 You're welcome back to the breakfast on plus TV Africa statistics by UNESCO has shown that women in the tech industry Constituted only 28% in the sector and just about 30% in sub Saharan Africa Now in Nigeria code and look go proud founder of Africa agility foundation is working hard To close that gap and we've invited her to our studio this morning to tell us all about her work. Good morning Thank you for having me. Thank you for being here. So let's talk first of all about the statistics regarding women and tech in Nigeria Africa and globally What exactly is it right and does this come to you as something that we should have you know surpassed many years ago? Oh, yes, that's absolutely correct When we look at the statistics of African-American and African women in technology is three percent which is really really low and What's the percentage of African women is it's less than one percent? So this is a big issue not just in Africa, but all over the world and there's so many organizations in the Western world You know doing amazing work to make this happen So I live in the United States and I've done so much equipping, you know Western women with D2 skills and I just thought that this is the time to come back to my country and come back to my continent and Empower especially our youths because the most talented people in the world are the African youths Why do you think the statistics are so low for Nigerian mostly? I believe it's opportunity Right. I studied computer science at the University of Ibadan For five years, I did not even see computer and they were teaching us You know, all the old Technology skills like Pascal Fortran and that was the tipping point for me You know, I haven't gone abroad to study and to live I believe that African women even youths men should be provided the opportunities Needed we are talented. It's just the opportunity that is missing and funding and funding I mean seeing that an institution as great as the University of Ibadan. I mean did not have You know that those resources to enable Computer science students to learn the practicals of what they're learning theoretically So tell us about the need for funding in Nigeria's education space, especially from primary school upward Well, we need to revolutionize our educational system. It's really really horrible and This is not just for governments. This is for corporate organizations to do so much more in order to be able to Develop the children like in August after agility add Stem for kids my six years old knows how to bid up in the United States And I just said, you know what we need to do exactly the same thing for the African kids so we did stem for kids and We trained children between the between the age of 10 to 10 to 15 and you can't believe after two weeks Children with no technical skills. We're able to build creative app and age 13 to 15 build robots Using artificial intelligence. So so many amazing things can happen, you know we're not looking for Angels are not looking for you know for hundreds of millions or thousands of dollars, right? Any amount is good enough to train at least one child Okay, let's talk about the benefits, you know the things that they stand to gain You know if they get to you know with in with your programs the Africa Agility Foundation What do young female Nigerians stand to gain, you know, what programs can they learn? What software are they going to be open to you know learning how to use also many so many so many benefits The skills that they are learning are the cutting-edge Skills in the world highly sought out for artificial intelligence machine learning data science UI UX web development including agile the number one Innovation method in Silicon Valley. That's the secret source of Facebook Microsoft to you all to all these companies and it's not just You know training them and giving them the practical experience needed We also have a three-month Transformational program called the the the lean approach where we peer these girls up with With mentors from all over the world that will help them to improve those skills and they are working on re projects That they can launch at any time if they are so passionate about it and after the three months program We are placing them in you know different opportunities in Nigeria You know some of them are actually Entry pinion we have one of our girls that actually built the websites the agricultural website for open states Governments, we also have some of our girls are freelancing for companies all over the world So not just training them But helping them to increase their any power by finding the opportunities the job for them So just talking about that tell me about the job opportunities that women and even men Who participate in the the training by Agility Africa Foundation? You know can benefit what are the job opportunities that he can have? What's what are the advance? What are the opportunities for career advancement when they go ahead and build these apps? How can it transform society? What is the long-term benefit? Oh, so they are actually building social economic You know apps or websites or digital solutions that can solve African problems not just African the world problems like in June we have the legal state governments governor that graced our location and The girls that were at the June cohort They actually built the top three Legos challenges wicked problems Traffic waste management and he of even the governor said wow in the last two years, you know My administration would been talking about it, but he could not believe that in two days. I could turn Girls that worked into the bootcamp With no experience in technology could actually help him to solve the problems the opportunities are there But it's so unfortunate that you know getting funding getting companies I want to partner for internships and job placements in Nigeria. It's really really really really hard Tell me more about those apps especially the one on traffic. What exactly do they do and how did they help the state? So for an example in Lagos if there was an accident we have to wait for last month, right to come but the digital solutions that the girls actually built is any Lagos citizens can actually take pictures Images of the accident and everything that happened and send it to last month. They can actually See it on their digital platform without them actually coming to to the accident scene Also, they built the integrated a forum that is like Twitter on it and with that, you know There's opportunities for cash sharing or I I live in Sungota for an example And I work on the mainland. I walk a UB. I'm just using UB as an example Then I can do and I'm not sure of how many people actually live in Sungota, but we walk in the same building So that Twitter kind of forum that was built could actually help to connect people that work in the same place together Or in the same company together and they can do cash sharing then also instead of waiting for you know maybe newsfeed from From from TV stations, you know citizens can actually reach out to everybody to say, you know Don't pass this route because there's traffic. There's an accident and also provide you alternative routes that can take you to where you need to go Okay, and I also want to talk about, you know, how this, you know changes the narrative of the stereotypical Occupations for girls normally, you know, when most girls, you know in that age primary secondary school already pushed towards fashion and Cookin and you know home being housewives and some of all of that So how does this change that narrative? It changed the narratives a lot Because our kids can actually become inventors. What's stopping them? Right. Most of them are being influenced by the society by friends Even by families and uncles, right? This change in narratives if these kids and if this youth can See alternative route that can help them to make the money and become who they want to become a better version of the best version of themselves it's changed the narratives and COVID-19 has already proven to the world that you don't need to go to a physical wall You know to be able to walk or you don't need to everybody can work for mom So there's opportunities to actually get jobs from any part of Africa and There's opportunity for kids to actually become tech premium So you're saying that parents need to open their minds to the possibilities that you know Their children could get also the kids do not even need to have any knowledge whatsoever Any background information about tech just get enrolled and then they're on their way just get enrolled Because technology has changed the world this this we are in the era of technology and it's not changing We live by it. We breathe by it. Everything we do is all about technology So, you know, I hope in African youths African children to learn this technology, you know, especially this cutting-edge skills right now Could propel them into the world, you know, there's nothing stopping us from inventing something disrupting the world with digital solutions and people can see that, you know The best talents in the world the best innovation in the world comes from Africa and that's my dream Okay, tell us about what, you know, your foundation is planning the for the rest of 2021 are their programs coming up so we are almost about to go into partnership with Cisco and There are opportunities to learn cyber security networking and, you know, all these other hardware skills So we're so excited about that and by the time the partnership is being, you know, sealed up Then we can start having virtual classes for not just for children, but also for youths Both male and female and that could actually help them to upscale as well So that's our focus for this year and our girls have graduated as well They are still part of the community. We are supporting them. Some of them those of them that are working We are still providing mentorship for them, you know One of them, two of them, they call the tutors, they call their mentors and ask for support So that's the going on and those that just graduated yesterday They are going to go into the mentorship in mansion program starting from next week Monday So there's a lot a lot that will be going on in the background but the next bootcamp is going to start in 2022 because The year is almost coming to an end and December is almost there So for people who feel this must really cost an arm and a leg Is this true that you know to get into tech space you need to spend a lot to acquire the knowledge Now everything we are doing is free Free? Oh, it's free. They pay nothing Because we are focusing on the less privileged Young women in the society, those that cannot afford it Those that cannot even afford transportation that we need to support Those that cannot even afford to have a laptop that we need to provide laptop for for so The only thing needed is just for them to find their way into the training center at Ikui and also at Surulere. We also provide lunch for them and good food I'm guessing they can set for you know more information online or how they reach out to you Oh, yes, the people can reach out to us, you know by contacting team at Africa Jolli Dot dot org and also they can go to our website www.AfcaJolliC.org So there's so much information on it So is it just for kids if there are people who are adults who are interested in learning are they welcome our focus is on the Children and the youths because they are the leaders of today not tomorrow I'm gonna go pop. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. What are you doing for sharing? You know your time with us this morning. Thank you Oh, I think It's to you too. All right, and this is where of course we wrap up the program this morning It has been a very interesting Conversation talk about Nigeria's 61st independence and also, you know the first edition for the new month of October Preston so we wish you a very beautiful weekend ahead public holidays and see you back here again on Monday morning