Onome Amuge
Against the backdrop of the International Women’s Day (IWD) and the success of its previous three editions, Moniepoint Inc., a leading digital financial services provider for emerging markets and the second-fastest growing company in Africa, has announced the launch of the 2024 Women-In-Tech initiative. This year’s campaign themed, #InspireInclusion, calls for action to eliminate barriers and stereotypes that prevent women from achieving their full potential.
The latest iteration of Moniepoint’s Women-In-Tech initiative will see a 50 per cent increase in the number of women in the programme, from five to 10. The six-month internship will give young women the opportunity to gain practical experience in a variety of technology fields, including cloud engineering, backend engineering, technical product management, data engineering, systems administration, technical support, and user experience.
The 10 women selected for the initiative will be known as the Dream 10, a nod to Moniepoint’s commitment to helping women turn their dreams of a career in tech into reality. The women will be provided with direct mentorship during the internship. Other perks include; a salary, work tools, merch, the opportunity to work on live projects during the course of the internship and an offer of full-time employment depending on assessment post-internship.
It is widely acknowledged that women have played a central role in the development of technology, yet they remain underrepresented in the industry.
The last census results by the National Population Commission show that there are almost as many women as there are men in Nigeria. However, data from the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on women and men in the country reveal that women occupy just 25 per cent of the employment rate in the technology industry even as 22 per cent of annual STEM graduates from Nigerian universities are women. Although a global challenge, these gaps have underscored the need to increase female representation in the tech industry in Nigeria.
As a way of addressing this challenge, Moniepoint noted that the goal of the Women in Tech initiative has always been to provide women with the opportunity to grow their skills by gaining the necessary experience to advance their careers. As such, selected applicants get to spend time working on real projects to help shape digital finance in Africa. Alumni from the programme have become active contributors to the development of their products making a huge difference in the world while making significant strides within the tech ecosystem.
Commenting on this year’s edition, Chinaza Nduka-Dike, head, People Operations at Moniepoint Inc noted that with this initiative the organisation is going over and beyond inspiring inclusion to demonstrating a genuine commitment to making a difference in the lives of women.
“Increasingly we are seeing that diversity, inclusion can ignite innovation and growth. Intentional outreaches such as our Women in Tech which have helped to increase female representation and have had a transformative power to create meaningful inclusion while ensuring that we can keep pace with the talent development in a global economy.
We have been able to fill talent gaps while giving women great jobs and a sustainable livelihood. Looking back at the past editions, we are filled with an immense sense of pride at the progress made and looking forward to adding more women to the pool who in turn can grow as leaders and build thriving, successful organisations,” Nduka-Dike said.
Tefe Oladejo, a frontend engineer and member of the pioneer cohort of the Moniepoint Women in Tech expressed her delight at the increased number of internship roles available for the 2024 programme.
“I am a living witness to the transformative power of bold action initiatives like this. It’s been a privilege to work on products that you can see making a visible difference in the lives of millions. Moniepoint’s supportive ecosystem has been very pivotal to my growth and personal development,” she said.
Since 2019, Moniepoint’s technology has powered the dreams of over two million businesses and individuals, offering personal and business banking, payment, credit and business management tools to help them succeed.
The internship is open to women across Africa who are interested in starting a career in technology. Interested applicants can find out more about available roles and apply for the programme via the Women in Tech website, https://womenintech.moniepoint.com
