The discuss on getting more women into pursuing careers in technology, especially, in the South East, was further explored, when I had a one-on-one with Chiamaka Osumgba, Co-Founder, INAAGA, on Tech Trends on Channels Television. She explained the efforts she has been making to get more women from that section of the country to embrace technology and more.
CFA: Amaka, glad to have you on the show.
Chiamaka: Thank you very much.
CFA: What does software development mean to you?
Chiamaka: To me, personally, software development is very simple; solving problem, but doing it within technology.
CFA: Tell me why you decide to become a software developer.
Chiamaka: Let me start from my early days in secondary school. I was one of the students who hated computer studies, in general. The reason being that you cannot be teaching me something I don’t see. I learn visually, but then, when I got into the University and we were introduced to the little archaic software programs then, I found out that, this is something that I will be very good in, owing to the fact that I love Mathematics.
I am, kind of an introvert, so, it helps me to manage my space. Because of that, I decided to pursue a career in software development and I have been doing very well and I have been doing very well, ever since then.
CFA: As a young woman in technology, how has the experience been?
Chiamaka: The experience has been good, so far, but not that good. The space where I found myself, the ecosystem where I found myself, we have just few people in technology. Now, when it comes to the females in technology, we are also few, so, the experience has been good, so far, but we’ve been managing. Let me put it that way.
CFA: Tell me about some of the work you’re doing, to, sort of, encourage more women to embrace careers in technology?
Chiamaka: After I decided to pursue a career in tech, a mentor of mine advised me to join a group, so, I decided to join GDG, (Google Developers Group), Aba. Last year, 2018, I became the WTM Lead, Aba.
CFA: What does that stand for?
Chiamaka: WTM stands for, Women Tech Makers. It is a group under Google Developers Group, just for women to encourage and help them pursue a career in technology. Within the space of that one year, 2018 to 2019, I can say that the female tech ecosystem has grown, like it has increased by about 70%, so, it is growing.
Apart from being the WTM Lead, Aba, I also run an NGO, called, Pearl Impact Foundation, where we go to remote rural communities, we look for under-privileged young girls, that society has looked at them that do not have any value to add to society. We pick these young girls, introduce them to technology and not just technology, the young girls that have something that they are already doing, we teach them how to leverage on technology to scale what they are doing.
You can watch the full interview here