You are participating in Digital Women's Day in Dakar. You will be speaking on the panel entitled "They are training for the major challenges of tomorrow." Can you tell us more about that?
With panelist Rufina Dabo (AFSTech), we will talk about the actions each of us is taking to promote young women in new technologies. We will share our experiences, mine in terms of advocacy, commitment, and promotion, as I have created my own digital communications agency and have always campaigned for young women to have enough confidence in themselves to embrace careers in the fields of new technologies and cybersecurity. This is a factor that brings potential and empowerment for women. The aim of this talk is to highlight the power we have to promote and train these girls and young women in the challenges of tomorrow, namely access to positions of responsibility in technology companies, both in Africa and internationally.
Through your agency, African Content Group, how do you participate in promoting and training women in these areas?
Firstly, in terms of human resources, since 70% of African Content Group's workforce is made up of women.
I don't exclude men when recruiting, but it's a conscious decision. I want to identify potential and create careers for women in all areas of my agency's activities.
Also, in terms of client projects that we manage within the agency and in terms of CSR projects that I am involved in. For example, we organized the African Women 4 Tech event in collaboration with Société Générale. I organized this event in 2018 and it will be held again in fall 2019.
Finally, I am involved in promoting and training women in new technologies by supporting, as a mentor, the Dynamiques et Excellentes d'Afrique association created by Maimouna Koné in Côte d'Ivoire. Every year, this association offers a program dedicated to training around 20 high school girls from disadvantaged neighborhoods. This year, the program supported around twenty young girls who won a national robotics competition. I am involved in all these projects as the founder of the ACG agency, but also as Edith Brou, a web activist who campaigns for the employability of women in the field of new technologies.
What place do women occupy today in the digital world in French-speaking Africa?
When I started out and chose to pursue a career in new technologies and communication, my parents thought I was crazy because these professions were primarily occupied by men.
In 2018, ARTCI, the body responsible for regulating telecommunications/ICTs in Côte d'Ivoire, published a study showing that 38% of jobs in the field of new technologies and digital are held by women. So things have changed, and I think this is only the beginning. Projects and initiatives such as Digital Women's Day and African Women 4 Tech, and more generally all the initiatives carried out in West Africa, will help to improve these statistics. I think we are on the right track. The web is female, and so is digital technology. Although women are concentrated in communications professions, they are increasingly present in more technical fields such as cybersecurity, data science, and web development.
How can we help them to be better represented and facilitate their inclusion in the field of new technologies?
This will require training and self-confidence. Many young girls and women who enroll in training programs to enter technological and digital professions drop out along the way. The dropout rate is very high. Societal prejudices are also factors in dropouts, causing women to lose confidence in themselves.
In my opinion, it is this confidence that enables people to continue, persevere, and not give up. Women need to have confidence in themselves, and this will inevitably require promoting role models of women who are entrepreneurs and hold positions of responsibility. These role models will inspire young girls and show them that it is possible!
As a prominent figure in the tech world, what message would you like to convey to future women who want to become entrepreneurs?
I would tell them that now is the time to get started! Africa needs innovation, technology, and much more feminization.
All the innovations and leapfrogs we have seen on the continent, such as mobile money and online media, will become more and more numerous if we include more women in the new technology sector. Women are imaginative, empathetic, and better at understanding problems. If we can get more women into these sectors, I think we'll succeed in making Africa a powerful and rich continent.
What are your plans for the coming months?
I'm currently working on a documentary project about women in technology in Africa in collaboration with Société Générale. The aim is to take advantage of my various trips to talk about African women who, regardless of their field of activity or the organization they work for, are making a difference on the continent. This documentary will be broadcast in October, during the second edition of African Women 4 Tech.