By The low number of African female in the leadership position in the tech sphere worries stakeholders as they when they met at the Africa-focused VC firm TLcom Capital last week during the inaugural Africa Tech Female Founder Summit, aimed at building a collaborative network of female tech founders on the continent.
The TLcom event featured over 50 female founders from across Africa, including Odunayo Eweniyi of Piggyvest, Isis Nyong’o of Mum’s Village, Vivien Nwakah of Medsaf and Miishe Addy of Jetstream.
These founders took to the stage to share insights on achieving massive value generation and scale in Africa, while senior female executives TLcom portfolio companies including Twiga Foods, Kobo360, Terragon, Andela, and Ajua were also in attendance.
The keynote speaker for the summit was Funke Opeke, founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of MainOne, who delivered a talk about her career journey.
“A clear message that should be taken away from the summit is that the glass ceiling on female leadership can and will be broken. For incoming and incumbent women in our sector, today is a powerful display of what is possible throughout Africa’s tech scene. We had entrepreneurs from a variety of fields, but what we all shared were common experiences and a shared vision for change,” she said.
“However, its critical we take our learnings back into our respective networks and share them with the next generation. It’s only then that we will begin to see real transformation.”
During the event, interactive sessions were held on the ever-changing role of the founder, the fundraising journey, and attracting and retaining talent. The summit also featured an in-depth fireside chat between TLcom senior partner Omobola Johnson and Iris Shoor, serial entrepreneur and CEO of Israeli tech startup Oribi.
“While female participation in tech has generally improved, female tech founders are still a rare breed. However, there is a growing number of female trailblazers in African tech and we at TLcom believe this is a critical network to nurture and support,” said Johnson.
