MainOne Joins Global Efforts to Promote Women in ICT

By Emma Okonji

West Africa’s leading connectivity and data centre solutions provider, MainOne, has lent its voice to the global campaign urging girls and young women to consider careers in the growing Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector.
At the International Girls in ICT Day celebration, which held recently in Lagos and hosted by E-Business Life Communications Limited, MainOne confirmed the gender disparity in the area of ICT education in Nigeria, and called on governments and organisations to help address the imbalance.
The Marketing Manager at MainOne, Jumoke Akande, noted that there is currently a gender disparity in ICT jobs and urged girls and women to pursue ICT-related careers.
According to her, “We believe that improving the number of girls in ICT careers creates a more balanced and inclusive society. Therefore, it is important that we encourage girls to expand their horizons, to empower and enable them overcome whatever limiting mindsets and fears they might have regarding pursuing careers in ICT.”

She further emphasised MainOne’s support for initiatives aimed at encouraging technology careers for Nigerian girls. She said: “At MainOne, our goal is to provide girls of all ages with support, mentorship and the motivation to pursue ICT-driven careers, eventually becoming active role models themselves to the next generation of girls. Our CEO, Ms. Opeke, is an ITU female role model and believes this cycle is necessary to create better opportunities for our girls and revert the gender imbalance in Technology.”
The Chief Executive Officer of eBusiness Life Communications, Ufuoma Emuophedaro, appreciated MainOne for its efforts in expediting digital literary and called on other stakeholders to join hands to further invest in girls and young women by supporting the ‘Girls in ICT’ campaign and empowering them, giving them the confidence to pursue ICT studies and careers.

The Girls in ICT Day, celebrated every year on the fourth Thursday in April, is an awareness-raising initiative designed to promote studies and careers in technology to a new generation of girls and young women with an interest in becoming ICT enthusiasts. The theme for this year’s celebration was “Expanding Horizons and Changing Attitudes” and it was sponsored by MainOne along with other organisations and individuals. The event was attended by the representative of the Minister of Communications, representatives from IT companies and other industry stakeholders.