Saze Osayande
| credits: www.techwomen.org
The United State Vice President’s wife, Jill Biden, has recognised a Nigerian woman, Saze Osayande, among the 78 women who gathered in Washington DC in the US, from across the world, to take part in five-week technology training.
According to the BBC, the training was organised by TechWomen, an initiative of the US Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.
TechWomen, launched by former Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, in 2011, supports the United States’ global commitment towards advancing the rights and participation of women and girls around the world by enabling them to reach their full potential in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics.
Biden, who was at the training session to mentor the women, posted her encounter with Saze on her blog shortly after the training session.
She wrote, “I spoke with one of the TechWomen, Saze, from Nigeria, who started a company in her home country of Nigeria with dreams of providing digital content for the over 170 million Africans, as well as the 120 million who will come online in the next five years. Saze wants Nigerian and American women in STEM to work collaboratively to solve problems.”
She quoted Saze as saying, “Learning from other women in the heart of Silicon Valley, where the term STEM was coined, deepens my understanding and provides greater insights that I can share when I come back to Nigeria.
“It is my hope that we can begin a two-way conversation with STEM professionals in Silicon Valley and Silicon Lagoon, as Lagos is known in tech circles.”
Biden said, “I also had a chance to meet a few of the TechWomen mentors. I spoke with Larissa, a TechWomen mentor for the past two years, who works at Mozilla. She sees the connections created during the programme as a way to propel women forward in the STEM field, globally.”
She said, “I see an increasing need for women to come together to shape how technology is forming, and we need professional connections to be able to be forceful players in the game.”
The TechWomen training draws women participants from Algeria, Cameroon, Egypt, Jordan, Kenya, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Nigeria, the Palestinian Territories, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tunisia, Yemen, and Zimbabwe.
Saze, on her part, said she applied for the training since TechWomen afforded participants the opportunity to learn from some of the brightest minds in technology as well as about rising trends in other emerging economies. “I am also excited about experiencing Silicon Valley from the inside. Working with industry leaders in media, marketing and enterprise will provide first hand understanding of how teams are formed and empowered to achieve the amazing things.
“Finally, exploring the social and civic impact of technology through our engagements in Capitol Hill will go a long way to thinking holistically about the technology and tech products we create,” she said.
On her inspiration as a technology person, Saze said a number of people have inspired her. “Bosses who trusted my abilities and empowered me, mentors who have pushed me and of course my parents who raised me without gender restrictions to be the best that I could be, are all my mentors that have always inspired me,” she added.
Over the past three years, 156 women from Algeria, Cameroon, Egypt, Jordan, Kenya, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Nigeria, and from across the globe have participated in TechWomen.
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