Kajsa Hallberg Adu
Dr. Kajsa Hallberg Adu is an interdisciplinary academic with a strong foundation in research, liberal arts, and community involvement. She joined Ashesi University College in 2009 as a lecturer, and teaches social theory, leadership as well as leads the work with our writing courses.
Kajsa is the founder of BloggingGhana, an organization for social media influencers in Ghana. She is herself a successful blogger on kajsaha.com and tweets @kajsaha, BloggingGhana has influenced blogging in Ghana since its inception.
Estelle Akofio-Sowah
Currently the Country Lead of Google Ghana, Estelle is a highly motivated individual, committed to the social and economic development of Ghana. Previously the Managing Director of BusyInternet, Africa’s hugely successful internet startup, highlights of her leadership there include launching an ISP which went on to be awarded ISP of the year 2008, winning a World Bank Incubator SME program grant and successfully raising the finances required to open two additional cafe outlets serving an average of 1000 clients per day. In 2008, Estelle was awarded Top African ICT Business Woman by the ForgeAhead African ICT Achievers Award Program in South Africa.
A 2008 Class Fellow of the West African Leadership initiative (Aspen, Colorado), Estelle has a degree in Economics and Development Studies from the University of Sussex. Other work experience includes being the Conference and Banqueting Manager at La-Palm Royal Beach Hotel (Ghana’s only 5-star hotel) and Project Manager of the National Poverty Reduction Program at ProNet (local NGO partner to WaterAid UK). From her twelve years work experience in Ghana, Estelle has a broad understanding of local conditions, politics, social dynamics and the ICT community
Specialties: Being a woman, working with IT, loving Ghana, Africa
Anne Amuzu
Anne Amuzu Co-founded Nandimobile Ltd in 2010 and has been its Technical Development Lead since 2010. Ms. Amuzu has extensive knowledge and experience in software development, and in leading development teams. She holds a BSc in Computer Engineering from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST).
Amuzu along with two partners, Michael Dakwa and Edward Amartey-Tagoe, launched Nandi Mobile after competing together as part of The Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology entrepreneurship program for startups. For Amuzu and her team, their success building Nandi Mobile’s first application, Infoline, involved lots of listening and a willingness to embrace change.
Amuzu was also part of the #ILookLikeanEngineer campaign which has been trending on social media and helped to bring greater attention to gender disparity in the tech industry. Along with being Nandi Mobile’s CEO and promoting diversity in tech through social media, Amuzu also makes time to teach young Ghanaians how to write code. She said there is start-up potential in everyone.
Nandi Mobile – Infoline mobile services
Infoline service allows local hospitals, churches, NGOs and other businesses to track customer comments, send bulk messages to members using SMS or market specific elements of their organization to potential clients.
Farida Bedwei
Farida obtained her bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from the University of Hertfordshire in the United Kingdom from 2004 to 2005. She later acquired a certificate in Project Management in 2009 from Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) in Ghana.
She has written a novel titled: Definition of a miracle. She has also created the gKudi micro-finance platform, a clouded banking system that allows small scale loans within Ghana.
Farida, the Head of the Technical Department (CTO) of Logiciel is a Ghanaian software architect with over 15 years’ experience in the development and implementation of mobile and enterprise software. She has developed payroll, human resource and other information management systems for a number of clients within Ghana and the West African sub-region
Farida has an incredible story of overcoming cerebral palsy to become one of the top software engineers in Ghana. Cerebral palsy refers to a family of neurological disorders that appear in infancy or early childhood and permanently affect body movement, posture and muscle coordination.
