With Yenbyen fellowship Nigerian girls are being primed to be prospective tech leaders 

By Nanji Nandang

Nanfe Dashe, originally intended to become an aeronautical engineer but she developed a desire to learn more about coding and web development after a technology expert visited her school, St Louis College, in Jos, Plateau State, North Central Nigeria, in 2019. “I started getting interested in technology at that point,” she says. But after a lengthy conversation with the school’s career counsellor, Dashe decided against engineering and technology and opted for art class instead.

Dashe is one of the one-third of Nigerian women and girls who give up on technology in secondary school. Only 22% of university graduates in engineering and technology in Nigeria, Africa’s largest technological market, are female. One of Nigeria’s most pressing socio-economic issues has remained the underrepresentation of women in the country’s tech sector even as indices show that 90% of the jobs in the next 10 years will require technology skills and knowledge.

 A fifth of the total number of people working in the information and communication technology sector are women, according to a report published by the ONE Campaign and the Center for Global Development, only about 30 percent of firms are owned by women and are primarily concentrated in e-commerce and enterprise solutions. Of women-owned firms, the median share of ownership is 20 percent.

Even though, the National Information Technology Development Agency claims to organise specialised training for 100 women and girls in each of the six geographic zones to close the gender digital divide, support job development, and promote financial inclusion between 2019 and 2022, the director general, NITDA, Mal. Kashifu Inuwa, in September 2022 said that women’s participation in the sector is still below 24 percent.

Yenbyen Fellowship

Following her graduation from secondary school on October 1, 2021, Dashe enrolled in the Yenbyen Fellowship, in Plateau state. The Yenbyen Fellowship is a six-month programme that aims to provide free digital skills training to young women in North-Central, Nigeria, particularly those who live in Plateau state.

“Yenbyen provided laptops and other needed learning materials for every one of us,” Dashe said in an interview. 

Timbyen Sandra Daser, 34, who desired to be a tech professional in secondary school but lacked the will to achieve her goal, eventually discovered a sense of purpose through her marriage to a tech professional. It inspired her to start the grassroots technology project Yenbyen Fellowship, situated in Plateau State and dedicated to supporting the next generation of female tech leaders. “I just thought, there are lots of females who might be going through what I went through in secondary school or growing up.” She explains. “I believed I could provide them with a chance.”

Dedicated to supporting the next generation of female tech leaders, the Yenbyen fellowship takes fellows through “intensive training in coding, web development,  software engineering, graphics design, and digital marketing,” according to the project manager, Petlong Panchin Plangkyes,

Plangkyes, says Yenbyen has partnered with Code Plateau, a digital skills training scheme of the state government and the Prince Ponfa Foundation, to provide the training facility and other free educational resources, respectively.

Nigeria was placed 139th out of 156 nations by the World Economic Forum (WEF) with a gender gap rate of 62.7% in its 2021 Global Gender Gap Report, which was published in March. According to the research, just 67.2% of the gender gap in sub-Saharan Africa as a whole has been closed, leaving a deficit of 32.7%.

Nigeria has only 49.3 percent of women in the workplace. This is the digital divide Yenbyen is trying to bridge by empowering young girls to establish start-ups or technology-enabled businesses while providing technical and soft skills that will help alleviate poverty amongst girls.

The right foot first

Soon after the training, Dashe was given a contract to work with Simplicity Concept, a website hosting and domain name company in Plateau state, to create a mobile application for a shopping mall in Jos.

“Even if we don’t have enough women in tech, I believe in extraordinary things.” She tells Social Voices. “I love being unique. So I know that I will become a tech expert. It will be a great achievement for me. “

Ojegbile MaryAnn Omotola, on the other hand, says she was “just an ordinary girl going to school to get good grades with no idea of what technology truly entails” apart from the little she was taught in school to read and pass her exams. 

“When I was in SS2, I became interested in technology. Fortunately for me, I had a teacher who was interested in software development. He then began educating me about the tech industry. He introduced me to the Yenbyen Fellowship and urged me to join when I finished school. “ she recalls.

Omotola has built different landing websites and apps for various businesses. “Though technology comes with a lot of challenges. From codes failing to run to having bugs. But I have promised myself never to give up. I am proud of what I am doing and what I can do.” she says with a sigh of confidence.

Giving back to society

According to the founder, at least 19 former students have already found jobs in technology and ICT, while others are running personal projects. Yenbyen launched a special program that mandates fellows teach secondary school students in web development and coding.

She says “catching them young” is an indispensable key to raising successful and better youths in the future.

“I think if relevant skills like web development and coding are taught in secondary schools, it will help critical thinking, creativity, and solving problems in kids. So I shared my proposal with the principal of St John’s college Jos, and he approved it,” she adds.

Fellows are sent to the school to teach the students web design and coding.  “ Sharing my school experience with the students boosted their confidence,”  says Chloé Selzing-Musa, a  fellow from the first cohort who is now an instructor.

 Musa explains how the fellowship has shaped her mind. “I think what I learnt the most is consistency and sacrifice.  I would say this has prepared me for greater heights. “

Hurdles

This initiative which plans to empower 1000 girls within five years has successfully trained 100 girls despite the challenges.  

“I have been funding this project from my business Zujiret Enterprise until recently we got support from Bloomone, a blockchain organization. This support will help us to empower more girls but we need more support.” Daser explains

Even though it has partnered with Jos-based tech companies, Yenbyen is trying to facilitate more partnerships with local and international non-profit organisations that will be able to ensure young girls in Plateau state attain their dreams. 

“Our major challenge is funding,” Daser tells Social Voices, noting that an increasing number of applicants makes the fellowship suffer a lack of funds to provide the necessary equipment to support a large number of girls willing to join the tech workforce. 

“We plan to extend the secondary programmes to other schools in the state,” she adds.

Daser notes that learning resources like computers and other technical devices would be difficult to provide for poorly equipped schools.

This story was produced in partnership with Nigeria Health Watch through the Solutions Journalism Network, a nonprofit organisation dedicated to rigorous and compelling reporting about responses to social problems.