Being female is a global challenge. While this should not be so, research has indicated that women and girls have struggled to reach the heights they are capable of because of different reasons that vary across gender bias, stereotypes, and traditional, and even religious beliefs.
The gender gap in the tech ecosystem is so wide that many young girls do not grow up thinking of dominating the space, instead preferring to pursue roles or lives that society or the environment dictates for them. Thankfully, the culture is now changing, albeit slowly. Many women in tech have reached heights that the ‘foremothers’ could barely dream of when the fight for the recognition of women’s rights began.
Aisha Tofa defies the stereotypes. When she began to express her unconventional thoughts via a blog named ‘Being female,’ all she wanted to do was express herself, her dreams, aspirations, and challenges, as a female living in Northern Nigeria. She has gone on to found one of the largest tech hubs in the region, helped budding startups raise millions of dollars, and earned recognition from the United Nations for her contribution to the Nigerian tech ecosystem.
The early inspirations
As the only child of her mother, Aisha Tofa found inspiration from the life of the woman who raised her. Her mother’s entrepreneurial spirit, strong will, confidence, and independence played a major role in the attributes that she possesses today
I’ve always admired her because, she just likes to get things done, you know, without waiting for our dad. And I just felt this is the kind of person I want to be like, I want to be independent, Aisha Tofa told Technext for this instalment of Women in Tech.
This mindset did not allow her to believe in the limitations that her immediate environment would have liked to put on her career trajectory. Therefore, she always sought to do more.
While studying for an undergraduate degree in Mass Communication at the prestigious Bayero University, Kano, she saw an opportunity to trade in fabrics, a venture that paved the way for other opportunities while generating income.
The shift to tech
Although there were not many women in the profession at the time, Aisha Tofa dreamt of becoming a pilot when she was a child. However, she found herself studying Mass Communication at the university and realized that the course would not give her the fulfilment she wanted for her life.
Ambitious students do not like to fail but the most ambitious of them see failure as an opportunity to learn. A carryover course prevented Aisha Tofa from graduating with her classmates, now she says it was an opportunity destined by fate to help her choose her path carefully in retrospect.
The classmates who graduated at the appointed time regaled her with tales of their struggle in the Nigerian labour market. So that extra year allowed her to think of an alternate career path that would yet ignite the flames of passion in her soul.
Like Rome, Startup Kano was not built in a day
Initially, people did not buy the idea. Aisha Tofa had the vision to build a platform where people could showcase their talents. While the goal was one to jump on, many people were unfamiliar with the concept of tech and its impact on them. Therefore, raising funds was a chore. Most of the expenses from inception have been provided from the team’s personal savings.
We started very lean. People thought we were doing what we are doing because we don’t have jobs, finding something to do instead of staying idle. So, for us to even convince anybody for any funding was not even on our go-to or, you know, whatever. It has always been our personal savings, and we bootstrapped a lot.
The team’s first workstation was a stall inside a Kano mall. However, humble beginnings should not be despised. Strategy meetings and plans for expansion were formulated so fast that it became too much work for the team, and they required more suitable office space.
Her knight in shiny armour turned out to be her father, who had an empty building that could suffice. He agreed to let her use the property for a year, with the understanding that they would discuss legal matters such as rent payment and other related matters if he did not see the value in what they were doing.
Initially, people did not buy the idea. Aisha Tofa had the vision to build a platform where people could showcase their talents. While the goal was one to jump on, many people were unfamiliar with the concept of tech and its impact on them. Therefore, raising funds was a chore. Most of the expenses from inception have been provided from the team’s personal savings.
We started very lean. People thought we were doing what we are doing because we don’t have jobs, finding something to do instead of staying idle. So, for us to even convince anybody for any funding was not even on our go-to or, you know, whatever. It has always been our personal savings, and we bootstrapped a lot.
The team’s first workstation was a stall inside a Kano mall. However, humble beginnings should not be despised. Strategy meetings and plans for expansion were formulated so fast that it became too much work for the team, and they required more suitable office space.
Her knight in shiny armour turned out to be her father, who had an empty building that could suffice. He agreed to let her use the property for a year, with the understanding that they would discuss legal matters such as rent payment and other related matters if he did not see the value in what they were doing.
Increasing women participation in tech
At the initial stage of Startup Kano’s activities, the participation was 99% of men to 1% of women. This led the team to enquire about ways to increase the participation of women particularly to solve the issues of unemployment and even educational deprivation.
Online campaigns have somewhat helped with balancing the numbers, but the stroke of genius is the grassroots sensitization on the importance of women participating in the tech hub’s programs.
So that was how we got them to actually, you know, come out and participate. And then now it’s usually online because everybody is familiar with learning online.
This has helped the numbers up to a good start as Aisha Tofa further explained that for the current participation in both genders, she would say 70%-30% or maybe 60%-40%. The Women Founders Group, which Aisha also started, is another sister platform that aims to close this gap. It is an all-female platform and a haven that offers opportunities for African women in entrepreneurship and technology.
