We had a brief chat with Ifeyinwa Egwaoje, Director of Fellowship, Ashoka Africa, one of our Advisory Board members for the concluded Nigerian Women Techsters (NWT) initiative. Here are her thoughts on gender diversity in the technology industry, sexual harassment/violence against women and a project she’s working on.

What’s your current role and a summary of what that entails?

Presently I am the Director for Fellowship, Ashoka Africa, where I manage a thriving diverse international fellowship engaging Ashoka fellows to share best practices, collaborate and co-create solutions to some of the most pressing challenges in Africa

What are your thoughts on the importance of female inclusion in technology and bridging the digital divide?

When women are excluded from the digital technology transformation, it magnifies existing inequalities and forestalls development. If we want to develop, we must position women to become active players and creators of technology.

Any pet projects you are working on or anything you would like to share with us?

I have been actively creating the platform for systems change social entrepreneurs to realize their roles in the new paradigm and co-create solutions on a larger scale.

How have you been staying safe and active professionally in these unprecedented times?

We had to shut down the physical office and work remotely for 3 months and while doing that I had to put everything on a schedule to be effective; separating work time and family time.

What are your thoughts on the injustice against women ravaging the country right now (especially rape and police brutality) and the recent outrage against them?

Gender-based violence is at its peak at this time, now more than ever is when we all need to work collectively to put an end to it. We need to implement penalties for perpetrators of violence against women and call out offenders. Violence against women is inexcusable and needs to be punished no matter who the offender is.