While our previous story highlighted 10 African female techpreneurs (founders, co-founders, and CEOs), this one will focus more on African female tech professionals.
Whenever we talk tech, we seem to focus on the one percent, founders, investors, products, etc. In doing so, we forget the regular people who work behind the scenes to keep the company running.
We want to reverse that, which is why we launched a new content series dubbed Under The Hoodie (UTH). Every Tuesday, the series will spotlight tech talents that are excelling in their fields. If you missed the last series, you can catch up here, here, and here.
Just like the UTH series, this story will be highlighting 10 female tech professionals who are leveraging their roles to provide tech solutions to issues in Nigeria and across Africa.
10 female Nigerian tech professionals
The tech professionals are; Adaora Nwodo, Abiola Eniola Aminu, Omolara Adejuwon, Ibukun Akinnawo, Olatokunbo Ogunlade, Seun Runsewe, Aniekan Inyang, Ada Nduka Oyom, Olayinka Fadare, Layo Ogunbanwo, and Oluchi Enebeli.
1. Adora Nwodo
She is a Software Engineer at Microsoft, where she builds cloud services and High-Value Experiences related to Artificial Intelligence and Mixed Reality. She is also the co-founder of unStack Africa, an open-source meetup for software developers.
Adora is a first-class graduate in Computer Science from the University of Lagos, Nigeria. She started her software development journey with Neukleos as an intern in 2016.
In 2018, she created the AdoraHack blog, where she publishes stories on software development, productivity, and career growth. By 2019, Adora was an Associate Software Developer at Neukleos and a co-founder of unStack. In the same year, she created her YouTube channel AdoraHack, where she produces content relevant to the software developers’ community.
Adora has lots of volunteer experience with so many organizations including, Andela, Full Stack Developers Lagos, and Microsoft LEAP Apprenticeship.
2. Abiola Eniola Aminu
She is a Product Designer at Flutterwave.
Eniola’s journey began in 2017 when she received an email from Stutern to learn UX design for three months. Later in 2018, she interned at Swifta Systems as a UI/UX Designer.
Since towing the UI/UX career path, Eniola has worked across different organizations like Cowrywise, Tuteria, and Yellowcard.
3. Omolara Adejuwon
She is an Editor at ProAndroidDev with over eight years of experience in building software products across industries.
Before joining ProAndroidDev, Omolara was the co-founder, Engineering Manager, and Senior Android Engineer at Gokada Inc. She was also the Senior Partner, Engineering Manager, and Senior Android Engineer at Brainspace Venture Group (BVG) and the Engineering Lead, Agent Banking at Kudi.
Omolara is passionate about transferring knowledge. She has lots of volunteer experience with so many organizations including, Andela, Women in Technology in Nigeria, Royal Nexus, and Learn iT!
4. Ibukun Akinnawo
She is the Launch Lead at pawaPay. She was also the co-founder of Independent PA, a virtual assistant agency that supports C-level executives.
Ibukun is passionate about making people and processes work better. She has six years of experience in the BPO and fintech industry. She successfully built her leadership background from working in organizations like Paystack and Kuda Bank.
In 2015, she co-founded Independent PA, an agency that helps top executives at organizations like Andela and Flutterwave. She successfully exited the agency in 2017.
5. Olatokunbo Ogunlade
She is a DevOps Engineer at Venture Garden Group. She has experience in Cloud, Automation, and Monitoring processes.
Olatokunbo studied Computer Science at the Olabisi Onabanjo University, Nigeria. Before working at Ventures Garden Group, she was a Senior Loan Office at the AB Microfinance Bank Nigeria Limited. She has also volunteered as an Education facilitator at Eduaid.
6. Seun Runsewe
She is the VP of Growth at Softcom.
Seun ventured into the tech space to help grow businesses focused on improving payments and expanding Nigeria’s digital economy.
Before Softcom, Seun was the Director of Product at Opay. She also worked at Paystack and KPMG Nigeria.
She became the youngest bank CEO in 2018 when she built and launched the beta version of Switch by Sterling Bank. Switch is a financial platform that offers Nigerians in the diaspora access to financial perks like; multi-currency, savings, and investments.
7. Aniekan Inyang
She is a Data Scientist at Stears Business.
Aniekan is fascinated by data, technology, business, product, and strategy. She is also passionate about using data to help organizations build products, solve problems, and optimize processes.
She started her career as a Computer Science Intern at the Ministry of finance Computer Unit, Akwa Ibom State Secretariat, Nigeria. Since her first work experience, Aniekan has built a strong portfolio for herself with experiences from organizations like Demz Analytics.
Aniekan wants to raise a community of women interested in Artificial Intelligence.
8. Ada Nduka Oyom
She is the Developer Relations (SSA) at Google. She is also the founder of She Code Africa, a non-profit organization that empowers young girls and women in Africa with technical skills.
Ada is a self-taught Software developer whose expertise has earned her roles in organizations like Interswitch Group and Switch Innovation Academy. She has volunteer experience with organizations like Google Developers Group and Women Techmakers UNN.
9. Olayinka Fadare
She is the Product Designer at OPay. Olayinka is passionate about creating usable digital products.
She has over three years of experience in designing B2B and B2C products. Experiences she garnered from working at organizations like; Ifotta and Terragon Group.
10. Layo Ogunbanwo
She is the VP of Product at Piggyvest and a Mentor at Google For Startups Accelerator Africa.
Layo has over ten years of experience in product management, marketing, and growth in the US and Africa. She is passionate about driving inclusion for women, building, launching, and driving the adoption of products.
Before Piggyvest, Layo has worked at Axxes, Austin College, and Standard Charted Bank. She has also volunteered at places like the Junior League of Dallas, Dallas Regional Chamber, and Cancer Support Community North Texas.
Bonus
Oluchi Enebeli
She is the Blockchain Engineer at Bundle Africa. She is also the founder of LadiesDoTech, a community that aims to build the ideal African tech ladies, and the co-founder/CTO of Crevatal, a Blockchain user experience design and development company.
Oluchi uses scalable blockchain services to enhance crypto interactions across products. She works with technologies like thereum, Binance Smart Chain, Tron, Multichain, Solidity, Node.js, and ExpressJs.
She has worked in various organizations like Crenet TechLabs and Sterling Bank Plc.
