According to management members of TLcom Capital, Omobola Johnson and Andreata Muforo, the phrase “women in tech” means more women stakeholders and not compulsorily an increased number of female developers or engineers. This basically means that technology should have a place in the business ideas of female entrepreneurs. To achieve this, women must become tech-literate.
Like most sectors in the business world, women are in the minority when talking about fund managers. In the US, the number of female decision makers in the VC space sits at a saddening 9%. It’s worse in Africa, though, where the numbers are negligible.
Statistics show that gender diversity can boost profitability. Nonetheless, the VC space still lacks female fund managers.
Omobola Johnson– Nigeria’s first and former Communication and Technology Minister– alongside Andreata Muforo, Johnson’s partner at TLcom Capital, have an interesting viewpoint about “women in tech”. We’ll be quoting further in this report.
What ‘Women in Tech’ Really Means
It is noteworthy that “Women in Tech”– contrary to popular opinions– is “having more women involved in the tech world”. The movement is a success when more tech-savvy young women decide to scale by infusing technology into their business ideas.
Although Johnson and Muforo coReme from different backgrounds and have dissimilar career paths. However, they’re given to achieving the same goal. They intend to build VC success stories in Africa’s tech ecosystem. To do this, there is the need to increase the number of women in Africa’s tech space.
It’s widely believed that tech giants must have a deep technical background. Johnson, a forerunner in the tech industry, and an advocate for the tech literacy of African women debunks that misconception. She said, the male “tech founders” that TLcom encountered are men willing to put in the work. They are men ready to scale from their ideas.
Reasons for the Low Participation of Women in Tech
Muforo also adds that a salient reason for Africa’s shortage of women entrepreneurs is the “cultural values and perceived success and failure in tech.” This belief has also played a part in the overall stunted growth of African Tech Startups. Their advice for young women looking to walk the tech road is to “jump in and work hard.”
“The concept of failure is something that is looked down upon, so I think many people are deterred from entrepreneurship. But in practice, there’s always something that you learn. It never amounts to anything. You’ve learned something, and you get up and you try something else as well,” she said.
Johnson’s stint in a political office helped her find and help enthusiastic African entrepreneurs to thrive. On the other hand, Muforo enjoys being near entrepreneurs. She enjoys contributing to the growth of their business.
“In my previous capacity, it was only advisory. But as an investor, I can be a conduit for capital direct to entrepreneurs, and support their business building,” she said.
“At the time when I joined TLcom, it was still fairly early in the African tech VC ecosystem, so I was more excited about the opportunity to be a manager in a tech VC fund […] because I could see the role that tech is playing in providing the services that African residents and citizens need, at a more affordable price, with more efficiency, and increasing access,” she added.
In a Nutshell,
Johnson shared what she feels is the best way to draw women into the African VC space. She said “When I came into TLcom, we started talking about how there are not enough female entrepreneurs in our deal pipeline, and we need to do something about it. The thing is unless you are intentional and deliberate about getting more females into any sphere, it’s never going to happen”.
“It’s more about trying to get to the point where we have representation that allows us to build more holistic, more robust, more sustainable ecosystems, and more sustainable and successful companies,” Johnson said.
The Senior Partner in TLcom Capital and her partner, believe that the involvement of more women in tech yields more results than having half of the population in the game. Two heads are always better than one.
