Kenyan women entrepreneurs have been urged to leverage technology to promote the growth of their businesses.
Techminds CEO and Safaricom women’s mentorship network chair Sarah Kabira said that women need to learn and use technology, as well as take advantage of money set aside for tech development.
Speaking at the UON African Women Studies Center Women Economic Empowerment (WEE) Hub, Kabira added that gender-inclusive tech plays a big role in creating jobs for women.
“It is not possible to promote gender equality in technology for women in business if we don’t have women running tech-led businesses,” Kabira said.
In order to have as more women take up tech-led jobs, Kabira explained that universities should partner with different eco-system enablers to train more women.
“The government has plans to expand the national fiber optic network by 100,000 km. Currently, we are at 52,000 km which means we have 48,000 km left which will happen over the next 10 years,” Kabira said.
“This means that there are jobs being created and we need to onboard as many women as possible.”
She added that support and building women in businesses to run tech-led businesses should begin at the university level.
A recent audit on women-owned companies, Kabira said, established that there are a lot of disparities in the number of women in the tech space.
For instance, in a pool of 800 technicians, there are only 50 women.
"We were left wondering where all these women who undertake STEM courses go to,” Kabira added.
TechnoServe women’s business incubation project lead Catherine Wangechi said that different organisations in the tech ecosystem need to understand the digital profiles of women running tech-led businesses.
“There are women who are already tech-savvy and are only interested in advancing onto the next level and you might find there are some who need help with things like opening an email address,” Wangechi said.
She said there is need to build capacity at different levels and make sure interventions are just not homogeneous, but are designed for each category of women entrepreneurs.
UON VC Stephen Kiama said that digital tech advancements in areas such as AI and robotics, provide unprecedented opportunities to make gender equality a reality.
He said equipping Kenyan women with digital literacy skills not only increases the level of gender equality but also grants them access to new employment opportunities.
“Tech and innovation has revolutionised the way we work and live," Kiama said, "It can help bridge the gender gap in the workplace by providing women with increased access to jobs as well as better pay through digital innovativeness."
The 2021 finance cooperation poll shows that 230 million employment opportunities in Africa will require digital skills by 2030.
“Women and girls are limited with their usage and adoption of technology. Their ownership of digital devices also limits their ability to make meaningful use of access to technology. We can change this,” he added.
Kabira noted hat tech that adds value to a business is a huge thing for women.
She further explained that fintech payment solutions have helped women-run businesses instead of using cash.
She urged women and girls running tech-led startups not to rely entirely on pre-seed accelerator funding.
“Founders need to go out, find users, sell their product so as to become more grounded and resilient in businesses than depending on handouts. You need to work first on your company, thereafter, you can consider these accelerator fundings,” she said.
