BY Esther Onyegbula
As part of measures to further bridge the gap between girls and boys’ access to information and communications technology (ICT), the Women in Technology in Nigeria, WITIN, recently hosted the 2014 edition of the Iridescent’s Technovation Challenge for over 50 girls from about 13 secondary schools in Lagos and Ogun states.

The technovation challenge, according to WITIN, is a global technology entrepreneurship programme for girls, created to discover their ingenuity in apps development and programming.
Coordinator and President of WITIN, Mrs. Martha Omoekpe Alade, explained that the challenge is the largest and longest running global technology competition exclusively for girls to inspire the pursuit of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, STEM.

“This contest allows girls to learn how to code and develop mobile apps, conduct market research, write business plans, and create a ‘pitch’ for funding. They are also taught life skills such as how to identify a problem, design and test a solution, collaborate with a team, and communicate to different audiences.”
According to her, the initiative is in line with the Ministry of Communications Technology’s drive to bridge the growing gap in ICT between young females and their male counterparts.