Women in tech clinic

The Client:
Make IT in Africa (GIZ)

Sector:
Technology, Entrepreneurship

Service:
Project management and Creative workshop Facilitation

Duration:
6 Months

The Challenge

How do we ensure that female tech founders have equal access to the same business opportunities as their male counterparts?

Made Culture in collaboration with GIZ’s Make-IT in Africa programme is facilitating business-to-business matchmaking services to help develop symbiotic relationships between corporate organisations and technology startups.

This matchmaking initiative seeks to help startups garner investments that are not solely based on interactions between angel investors or VCs but also on the transactions that can be developed with corporations who see value in their products or services.

A core part of this objective is to ensure that women founder and managers are included in the conversation and have access to the same business opportunities as their male counterparts. 

the Solution

A 3-day intensive business and personal growth initiative providing specialized and tailored activities designed to provide in-depth coaching on how women can scale and grow their businesses, leverage on existing resources and build lasting networks.

DAY 1: CRACKING THE TECH ECOSYSTEM FOR CREATIVES AND NON-TECHIES

Facilitated by the founder of The Assembly hub - Yoanna ‘Pepper’ Chikezie; this session was designed specifically for women in creative and non-tech roles interested in working in the technology sector or leveraging on technology to scale their jobs. 

“…Because you are creative doesn't mean you can't find your space in a tech company, you need to identify where you can provide innovative solutions to companies who are actively looking for people like you". - Oseyi “Ozzy” Etomi

DAY 2: BUILDING GREAT TEAMS

This session facilitated by Toun Tunde-Anjous the founder of The People Practice involved a series of activities including collective exercises to aggregate and highlight hiring issues that most startup and tech companies experience, creating employee personas and a group session where participants were tasked with creating  fictional job ad for multiple roles.

DAY 3: THE FOUNDER FUNDRAISING CLINIC

Facilitated by Chidinma Iwueke a partner at Microtraction, the event brought together 13 carefully selected female founders and 6 experienced women in investment, venture capital and private sector organizations to engage in a high powered networking event focused on fundraising. Participants were given the opportunity to pitch their business to the mentors and get feedback on business model, pre-seed funding efforts, business development and scaling.

The mentors included: 

1. Chidinma Iwueke - Partner, Microtracition. 

2. Henrietta Bankole Olusina , MD ARM Financial Advisers

3. Yewande Odumosun - Partner, Advent Tech & Founder Startup Plug.

4. Oluwatosin Olaseinde- Founder, Money Africa.

5. Maya Famodu - Founder, Ingressive 

6. Yvonne Johnson - Founder, Indicina.