A total of 68 women from Kenya have been admitted to the class of 2023 of the Women Techsters Fellowship, Technology for Social Change and Development Initiative (Tech4Dev) in Lagos.
The Women Techsters initiative is aimed at bridging the digital and technology knowledge divide between men and women as well as ensuring equal access to opportunities for all.
The fellowship received 703 applications from Kenya, while only 68 sailed through the rigorous requirements needed to become a beneficiary.
In all, a total of 1,466 beneficiaries were admitted to the Class of 2022/23 of the fellowship from a pool of 14,509 who applied from 15 African countries, which is equal to about 10 percent of total applications.
The Women Techsters Fellowship is a free experiential technology learning and upskilling program for young girls and women between the ages of 16 to 40 across 15 African countries.
A total of 1,167 women from Nigeria were admitted into the program out of 10,912 who applied.
Kenya had the second highest number of beneficiaries (68) while 48 Ghanaian women were accepted into the program.
Ethiopia has 32 beneficiaries in the program, Uganda has 29, and 24 South Africans have also been admitted for the 2022/23 calendar year.
Egypt has 24, Mozambique 12, Madagascar 12, Tanzania 11, Algeria, and Sudan have six apiece.
Angola and Morocco have 4 students each in the program while DR Congo has a total of three students in the program.
However, 16 beneficiaries from other countries around the world not captured in the original list of 15 African countries were also granted admissions.
The women will be trained in Mobile Development, Software Development, Product Design, Product Management, Cybersecurity, Data Science/ Artificial Intelligence Engineering, Blockchain, and Mixed Reality/3D.
Speaking at the announcement press conference, Women Techsters Initiative Lead, Blessing Ashi, revealed that the selection process was rigorous as the program requires only the best and most dedicated fellows.
“We started the registration process in March 2022 and we had three stages of assessments for the beneficiaries and I can categorically say that we have selected the best based on the performance of beneficiaries across all three stages.
“I want to say congratulations to everyone who made it this far and I hope that the skills to be acquired during this learning phase will stand you out amongst your peers. Stay true to the program and I wish you the best.”
Co-founder and Executive Director at Tech4Dev, Oladiwura Oladepo, encouraged the beneficiaries to give their 100 percent to the program.
“Congratulations for making it into the fellowship but I must tell you that this is the time to put in work because without putting in the effort, success may not be guaranteed. It takes long hours, sometimes sleepless nights but I can assure you that success is just around the corner if you stay dedicated.
“Our goal is to train 5 million women across Africa by 2030 and we believe that when the call for application comes for the next fellowship calendar, we’ll have not just more applicants from Kenya but more beneficiaries.
The Women Techsters Fellowship, launched in 2021, is a year-long immersive training and experiential learning program for young girls and women across Africa to acquire deep tech skills through 6 months of intensive training, 6-month internship, and mentorship.
In its first year, the Women Techsters Fellowship received over 4,800 applications from 19 countries and accepted 338 beneficiaries into the program, which is a 7% acceptance rate from 5 countries: Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Egypt, and South Africa.
The Women Techsters initiative is aimed at bridging the digital and technology knowledge divide between men and women as well as ensuring equal access to opportunities for all.
