A lot of
people believe in great things but it is actually a few people who take the
initiative to do the great things they believe in. I heard her story and
got inspired. This young lady had a dream, took daring decisions and bold steps
even though a bit risky.
Regina
Agyare is a young social entrepreneur who is passionate and loves Technology.
She has been in the technology industry for 8 years and has worked in
varying positions as
Product
Manager for Internet Applications at Rancard Solutions, Product Manager for
E-business
Applications
and Management and Information Systems Supervisor at various companies.With the
dream of changing the African single story through technology, she has taken
great initiatives so there could be more positive stories coming from Africa.
She
attended Ashesi University where she studied Computer Science. She found
herself working in a bank after completing school where she worked very hard to
develop a lot of their web applications and set up that department. She was
unfortunately denied promotion because She was a
female
and young. She felt devastated and resigned from the job and got employed at
another bank. There, she had a good salary, bonuses, she could get special
recommendations and afford a great life but she felt unfulfilled because
that did not match her dreams. With an alarm of making a change ringing in
her head all the time, she obeyed and resigned.
She then
moved on to start a company, Soronko Solutions which has a mission of using
basic technology to drive human potential and a vision of developing the next
generation of critical thinkers and innovators in STEM. The company also
leverages on developing innovative technology solutions across different
channels such as Web, Mobile, POS and ATM to solve problems. She is currently
helping small and medium scale enterprises in Ghana create visibility and grow
their businesses with technology.
In her high school days, she had a dream of becoming a
rocket scientist, she couldn't further with that because
the educational system wasn't structured in a way which could
help her make this dream a reality. So then brooded on these questions;
“how can I create a better environment for young children like me who would
want to build rockets?” “How can they be fostered and nurtured to think about Africa’s
problems?” “How can they become critical thinkers and problems solvers?”
These thoughts drove her to the rural areas where she had
different sessions with children on Science and Technology games which required
critical thinking. During those sessions, she found out that the boys were
aggressive and the girls always stood back watching.
There again, she thought about how she could get girls to
take part in creating technology to have the female perspective. Then a
brilliant brainchild was born.
She set up “Tech needs Girls”, a mentorship program which
trains girls between(6-19) how to code, build mobile applications and websites.
She invites other females who are either computer scientists or engineers to
have coding classes with the girls every Saturday. These girls are now
designing web applications which is really amazing!
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Her hardwork paid off! Below
are some awesome opportunities and achievements of hers;
•Her story was
published in the Lean In for Graduates by Sheryl Sandberg COO
of Facebook.
•She is an Aspen Institute New Voices Fellow,Global Shaper of the Accra hub of the World Economic Forum, Vital Voices Fellow,Change Leader with Tigo Reach For Change and YALI Washington Fellow 2014 and will meet Obama and Michelle.
•Finalist for the African Digital Woman of the Year,awarded Women of Courage Award for Technology and Tech Needs Girls was awarded in the Ghana CSR Diary Awards
•Had the Crown Princess of Sweden come to the Slum to visit Tech Needs Girls and was invited to speak at Harvard University and TEDxLabone.
•She is on the project advisory board to help advice the UN Committee for the Rights of a Child update the Convention for the Rights of the Child for a Digital Age.
•She is an Aspen Institute New Voices Fellow,Global Shaper of the Accra hub of the World Economic Forum, Vital Voices Fellow,Change Leader with Tigo Reach For Change and YALI Washington Fellow 2014 and will meet Obama and Michelle.
•Finalist for the African Digital Woman of the Year,awarded Women of Courage Award for Technology and Tech Needs Girls was awarded in the Ghana CSR Diary Awards
•Had the Crown Princess of Sweden come to the Slum to visit Tech Needs Girls and was invited to speak at Harvard University and TEDxLabone.
•She is on the project advisory board to help advice the UN Committee for the Rights of a Child update the Convention for the Rights of the Child for a Digital Age.
If you have a dream, just go ahead and
work it out!
