Sponsors of the First Tech Lady Bootcamp 2019 at Uwani Hub
In partnership with Nubianette Consulting, we hosted a five (5) day intensive leadership, entrepreneurship and coding bootcamp for 8 young women (age 18 and above) selected from applications received across Nigeria.
The bootcamp took place at Uwani Hub from November 17th to 23rd 2019.
Thank you to all those who supported Mary’s birthday fundraiser for this programme, we made it happen and we made an impact.
Tech Lady BootCamp in partnership with Nubianette Consulting – November 2019
Participants arrived at the venue on Sunday, 17th November 2019. They were welcomed and checked into their accommodations, thanks to GeoBajas Hotel for sponsoring us with ten (10) of their rooms, we are super grateful. We had a welcome dinner, introduced ourselves and backgrounds, as well as what we hoped to achieve at the end of the bootcamp. We had one lady come from Enugu, Six from Lagos, and One from Abeokuta.
Welcome Desk – Arrival Day 17th
After Welcome Dinner group photo on the arrival day of the Bootcamp
We started each day with Morning Yoga led by Ali, had breakfast then proceeded to the Hub for three consecutive sessions with tea breaks, lunch and stretches in between. In the evening, we played games in the outdoor area, had siesta for one hour, dinner and chat afterwards, and lights out.
Mary, Ali and the Tech Lady Bootcamp Crew
Yoga exercises led by Ali at the Tech Lady Bootcamp 2019
Group Photo with all participants and trainers at the Tech Lady Bootcamp 2019
To see the full photo album, please click here. To reach out to us for partnership, sponsorship, participation in next year’s event or any other reason, kindly click on ‘contact us’ please.
This Camp has ended. You can read their stories here and look at photos taken throughout the camp at the bottom of the page.
We ran an exciting and innovative programme this last summer from August from 14th – 25th 2019!
There were two options for the wards, either the day camp or in-house residential option.
An understanding of computer science is becoming increasingly essential in today’s world. The ability to code and understand the power of computing is crucial for student’s success in our hyper-connected world.
In the classroom, coding is linked to improved problem solving and analytical reasoning…and more!
This was not just be a summer of learning how to code, wards were introduced to technology, reading habits, internet safety, knowledge sharing and character development. They were equipped with 21st century digital skills that stimulated their physical and mental development.
What they learnt?
This summer camp was not just learning to code, but learning to make DIY art and crafts. They learnt HTML, CSS and Python and they all published their camp stories on our class blog alongside their first lines of code which they presented on the final day to their parents and guardians.
Summer camp began:
10.00 am: August 14th 2019 – Arrival and settling into residence on the hub premises (for wards that stayed in-residence).
10.00 am: August 15th 2019 for day campers. Classes ran till 3.00 pm every Monday to Saturday, lunch was provided for all free. AFRICAN TIME WAS DISCOURAGED!
Summer camp ended:
Sunday, August 25th 2019. All parents/guardians were mandated to attend the final presentation of projects from the campers and what they learnt during their stay! This began by 01.00 pm and ended by 03.00 pm with lunch for all.
Planned daily activities was printed and handed to each ward.
What were the costs?
This summer camp was totally FREE for all participants.
One payment we required from those who dropped off their kids daily was to ‘make a commitment to ensure ward(s) did not miss a class. The other payment for parents/guardians registering their wards was to ensure ward(s) have a functional personal computer, as we were unable to provide computers for all.
In House Residence Advantages
Ward(s) were accommodated in comfortable chalets. Environment is big and ideal for families with enough spaces for long walks. They were close to nature, yet in a gated and secure environment. They were fully immersed in the programme and benefitted from story and movie nights. Their meals were prepared by our in-residence chef, toiletries were provided too. We had separate accommodation for girls and boys, and a minder was with them at all times when they are not in class. Mary, our host was also on-site at all times within this period.
Click hereto register your teenager(s) for the next mid-term break camp. More information will be communicated upon registration.
We want to keep in house residential option completely free always, hence we need your support too, if you would like to support our goals, please click here to donate. We accept equipment and physical resources too, kindly contact us and we will arrange pick-up. Thank you.
Spaces are limited so apply early please.
Hosts/Instructors:
Mary is a Founder and Product Manager at How Do You Tech, a social enterprise with a mission to provide answers to tech problems and challenges for Africans, and a vision to promote #Tech4All regardless of skillset and background. When she’s not teaching digital skills at Uwani Hub, she’s volunteering for the WordPress Open Source Community, Tech4Good Netsquared Community and the Internet Governance Society.
You can connect with her via her website – maryjob.com
Adedayo is a CMS Evangelist and founder at Jibi Technologies, a frequent speaker at CMS Africa, an annual initiative that promotes Content Management System adoption and use on the African landscape. She has a B.Sc. in Computer Science from the prestigious University of Lagos, and over ten years experience working in the Information Technology sector. When she is not speaking and volunteering, she can be found reading, swimming or writing short stories for Kunku, a storyteller app for kids.
Do you have questions. We expect you would have. Please click here to send us an email right-away! You can also call us on +234 903 456 9268 or SMS us on +234 809 394 4674.
It is not news that Lagos is a thriving tech town with so many activities buzzing from one end to the other, a lot of tech hubs have sprung up and co-work spaces to support people in Tech is the new best thing. However, what happens to the people who live in other towns and villages outside Lagos and in other states?
How the internet works - a one month digital skills workshop at Uwani Hub in Ijebu-Imusin
Registration for classes to begin January 2020 will be announced soon. Each workshop runs for a total of 8 hours in a one week duration.
Weekday classes run every Monday to Thursday from 3.00pm – 5.00pm for one full week duration!
Weekend classes run on Sundays only from 3.30 – 5.30 pm for a one month duration!
This is a one week / month digital skills workshop that will take place every month from January – November 2020. You can only join a new class at the beginning of every new month starting in January.
Certificate of participation will only be awarded to those who do not miss any class during the duration of their workshop.
What we will learn!
Basic Digital Skills
Introduction to Computers and the Internet
Learning how to retrieve information and communicate over the internet
Learning how to use the internet to present, share and sell your services
Learning how to solve your problems using the internet
Learning how to stay safe on the internet and not break any rules
Brief Introduction About Us: Uwani Hub is located inside GeoBajas Hotel and we are set to introduce digital skills freely to women and young people in Ijebu-Imusin and environs. We are running one month workshops from June to November 2019 and we will be hosting one day trainings from time to time. We also plan to have a summer camp for teenagers this August. Classes for June is done and July has begun, runs for one month, a certificate of participation will be issued only to those who do not miss any sessions. To register, please visit www.uwani.org/register, If you need a space to work, we also rent out co-work desk spaces, see our membership page for more information at: Uwani.org/membership
We have just three rules.
Don’t be a jerk, be respectful and kind in our online and offline communities
Our hub is a safe and sacred space for people curious about tech, let’s keep it that way, no discrimination allowed, all beginners are welcomed.
Be open and willing to share your knowledge with the community, everybody knows something.
NB: You can ask any questions on Technology in this group, we are here to assist you in finding useful answers relevant for your personal and professional growth. You can see some of our answers for Nigerians here too: www.howdoyoutech.com.ng
P.S – We understand some people may not like whatsapp groups, you can join us on our Slack Workspace using this link: http://bit.ly/uhslack, or subscribe to the mailing list on our website to get updates from time to time (sometimes we give our free swags (t-shirts, stickers, etc).
Mobile Photography Masterclass at Uwani Hub on June 9th 2019
Location: Uwani Hub
Time: 01.00 – 02.00 pm
Date: June 9th 2019
Come and learn how to take great photos using your smartphone.
We will be hosting a Mobile Photography Masterclass in partnership with our friends from Lagos. We share practical tips on how to take great photos using only your smartphone and or DSLR if you have one.
How to get pre-approval before taking photos of people, and understanding what kind of pictures you can post on the world wide web. We will also look at some free photo sharing websites during this meetup.
We recently got nominated for the Equals Digital Skills Fund in the first quarter of year 2019. To say we were excited and grateful to whoever nominated us for this grant would be an understatement. Not forgetting to be thankful to the Web Foundation team for selecting us to be part of this program. Needless to say, only 10 Non-Profits were selected and we are part of them.
This program is managed by the World Wide Web Foundation and supported by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, the EQUALS Digital Skills Fund will support a range of capacity-building trainings to advance women’s digital skills, active citizenship, and civic participation through technology.
We are committing to running workshops, outreaches and presentations for the next 9 months. Our target audience are girls in secondary schools, women in the educational sector and girls/women who are not in school and have no hope of advancing further in their academic lives. At the end of this program, we plan to have impacted on a significant number of girls and women. We will be publishing updates regularly and sharing information on impact made.
We thank the Web Foundation. We thank the German Development Foundation too.
Recently i sat an a EdTech panel at the African Women in Technology 2019 conference, and i was amazed to see participants come from all over the country, as well as far Katsina. It felt liberating being given the opportunity to share, learn and make an impact. Before the conference, i was asked some questions about EdTech in Africa and i would love to share my answers with you as well.
Interviewer: As a professional who teaches digital skills, what does technology represent to you?
Me: Technology represents to me three things; Freedom, Empowerment and Actionable Resource.
Interviewer: Why did you choose this career path?
Me: It chose me. Just like philosophy is known to be the foundation of all disciplines. Educational Technology to me is the bedrock of how we will possess knowledge in the future.
Interviewer: As an EdTech professional, how receptive have the African women population been to Educational Technology?
Me: On a scale of 1 – 100, 100 being the highest, based off my experience and attendance seen at women dedicated conferences, such as the AWIT2018 and the Summit for Women and Girls organised by the Web Foundation last year. I would score women’s’ participation in Edtech, 15 (I earlier said 50, i may have been too excited). The focus though is more on securing jobs in STEM and embracing it, rather than adoption of tech in what we do everyday and teaching the next generation how to be ready and equipped for the future.
Interviewer: As an African woman in tech, what is the most significant challenge you have faced professionally?
Me: That would be working remotely in the sense of not having a brick and mortar shop. The work we do is one we can carry out from anywhere, so long as there is electricity and reliable internet connectivity. This also means that we do not need to operate a physical office. The implication of this is that clients who prefer to walk-in to request for our services are not able to do so. Even though we are able to manage our remote processes efficiently, some clients would still insist on physical contact when it is clearly not needed.
Interviewer: Where do you place the value of EdTech in the next few years in Africa?
Me: I see it saving the current degenerating educational system we have in Nigeria. I see it opening new frontiers in personalised learning especially in areas lacking access to internet and its technologies. I see it becoming a norm, and a strong tool for the economic liberation of most African countries, especially our dear country, Nigeria.
You have probably heard a lot about digital skills – seems everyone is talking about it these days. It has become something every individual is expected to possess. While different academicians and professionals have given different meanings of what they believe it means to be digitally skilled, our best definition of what this means is simple and thus:
To Leverage information, communication and technology for personal and professional development.
You are probably thinking, so what is ICT (The acronym for Information, Communication, and Technology). That, we will break down in another post.
It’s actually really simple? Think of it as personalizing your use of technology to achieve your goals in life. There is an overlap between our personal and professional lives. For instance, what used to be our personal news now seems like public news.
Ask yourself, how do I need to use technology?
When you can answer that question, then you have discovered what digital skills you need to possess to achieve your goals.
The point is, ICT has cut across all spheres of our lives today so it is important that we leverage upon it to improve ourselves and our way of living, not just personally but professionally. This is why we take on that simple explanation of what it means to be digitally skilled. It’s also where the future of EdTech gets interesting, because we may be in the same classroom but what I need to succeed may not be the same as what you need. However, there are some skills everyone, regardless of background, field, gender, or any other reason should possess.
At the end of the day, we should all strive to be good humans. Technology is a tool we can use to get us to where we need to be!
