Tech Sheroes: Celebrating The Women Showing the way in Africa 🌍.
Still on the topic of women who tech 👨💻...,A breakdown of the SVB Saga and a special message from our founder.
Hello 👋🏽 Dear Innovators,
This week we celebrated 🥳🥂 international women's day and it was an awesome 😎 experience for us at Consonance too. It was a big day for women and graphic designers I must say. Na graphic designers dey hot now 🔥, dem just dey cash out💵.
Every organization, foundation, initiative, community, and company had great designs and messages or so it seemed. At least from where I was standing, social media and emails were buzzing.
Last week, we kicked off women's history month with a tribute to two amazing women Katherine Johnson and Dr. Fei Fei Li. In the same vein, we'll celebrate 🥳 three great African women who are leading the way for innovation in Africa, as promised in our mid-week check-in.
Before we dive in, let's have a good laugh from tech Twitter
And a quick one from the streets of tech.
Maya Horgan Famodu
Maya Horgan Famodu born on the 24th of March, 1991 is a Nigerian-American entrepreneur with significant contributions to startups at home and abroad.
“Home and abroad” is relative in this case, because she grew up in Minnesota, being half Nigerian. She has proven loyalty to her roots by prominently supporting a number of promising startups in Sub-Saharan Africa 🌍 including the well-revered PayStack.
She started her career in mortgage banking at JP Morgan Chase and then worked briefly in private equity in New York. She came to Nigeria as a 23-year-old after leaving her job in New York with dreams to set up her fund. Of course, Maya's success didn't come easy, as she had to overcome a few bumps in the road.
She is the founder of Ingressive capital and has become a force to be reckoned with in Africa's venture capital.
Maya embodies resilience because, despite numerous disappointments, she has been undeterred in her quest for success. She started out young, and with little experience, but what she had going for her was her determination to achieve her goals.
She is said to be one of the youngest persons to launch a tech fund in Sub-Saharan Africa and the first woman in Nigeria to do so alone.
Juliet Odumosu
Juliet Odumosu is a successful Nigerian entrepreneur with incredible contributions to the health sector, but it all started with trying on many hats to figure out which was for her.
She is a graduate of Obafemi Awolowo University where she studied International relations and affairs. Juliet later found her passion in media and marketing after a lot of experimenting to enhance her transformation journey.
Today she is the co-founder and CMO at Nguvu health 🏥. Her interests spread into the world of tech and this brought about another opportunity for innovation to do what she loves. This opportunity came from a friend, who is also now her co-founder at Nguvu health reaching out to her. Nguvu health is a promising teletherapy platform for Africans.
She encourages women to document their milestones in their journey to becoming. She continues to pave the way, as she contributes to Africa’s future with her innovative ideas.
Adora Nwodo
Adora Nwodo is a great example of a woman who wears many hats 🤠. She is a published author, software engineer, and global speaker among other things.
She is a Nigerian with a very strong background in software engineering. Adora obtained her bachelor's degree from the University of Lagos, where she graduated with a First Class in computer science.
Right on cue with her desired path in life, Adora has been an inspiration to women from all works of life with her achievements and hasn't looked back ever since.
Adora currently works with Microsoft (A highly successful tech company) where she does what she loves the most. Her job description includes building mixed realities and innovative technology in the cloud.
She is a good example of leaving the door 🚪 open for others, as she drives inclusion for women in technology. She also supports the empowerment of people in rural communities through projects and initiatives that she is a part of.
She authored “Cloud Engineering for beginners” a detailed book 📖 that mirrors her interests and basically teaches beginners the path to success from the experience she has garnered.
In Other News…
Before we go, the story about Silicon Valley Bank is making rounds everywhere and we thought to explain it to you like we would a 10-year-old
Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) in a Valley of Trouble
Start-ups raised money for their ventures and innovation.
These start-ups gave the money to SVB, as is their practice.
SVB invested the money in the purchase of US treasuries and it was locked in for 10 years at a 1.5% yield.
The Federal Reserve raises the interest rate on the initial price of the treasuries
In no time start-ups find themselves with no money and they come to SVB for money.
The SVB was left with no choice but to sell treasury securities at a loss to fund all deposit withdrawals.
The pressure increases over time and the SVB cannot meet all requests. The SVB tries to raise funds from the money market to fund losses and cover withdrawal requests, but they fail to successfully do this.
This leads to the collapse of the SVB.
Catch more of this story on our mid-week check-in at 4 pm on Wednesday…
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A Call For Innovators
This week we bring you a message from our Founder Kelvin Umechukwu about Finding your tribe. He described how finding people of like minds was instrumental in building his first startup, and how he met his Co-founder for one of Africa’s leading social commerce platforms- Bumpa, and the rest they say is history.
This is to remind you that, you have a tribe in the Consonance community to help you grow and to support you throughout your journey. Apply today to connect with a community that has your best interest at heart.
Don’t give in to frustration and give up on what you are building, the future is innovation and posterity will thank you. Your innovative ideas are important for a better world.
Join Consonance's Community of Innovators (CCI) today!
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Thanks for always.
Notable Reads For The Week
Apparently a telecommunication giant, Safaricom is being sued for a lot of money. It’s something about a breach of privacy and things of that nature, so check it out.
After so much hassle and stress to citizens old notes are still to remain a legal tender in Nigeria for a long time, according to the latest court ruling.
Nokia rebrands after 60 years to properly represent its new vision and to suit its description as they advance.
Students nowadays seem to have fallen in love with AI’s ChatGPT. Read about what they are up to.
Opportunities
Bumpa is hiring a Senior Backend Engineer and a Senior Mobile Development Engineer - Remote
AfricaCheck is hiring a Copy Editor in Johannesburg, South Africa
Vendease has a couple of open positions in Lagos, Nigeria
Nomba is hiring in Lagos, Nigeria
ICF is hiring a Communications and Engagement Lead in Kitui County, Kenya
Zikoko is hiring a Managing Editor in Lagos, Nigeria
TechCabal is hiring in Lagos, Nigeria
Fido is hiring in Ghana and South Africa