As part of efforts to bridge the gender divide in the tech ecosystem in Nigeria and to empower women to be self-reliant and employable, Tech4dev has graduated about 450 women coders from the Nigerian Women Techsters first cohort training.
The certified women coders were selected from three states, including; Ondo, Ekiti and Oyo states respectively.
Tech4dev is a non-profit social enterprise that seeks to create proactive and reactive technological solutions to help solve the world’s greatest problems, with primary focus on education, public health and civic engagement.
Tech4dev,  supported by Microsoft, came up with the Nigerian Women Techsters (NWT), an initiative that is aimed at helping young women between the ages of 18 to 40 get the training and support needed to acquire coding skills.
Training in the first cohort began recently in Ondo state and subsequently moved to Ekiti and Oyo States. The women were trained in Web and Mobile Applications Development, Embedded Systems and Games Development as well as an online business training module for 12 weeks.
And to mark the International Women’s Day themed #PressforProgress and #MakeWhatsNext, about 450 women coders, who had undergone training under the Nigerian Women Techsters were graduated at the Curator’s Hub.
The event, powered by Microsoft, featured Keynote addresses from KiitanAboluwarin, Project Lead, SeedDev and Dr. Ronke Thompson of the Federal University of Technology, Akure. Both speakers stressed the importance of creating an enabling environment for women to thrive in the tech ecosystem.
While Aboluwarin admonished the participants to never get too comfortable but to constantly seek knowledge.
On his part, Thompson encouraged beneficiaries of the programme to think themselves activists for other women henceforth by pressing for improved conditions and access to development training.
Olusola Amusan, Philanthropy Lead at Microsoft Nigeria reiterated that Microsoft believes that empowering women in STEM fields drives economic growth, equality and innovation.
 “We want to create a culture where more women are attracted to the STEM fields and believe in themselves as having a career path in the technology industry. “Despite the stats, a new generation of ‘girl geeks’ are making a real mark on the technology sector and propelling the economic growth of their countries forward, like Senegalese, Mariéme Jamme, CEO of IT organisation, SpotOne.
“We need more female leaders like this. It is hard enough to navigate a career path without a mentor, particularly without female mentors in STEM that can act as ambassadors for young women” he said.
Speaking on her experience as a participant, Ngozi Aduloju, 40-year old mother of four said; “For me, the Games Development class has not only impacted my life but has set a lot of things in motion for my future and that of my generation. I have a 13 year old son who picked up interest in my classes, we became a team; studying and watching online tutorials together.
I now have an understanding of what it takes to make a game and have become more appreciative of what it takes to conceptualize a game that can actually keep me interested. I also totally agree that educating a woman implies educating a nation because my kids have developed some interest in coding and they share this interest with their friends too. That way, we keep spreading the attitude,” she said.