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Omotoyosi Ogunbanwo

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Mariam Adeyemi is a dedicated tech enthusiast  and founder of TechaVilly, a remarkable technology training platform that aims to empower the black community through skills and knowledge transfer. Alongside her college friend, Omotoyosi Ogunbanwo, also a tech enthusiast working at Amazon USA, Mariam launched TechaVilly in 2020. Since then, the platform has trained over 10,000 individuals, equipping them with the necessary skills to thrive in today’s dynamic job market.

A Pandemic Pivot

Amidst the challenges brought by the pandemic, Mariam rolled out TechaVilly’s very first training program in 2020. Choosing that period to give back, she offered knowledge-sharing for free, giving people hope for a better future. Despite the lockdown, thousands of individuals were trained, and some even secured promising job opportunities. This act of generosity and determination to make a positive impact in the lives of others sets Mariam apart as a visionary leader.

A Journey of Professional Excellence

Mariam’s journey in the tech industry is marked by notable achievements. Having worked in reputable companies like Nestle, she has managed globally recognized brands such as Nescafe and Indomie Noodles. Recognizing the importance of continuously improving her skills, Mariam relocated to the United States in 2017. There, she pursued a master’s degree in Business Analytics from Texas A&M University and gained valuable experience working with companies like Samsung Electronics America and other mid-sized firms.

Revolutionizing Education with EdTech

Beyond her impactful work with TechaVilly, Mariam Adeyemi has also made significant strides in the field of Educational Technology (EdTech). She proudly holds the title of being the first female EdTech founder to launch an educational communication app in Africa. The app, called Discorz, focuses on bridging the communication gap between parents and teachers while simultaneously nurturing and transforming children. With a long-term vision to expand its reach across African schools, TechaVilly aims to integrate technology into the school curriculum and revolutionize education on the continent. Discorz App is steadily gaining popularity and is currently available for download on Google Play and the App Store.

Mariam Adeyemi’s journey as a tech enthusiast and founder of TechaVilly showcases her unwavering commitment to empower the black community through technology. With a focus on knowledge transfer, job market readiness, and educational transformation, she continues to make a significant impact in the lives of thousands. As TechaVilly expands its reach and Discorz App revolutionizes parent-teacher communication, Mariam’s vision of a digitally empowered future for Africa is coming to fruition. Through her relentless efforts, Mariam Adeyemi is truly shaping the landscape of tech education and inspiring others to unlock their full potential.

Joyce Agbanobi  and her team are trying fix the gender gap problem in the tech industry  through their Black Woman Paving Ways Initiative.

Joyce is an enthusiastic Tech leader who is passionate and committed to closing the gender gap for women of color in technology. She is a Technical Program Manager Lead at Microsoft with over 7 years + of experience in ecommerce sectors.

She is also the Co-Founder of the Black Woman Paving Ways, a platform that aims at closing the digital divide and increasing the percentage of women in STEM, through building initiatives to help women upskill for the future and Matching newbies to their dream Mentors across different Fortune 500 companies.

She founded BWPW with her grad school friend Lola Quadri  who is also in the tech sector.

Black Woman Paving Ways was created in November 2020 and since then, they have helped 4,000+ women find their unique paths in technology, gain skills for the future, get matched to technical experts and gotten their dream jobs.

Watch:  How To Save And Invest Wisely In 2023

With the major layoffs in the tech space., the goal of her company for this year is not only to bring women into technology but also to make sure they are uniquely skilled and indispensable on their roles.

To ensure that, and commemorate the Black history month, BWPW will be holding a free 2-weeks Data Analytics hands on training for women transitioning into tech, those in non-tech roles and those who own their business but not exactly sure how to make sense of their data. The training is open to both male and female.

In this interview with Esther Ijewere, Joyce shares her inspiring story and how her company is determined to support women transition into different parts of the tech industry.

Childhood Influence

I remember growing up being the only girl in a family of 6 (including my parents). With my dad been a mechanical engineer working in oil and gas, all he knew and wanted, was for all his kids to be either Engineers, Medical Doctor, or a huge disappointment.

I did not grow up having the opportunity to choose what I really wanted, my dad and Late Grand Pa (who was also an Engineering Professor) choose for me to become a Psychiatric Doctor hence I have a BSc in Psychology.

I remember my dad, saying when he was in school, in an Engineering class of 50 students, they only had about 10 girls and by final year they were left with only 2 girls with the others dropping out to less technical courses. As a result, he constantly coached my brothers and I exactly same way, to be always bold, never be afraid of been the only one and never to stop pushing even when its hard. My Parents never saw my Gender as a blocker to success, so I never saw it as a problem.

I have come this far in my career and rapidly growing, is because of some great traits (Grit, Confidence and Curiosity for Knowledge) I got from my Parents and Brothers. Who would have known that I will continuously be the only Girl or Black Girl in the room?

Inspiration Behind Black Woman Paving Way

Women are one of the most innovative creatures ever but been the only Woman of color constantly in the room was confusing to me, so I decided to really understand why and how that can change, instead of constantly complaining?

Based on my research, I realized there is a huge gender gap because of some key issues: Lack of Technical skill for the future, awareness, representation, and support on all levels. So, in 2020 during Covid, I started sharing knowledge on LinkedIn, IG, Clubhouse and had some technology series on a friends YouTube Channel- “how to break into the technology” with some technical trainings.

I also mentored women for free but got overwhelming after a while and knew I couldn’t scale doing this alone so I partnered with my Grad school friends who were also passionate about increasing the percentage of women in the space. That’s how BWPW was born!

The Journey So Far

I must say it’s been nothing short of amazing but also very tasking, time and personal funds consuming but refreshing, because we have been able to train, mentor, and help over 4,000+ women transition into different paths of technology across the globe. But we are still barely scratching the surface with over 3 billion women in the world, we have a lot more to do and planned for 2023, watch the space.

My Role As A Technical Program Manager Lead At Microsoft And How My Work Experiences In Jumia And Amazon Prepared Me For This Role

As a TPM, I Lead the analytics and process automation initiative for Hyperscale Network Connectivity in Azure, my strong analytical skills and PM experience across the 2 eCommerce giants has uniquely set me apart for my current role in Cloud Networking.

Challenges In My Line Of Work

I think my challenges are similar to a lot of other women in this space, but I can say the major challenge for me as a young woman of color and an Immigrant with an accent leading technical Projects in a room filled with white male mostly twice my age, I constantly have to prove myself, which I personally do not have a problem with as I am now used to it, but it’s a challenge.

Our BWPW Free 2-Week Introduction To Data Analytics Intensive Training For Women

With the current climate of heavy layoff in the tech space and as artificial Intelligence continues to take preeminence, we want to make sure our women are constantly upskilling to become the disruptor and not the disrupted. Low skill jobs will be the easiest to automate hence they need to stay up to date on latest technology and continuously learn new skills to stay relevant.

Whether you are a business owner, a Product Manager or wanting to get into the AI Space, an in-depth data analytics knowledge is very key.

Black woman paving way

Hence BWPW is partnering with some Snr. Data Engineers at Amazon, Google, and Samsung to hold a 2- weeks Hands on free Master Class to train women in Advanced Excel, SQL, Python and Tableau. With an opportunity to solve a real-life business problem through hands on project.

Click here to register; https://mailchi.mp/0fa2c3cea99b/data-science-masterclass?fbclid=PAAaZ7Ws_MqB3fNYMsK0BlYlnnDaWuUNgBB7Z9xgPNJkwI8OUQkkRYRjPPDHs

Other Projects And Activities

We have several products in works but our most recent is:

A platform to help democratize mentorship for women of color across the globe with a launch in 5 countries (Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Canada, and US), so we are excited for that one.

What I Enjoy Most About My Job

Critical thinking and Ability to solve problems. Every Problem to me, is an opportunity to shine and learn something new.

3 Women Who Inspire Me And Why

  • Bozoma Saint John – CMO, Netflix
  • Shelley Zalis – Founder, Female Quotient
  • Annie Jean-Baptiste – Director, Product Inclusion & Equity @ Google

These women inspire me to do more every single day. They decided not to conform to the norm, but push themselves to constantly create solid tables, instead of waiting to be invited to one, in their respective space. Their continuous way paving for women in the cooperate space is highly admirable and with them I am hopeful for a brighter future with more women in it. I believe together we can all make this change!

What We Can Do Better As A Society To Support Women Who Aspire To Go Into The Tech Industry

Support: As of today, women make up to 47% of all employed adults in the US, yet according to Computerscience.org only 18% of women earn a computer science degree. This simply means just women alone are not able to do this, we need more male support to close the gender gap.

Hire Women: Diversity breeds innovation and according to ongoing research conducted by McKinsey, it’s been discovered that diverse teams financially outperform non-diverse teams as much as 25% based on gender diversity alone. Partner with platforms like BWPW for fill those roles.

Mentor and Promote Women: Again, it’s worth going out of your way to connect with women, support your female teammates and help them climb the ladder. It’s difficult to find your footing when your peers don’t look like you or can’t relate to your challenges. Be sure to extend the same benefit of doubt you extend to men.

Encourage Women to pursue STEM: the STEM Field can appear intimidating as its heavily male dominated, so it’s important we become the bridge for young women and encourage them to pursue these field.

Support Families: about 70% of adult women will become mothers so its important for companies to provide good employee benefits to include parental-focused incentives, as having a child is a huge life changing experience.

One Thing I Wish To Change In The Tech Sector

The Technology space is constantly changing, and companies should provide room for everyone to learn and grow whether you are an intern out of school or a leader. We need to support people, so they feel empowered by technology and not frightened by it.

Being A Woman Of Rubies

Honestly been exceptional to me means caring less about perfectionism and validation from everyone but deciding to be exceptional on my own terms. Embracing my uniqueness, acknowledging my struggles, following my path, believing in myself, and ensuring I don’t lose my identity is what makes me an exceptional woman

How We Are Reflecting International Women’s Day #Embraceequity 2023 Theme In BWPW

-Leading the Black Minority Student Program (BMSD) at Microsoft: creating technical workshops to educate, close the digital divide and expose high school students to technology

– Hiring Women

– Providing Mentorship for women within the company

 

 

Mariam Adeyemi and Omotoyosi’s   passion and commitment to unlock potential is admirable. With their technology-training platform; TechaVilly, they are breaking stereotypes.

Both Co-founders of TechaVilly, a technology training platform aimed at empowering the black community through skills and knowledge transfer. Mariam founded the company alongside her college friend, Omotoyosi Ogunbanwo who is also a tech enthusiast and currently works at Amazon USA.

Since 2020, Techavilly has trained over10,000 black people from 2020 till date, helping them to fit into today’s dynamic job market. They rolled out the company’s very first training in 2020 in the middle of the pandemic. According to Mariam they chose that period to give back by sharing knowledge for free and giving people hope for a better life.

In 2021, , TechaVilly provided scholarships for girls to cover their exam fee, transcripts, visa, Sevis fee and flight ticket to the United States for their masters and PhD respectively.

Omotoyosi had this to say about the feat; “Our scholars are currently in the University of Colorado, Oklahoma and Jefferson university – all studying tech related degrees. Techavilly helped these scholars to achieve their study abroad dreams. We believe there are thousands of people who want to take this bold step to improve their lives and get an international degree but don’t know how or where to get started. We guide people in this category through the process, helping them with the information they need and holding them by the hand through the process to ensure a smooth sail all through.”

Omotoyosi Ogunbanwo – Co-founder, Techavilly

Speaking further on their journey so far, Mariam said ; “It’s been amazing. I never thought people are this hungry for knowledge and are willing to pay hundreds of dollars to acquire new tech skills and knowledge. It’s been rewarding I must say. One thing that makes technology evergreen is INNOVATION. Nigeria needs to embrace technology and its benefits to the generations unborn. We would do our  part to change people’s orientation about tech. Yes, it has its bad side, but there is always a good side to every story.

Mariam Adeyemi, Co-founder, Techavilly

Mariam, who has worked with reputable companies, moved to the United States of America in 2017 to improve her skills, and remain relevant in the job market. She got her master’s degree in Business Analytics from Texas A&M University and was privileged to work with organisations such as Samsung Electronics America and other mid-sized companies in the United States. Mariam is the first female EdTech (Educational Technology) founder to launch an educational communication app in Africa. She is committed to bridging parent-teacher communication while developing and transforming the child in the process.

According to her, the goal is to expand across African schools and integrate technology into the school curriculum. Discorz App, which is gradually expanding, and penetration is improving, is currently available for download on Google Play and App Store.

Omotoyosi Ogunbanwo is a Finance and Data Expert, DeFi enthusiast, passionate about emerging technologies in consumer finance. She currently works at Amazon – Physical Stores Tech and she is the co-founder of TechAvilly, where she leads some projects.  Omotoyosi is a mentor to tens of young women, helping them get into tech and scale their career effectively. She is the Co-Founder of Local.y a blockchain payments platform redefining the future of DeFi and how SMB’s in sub-sahara access funds.

 

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