TECH4DEV has launched its Women Techsters Initiative for 2023 and is calling for applications for its Women Techsters Fellowship.
According to the firm, the fellowship is a programme within the initiative. It said the initiative was aimed at bridging the digital and technology divide between men and women.
The company seeks to empower five million women across Africa by 2030 in the tech ecosystem.
While speaking at the launch, the Women Techsters Initiative Lead, Blessing Ashi, said, “The objectives of the Women Techsters Initiative are to empower girls and women interested in careers in technology to access the right learning opportunities, enable them to gain access to decent jobs within the technology ecosystem, and equip them with the right skills needed to thrive through its programmes such as the Women Techsters Open Day, Bootcamp, Masterclass, and the Fellowship.”
The firm said the fellowship was launched in 2021 and described it as a year-long programme split into six months of training and six months of internship and mentorship.
It stated that in the first year, it had over 4,800 applicants from 19 countries, and accepted 338 beneficiaries into the programme.
The Co-founder and Executive Director, Tech4Dev, Oladiwura Oladepo, added, “This year, we will be empowering 50,000 women within the Women Techsters Initiative across eight learning tracks, namely, software development, product design, cybersecurity, data science, and Artificial Intelligence, product management, mobile applications development, blockchain and mixed realities and 3D animation.
“We have launched a call for the Women Techsters Fellowship across 15 countries: Ethiopia, DR Congo, Tanzania, Uganda, Algeria, Sudan, Morocco, Angola, Mozambique, Madagascar, Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Egypt, and South Africa, and the deadline for applications close on April 17th.
“Thus far, we have received over 12,000 applications in the last five weeks across 31 countries of residence, including countries in Asia, North America, Europe, and Australia.”