💐 Flowers For "Tress" #HappyWomensDay

The Future Is Female

Yesterday (March 8th) was International Women’s Day. A day to commemorate the cultural, political, and socioeconomic achievements of women in society.

Although there has been lots of success in the field of tech for women, there’s still obviously much work to be done, especially in tech.

A 2014 Harvard study highlighted gender bias ways where male entrepreneurs 60% more likely to receive funding for their pitches than female entrepreneurs. This of course has resulted in more male-led tech ventures being funded, leaving lots of female ventures underfunded.

But there is an entity trying to help solve that problem. FirstCheck Africa is a female-focused angel investing fund set up to back technology entrepreneurs at “ridiculously early” stages.

The fund will invest between $15,000 and $25,000 in female-led teams, with the goal of being the first outside investor backing founders.

It’s a good start and hopefully, we might see more funds directed at female ventures in the near future.

Female Heroes In The Ghana Tech Ecosystem

Ghana has its fair share of female techpreneurs who have been pushing boundaries and making a name for themselves in the Ghana Tech Ecosystem.

Ivy Barley founded Developers In Vogue, focused on helping female coders learn coding through boot camps and helping them find potential employers. Ivy is currently working at Microsoft in Seattle in the US as a program manager.

Ethel Cofie, the founder of EDEL technology, was one of the few female entrepreneurs on the list of IT professionals who accompanied the Vice President of Ghana on a working trip to Silicon Valley. (Picture below)

There are many, many others female founders, co-founders, and tech professionals who don’t get too much spotlight but are doing lots of heavy lifting behind the scenes. Some of these individuals include Miishe Addy (Jet Stream), Leticia Brown (Co-director of Intelligent Capital), Georgina Wilson (Flight Operations Lead at Zipline International,) and Estelle Akofio-Sowah (CSquared).

The list isn’t as extensive but it shows how women are slowly being recognised for their contributions to technology in Ghana. We hope to see more growth in the future.

Image Credit: Ethel Cofie (Instagram)

Flowers For "Tress"

A couple of years ago, a small startup called “Tress”, built a social community app for black women’s hairstyles. The app had the ability for women to upload photos of hairstyles and discuss how to replicate the look. The app also had the ability for users to discuss their hair needs with an engaged community in a Q&A section.

The Tress team, made up of Priscilla Hazel, Esther Olatunde, and Cassandra Sarfo, were part of the YC Combinator 17 batch. Although it had a lot of fanfare in the beginning, it didn’t last in the long run.

Many have said the app was ahead of its time and would probably have flourished more in this current climate.

Hopefully, we see a successor in the near future.

Tress, here are your flowers from Tech Nova 💐

Happy Women’s Day.