This week’s inspirational woman; Oreoluwa Somolu Lesi

Girls compete with each other, women empower each other, but it takes an incredible woman to make it her life’s work to empower other women. Oreoluwa Somolu Lesi is one of such incredible women.

She is the Founder and Executive Director of the Women’s Technology Empowerment Centre (W.TEC), a Nigerian non-governmental organization working to encourage Nigerian girls and women to learn how to use technology as a means of empowering themselves socially and economically.

After her university entrance examinations, Oreoluwa enrolled in a computer school close to her house in Lagos while she waited for her results. When she left for the university, her father gave her an old laptop which she would later use to write essays for her fellow students to make small money for herself. She started to see technology as a tool for empowerment.

After her Masters in in Analysis, Design and Management of Information Systems from the London School of Economics & Political Science, she spent a number of years in the US working as a research assistant at the non-profit Education Development Centre. Here she was part of a team that ran projects primarily aimed at getting more middle school and high school girls interested in science and technology. However, it was while volunteering in a downtown Boston community center and women’s shelter, that Oreoluwa realized the severe lack of awareness around the benefits of using technology. Every day she would teach women and children from across different parts of the US city how to use computers, it would often surprise her how “mysterious” computing was to many, it made her fully grasp the profound impacts technology could have on people’s lives. An impression that stayed with her as she moved back to Nigeria in 2005.

On returning home, loaded with all the experience she gathered over the years, Oreoluwa set up a mentoring project for secondary school girls aged 11-16 years-old teaching them to blog, become more confident using the computer and learn how to use the internet.

Following the success of this project, Oreoluwa was invited to Kenya to replicate this idea. She soon quit her job at a large oil and gas firm to pursue her interest in women’s empowerment through technology. Oreoluwa registered W-TEC with a small grant in early 2008. Its aim was first, to introduce young girls to computing, teaching all the basics. Second was to encourage them to think of pursuing technology careers in computer science and information technology. The center also set up workshops with older women teaching them the benefits of computing both in their personal lives and at work.

It’s going on eight years now, and this inspiring young lady isn’t slowing down at all. She is working at the educational level by partnering with schools to ensure that young girls have access to conducive learning environments dedicated to the provision of ICT skills. W.TEC partners with schools to establish this program and provides the curriculum and ongoing support.

W.TEC also runs a tech camp for girls in secondary school who show interest and promise. These girls are then selected to attend a yearlong camp that regularly meets for training sessions on different topic areas. The girls are not only trained in hard skills, such as programming and coding, but are taught social media, video and photography editing, and web design skills as well. This way, girls’ understand that technology opens up multiple doors for them into numerous different fields and that these skills empower them to earn income while sitting at home or at an ICT center. Tech firms like GE, Microsoft and Google have expressed support for this work, with many providing the resources needed to set girls up for success. Most recently, GE has provided laptops to all girls attending these camps so that they can continue to use and practice their new skills at home, and Microsoft has provided skill-specific training at the camps.

Thanks to unwavering hard work over the years, W.TEC has made quite an impression on the technology industry in Nigeria. From designing mobile apps, learning the business strategies of software development, to learning about digital advocacy for championing social causes, women, both young and old, have learned technology skills and literacy in an engaging and fun manner.

Oreoluwa’s success has not gone unnoticed in recent years as she was voted in the top 10 most influential African women in science and technology by IT News Africa. She has gone on to receive different other well deserved awards and accolades for her work with girls and young women.

She has definitely shown that the world of science and technology isn’t just for men. Whoever said women would rather tear each other down than build each other up obviously never met Oreoluwa Somolu Lesi.