What is your background?
I graduated from the African Leadership Academy in South Africa, where I earned my diploma in 2012 before continuing my university studies at Franklin and Marshall College in Pennsylvania with a concentration in Business, Organizations, and Societies. This concentration aims to provide a better understanding of our increasingly commercialized world and the involvement of businesses in the major social, political, cultural, and technological issues of our time.
I have over six years of experience in digital financial services and SME strategy. I have worked as a consultant in digital financial inclusion and in the development of mobile money solutions.
Today, I am actively involved in developing the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Côte d'Ivoire. I am the co-founder of Impact Hub Abidjan, an incubator and accelerator for startups in Côte d'Ivoire, which I joined in 2019. I am also the director of the DigiFemmes program, which aims to strengthen the entrepreneurial and digital skills of women in Côte d'Ivoire.
Can you tell us about this program for women in Côte d'Ivoire? What are its goals?
DigiFemmes is a holistic technical assistance program aimed at strengthening the capacity of women in Côte d'Ivoire to manage and develop successful businesses by participating in the digital economy. The program supports existing SMEs in their growth journey, creates a strong pipeline of new SMEs, and works with ecosystem stakeholders to build an environment conducive to digital skills in Côte d'Ivoire. DigiFemmes combines an innovative and recognized pedagogical approach to skills training with an integrated sustainability mechanism that ensures the program's impact, evolution, and longevity.
Implemented by a consortium of actors including SAFEEM, Seedstars, EDU 01, and Empowher, this program is funded by the Millennium Challenge Corporation and USAID in collaboration with Microsoft and ENSEA.
What is the current status of women in the digital sector in CIV? Are they adequately represented?
In general, there is a significant gap in the representation of women in the workforce in Côte d'Ivoire. This gap is even wider in the digital world. This can be explained by a lack of interest among women, which is largely due to their perception of the digital sector. For a long time, digital technology has been "sold" as a complex sector that only technocrats understand. However, today's digital world is not based solely on technical skills. It represents an entire ecosystem with multiple and diverse skills in which women also have a place. Digital technology is a source of many opportunities and requires key skills for today and for the future. Thanks to DigiFemmes, we are enabling the inclusion of women in the digital sector by equipping them with the right skills. These skills enable them to secure their careers and have a positive impact on their communities.
How is the program structured?
The program is structured around five main areas:
DigiFemmes Entrepreneures: Aimed at all women entrepreneurs who want to grow their businesses and sharpen their digital and data skills, it aims to help women entrepreneurs make better growth decisions for their businesses.
DigiFemmes Academy: It aims to train a new generation of women in future skills (digital and entrepreneurial skills) that will enable them to start their own businesses or find jobs in tech.
DigiFemmes Learn: An online learning platform offering three major training courses tailored to learners' educational needs. Each course offers a wide range of knowledge subdivided into classes and lessons.
DigiFemmes Start: 54 free, group training courses lasting two to three days on the topics of leadership, data, and digital technology in six Ivorian cities (Abidjan, Bouaké, San Pedro, Korhogo, Abengourou, and Daloa) for women entrepreneurs who want to develop their leadership potential and gain access to new skills and tools that are essential for growing their businesses.
DigiFemmes Ecosystem: a program that aims to improve the knowledge of actors in the entrepreneurial ecosystem so that they integrate gender issues with a view to promoting women's participation in a more inclusive ecosystem.
Since the program was created, have you noticed growing interest among women in your program and in digital professions in general?
DigiFemmes was a huge success when applications opened for the DigiFemmes Academy and DigiFemmes Entrepreneures programs. We received over 8,000 applications, which shows the interest women have in the DigiFemmes program and in digital careers! I sincerely believe that promoting successful female role models in the field remains the key to success. Today, many women are inspired by candidates who have benefited from our program. This motivates and encourages many of them to embark on the adventure! With DigiFemmes, there is no need to have gone to university.
Women need to be encouraged and to understand that nowadays, digital professions are not just for men.
What are your short- and medium-term development prospects?
Our ambition is to democratize access to the digital sector for the community of women in Côte d'Ivoire. To this end, we are rolling out the DigiFemmes Start, Learn, and Ecosystem programs to reach as many women as possible. We also plan to set up a talent placement agency that will be responsible for helping to hire and place talent graduating from DigiFemmes Academy.