Lagos – The Founder of TechHer, Ms Chioma Agwuegbo, on Wednesday called on the Federal Government to create an enabling environment for women to embrace technology.
Agwuegbo made the call in Lagos during a session hosted by Intel Corporation at the ongoing Social Media Week (SMW)
.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the event, which opened on Monday, will end on Friday.
This year’s event designated SMW-Lagos, has the theme ”The Networked Africa: Technology’s Impact on Africa (And How We Can Harness It For Good)”.
Agwuegbo urged the Federal Government to put infrastructure in place to enable women have access to technological devices.
She noted that creating an enabling environment and putting infrastructure in place would encourage the female folk to develop interest in technology.
According to her, this will help bridge the digital gap between them and their male counterparts.
“There is the need to make women comfortable in technology; we need to make them stay in technology,” she said.
The tech savvy entrepreneur also urged women to be confident in the use of technology to enhance their well-being.
Mrs Iyadunni Olubode, the Executive Director of LEAP Africa, said that access to technology and knowing the benefits of that technology to individual needs was critical to women’s technological advancement.
Olubode urged women to speak up in order not to be left behind in technology and development.
Mrs Oreoluwa Lesi, the Executive Director, Women’s Technology Empowerment Centre (W.TEC), said there was the need for girls to use computers and develop applications.
Lesi encouraged the young females to go into competitions that would enable them create apps that would benefit them and solve important issues for them.
She pointed out that a lot of people do not know the value of their mobile phones and as such fail to understand what they are meant for.
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Lesi explained that phones could boost businesses.
“People need to try to make use of the tool (phones) to enhance their businesses.
“They also need to use it to create Facebook pages and apps that will boost their businesses,” Lesi said.
NAN reports that SMW is the largest technology new media and business conference on the continent of Africa with participants from the six continents of the world.
SMW-Lagos explores a wide range of topics including education, business, travel, entertainment, technology, arts, banking and politics. (NAN)