A three-day technology and entrepreneurship training forum organised by international technology company Intel and the Women’s Technology Empowerment Centre (W-TEC) ended with the call to bridge the gender gap in access to basic ICT.
This bridge, speakers at the forum said, is essential if Nigeria wants to become a major global force in ICT.
At the forum, female entrepreneurs were encouraged to acquire and develop ICT skills which the organisers said are essential for them to favourably compete in the global market.
The executive director of the W-TEC Oreoluwa Somolu said: “Entrepreneurial forces are relatively strong in this country with women being at the hub of entrepreneurial activities. The lack of jobs and the rise in poverty leave few other options for the average Nigerian, more so the Nigerian woman.
“However there appears to be a critical role and place of technology in entrepreneurship towards the advancement of the nation, for which the woman plays a critical role.”
Somolu said such an initiative with women empowerment at its focus is a welcome development and hailed Intel for throwing its weight behind the workshop.”
In his own presentation, Intel’s corporate affairs manager Osagie Ogunbor said the forum was organised to stimulate interests in entrepreneurship among women and to strategically position them on the global stage.
He said: “The disparity between men and women in Nigeria with regard to access to basic ICT services has been a gross limitation to the country becoming a major economic bloc in the African sub-region and indeed the world.”
