 Tech entrepreneurship in Nigeria, why do we have less women in tech roles? We've seen the rise of tech entrepreneurship in Nigeria since the advent of the popular e-commerce giant. They have opened so many opportunities and set a lot of eyes in the Nigerian tech sector. We've had the ride ailing startups come up and we see how very quickly they were embraced. We also have the mobile money and the payment startups that were just recently bought over by a bigger company abroad for over $200 million, which again has exposed people to the massive opportunities of tech businesses in Nigeria. We have tech companies sponsoring some of Africa's biggest reality shows. But out of all these great startups, I've just mentioned one should wonder how many were or are led by women? My sister. Today there's also signs. To be quite honest with you, the question, I mean, well that's a valid question, why are there less women in tech? But again, why are there less women everywhere? If you actually think about it, apart from maybe the Ministry of Women Affairs, you know, and maybe fashion and beauty, in which case a lot of men, a lot of men have sort of taken, there are less women, seems like women are just marginalized everywhere. I personally feel that one of the challenges is early education and early orientation. I feel like our educational system is sort of tilted in a certain way that doesn't allow the girl child to be able to do anything that the boy child can do. And that's a whole conversation that we can get on. You see, there are things where, you know, I have two daughters, I have two girls. And the things where they try to do and they expect me to say, oh, maybe we can do it because they're a boy. No, you can absolutely do it, you can do it better than him. I mean, go for it. I think that that early education, from parents, from teachers, from, like you say, it takes a whole village to raise a child. I think everybody needs to start to encourage the girl child because that's where it starts. You know, that they can actually go. I mean, you see a girl that wants to read engineering like, why? Why not? Right? I mean, there's so many things that sort of been labeled as a man's world or a man's men's sector, you know? But of course not. So I think, you know, every of those sectors have to be challenged. I agree with you, too. We are all told, yeah, please, you don't like what you want to say something. No, I'm leaving you open for you. Okay, so I think I agree with you. You said it takes the whole community or the whole village to raise a child. And for me, I want to look at it from a business perspective to say that, so you have two girls and you have a boy or you have three girls and two boys and you give all the attention to the boys. That's two over five economic potential. So when you look at it, we are losing more money by not empowering them to leave out their dreams, right? So we need to rewrite the narrative or rather create a new narrative. And the media industry would go a long way to, you know, pass on, circulate this narrative. One of the narratives I feel we need to drive a lot more is to say to the girl child that it is what it is, right? The world is cruel to every gender. So there's this thing that has been made, you know, that's where they came up with the whole glass ceiling, coppery glass ceiling. No, no, no, no, the ceiling is everywhere. That ceiling is affecting the guy. But when the guy comes back home and says there's a ceiling, the father says, come on, go break it. That same thing should be told to the girl child, go break that ceiling. Come on, go and do it again. Do that exam again. If we need to go and meet the person that is bullied, we go and meet the person. So it has to be a deliberate, intentional from parents to say, you know, what do you tell the child? The girl child, when she comes back to say, I was bullied, I was done this, just tell the girl child. She doesn't have to lose her feminity or whatever it is because she wants to fight for her rights. She can still keep it and still get through and do whatever she wants to do. She wants to fly, go ahead and fly. Nobody says you can't. And so the parents should encourage, the schools should encourage, but most importantly, the media should help drive this message because we are losing a lot, either as families, as societies and as a nation for that thing we are not harnessing. Totally agree. However, we're still just talking about the young ones presently, current, what is happening, right? Generally in the workplace, people aren't hired if they're at a certain age or if they're married or because they're looking about the time, they're going to be pregnant. That means I'll hire her. The next thing is she's going to have a baby, it's a problem. So there also has to be a change in mindset of a working environment. What does it mean to work? And I don't feel that the decision to raise a family and still have some kind of career are mutually exclusive. However, things do have to give. So it's also how do we create a culture to empower women to enter this space? And technology is a great space for women to enter. You know, what I'm working on, it was someone that told me that I'm a tech entrepreneur. I was like, what do you mean I'm a tech entrepreneur? I'm terrible, I'm in paradise. I was like, well, what you're doing is technology. And I didn't know that. So it's also switching our own mindset to understand that women create businesses and enter businesses to fulfill a need. It's not necessary thinking the first step is like, I'm going to make money or it's about money. The fact is you're doing it because you've seen a need. And women are very reliable, they're dependable. And so how do we get them welcome them into the space? You know, we don't like to talk about finances. We don't like to really, you know, open up about those. Not because there's anything to hide. It's just we've not been taught that. And it's important entering entering this space that we speak up and we demand the space at the table. So that means, yes, being able to pitch and present to people who have the capital, but also to see people who look like us who are having the capital, who are on the boards, who are giving this funding as well. And that will help boost the technology environment and get women into the workplace. Because it's true when women are included, it is better all round for the society. Yeah, so it's very interesting what you just spoke about. I'm going to take two points from what you just spoke about. The first being the orientation. So I've met a lot of women and then when I told them what I do, they were like, oh, you know, did you study computer science in school? Do you know how to code? And I said, hmm, what they are getting is that tech is all about coding, writing codes, going to school to study computer science. But no, I study accounting. I don't know how to write one single code. And I'm still in the tech industry. So first of all, it's the orientation. You do not need to know all this. The jar guns, the tech jar guns that we push around in this part of the world is what is, one, discouraging the girl child, thinking, oh, it's too much. I don't want to do that. I don't want to study computer science. I don't want to learn how to code. So I think, one, it's the orientation. We all need to start reorientating the girl child that technology is not what it's peddled to be. Then two is about something I've got to give. So I've been to accelerator programs and my mail counterparts. When I told them my ambition, like what I want to do in this tech space, I want to be known in this tech space. I want to carve a space for myself, a name for myself. And they told me, if there's something I've got to give, something's going to suffer. And that's your relationship. You probably won't find a man that will marry you because you're very ambitious on this thing that you want to do. Your relationship might suffer, but you are doing the same thing I'm doing. You're a man, but nothing is given at your own end. You're not saying wife will not find you. You're entry-sauce territory here. You're entry-sauce. This is the only topic that I am going to... If I could get my teeth into this topic. What do you mean something's got to give? That thing doesn't make it... Because you're doing the same thing. So it's okay that you want to take over the tech industry in Nigeria and whatever. And they see a woman because you're a man. So you feel a younger girl or this thing. You can get married anytime. But me, my time is going at 36. Someone's to marry me with all my tech distance. So I don't know. I think there's still this bias. Absolutely. I want to say feminism. There's a bias. Absolutely. And I think that one of the biggest biases is emotion. We feel women are too emotional. But I always say that, you know, that's the strength, but it's a weakness. Unfortunately, a lot of women haven't even realized that having emotion. I mean, think about it. Emotional intelligence is big now. Everyone's talking about emotional intelligence. So you already have the emotion. The right thing is just to learn how to challenge it properly. When you have a woman in your business, your business does better. Because they understand emotion. They understand empathy. They understand a lot of things that a lot of men don't understand. So I don't think that is a weakness. I think it's a strength if it's properly challenged. But the old emotional thing, I feel like we are emotional beings, women. But I feel like the men try to always point it out, like emotional and this thing like, don't point it out. I know what I am. You don't need to point it out. We can go on and on on this topic. But up next is Peter Starritos.