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Regina Honu is a Ghanaian computer scientist, founder of Soronko Solutions, a software enterprise and a Changemaker, that has taught thousands of girls how to create technology and to code through Tech Needs Girls Ghana and Soronko Academy.
Now Regina might seem like an unlikely entrepreneur. Like many of us, growing up, she believed that entrepreneurs were special kind of people. That entrepreneurs were born and not made.
She on the other hand was socialised like an average Ghanaian girl as she says and that meant:
“A good Ghanain girl must be seen and not heard. Just follow the rules, check all the boxes. And I was that girl, that followed all the rules and checked all the boxes.”
However, Regina’s path seemed to change, when she decided to become a computer scientist.
She noticed how computer science was so male dominated and in her first jobs, working for two banks in Corporate Ghana, she was the only woman in the IT department, and experienced discrimination, sexism and stereotyping.
However, she also noticed, that she had a higher earning power than her colleagues, because of her skills and so saw the opportunities that working in tech presented.
Eventually, she decided to quit her job and start Soronko Solutions, a social enterprise, developing software and supporting her not for profit projects Soronko Academy and Tech Needs Girls Ghana, that have engaged several thousand girls in creating technology and learning how to code.
When she launched Tech Needs Girls, at the time, there were many other programs. But they were targeted at teaching people how to consume technology, not how to create it. She decided to stand out by teaching girls how to create technology and how to code. In the beginning no one believed that it was possible:
‘Girls are not built for math and science’ , ‘it is too advanced’, ‘ the girls are not going to get it.’
She got a lot of this kind of backlash in the beginning. But she believed that she could teach girls how to code and that it was all about how you tailor the content, how you deliver it and about female role models in tech.
Fast forward to today and Regina has been covered in a book by Facebooks CEO Sheryl Sandberg, CNN has interviewed her, as well as Al Jazeera and BBC. We are grateful that we also had the chance to meet her and learn a ton from this inspiring entrepreneur.
Find out in this AfricaX interview with Regina Honu. The Interview with Regina Honu is also available on our Youtube Channel.
For more information on Regina and her projects, please visit:
And for more interviews with African Changemakers that we interviewed on our trip through the continent with an electric motorbike, visit our AfricaX Blog.
_______________________
YOU LIKE THE AFRICAX PROJECT?
Here is how you can learn more and support...:
👉🏾 Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/africaxproject/
👉🏾 Check out our Blog: https://www.africax.org/blog to listen to all of the episodes as a podcast and watch the videos
👉🏾 Donate and help us empower the next generation of young entrepreneurs and changemakers in Africa through https://www.yesfoundersfoundation.org with as little as 10 USD
👉🏾 Or last but not least GET THE AFRICAX BOOK HERE... and follow the epic adventure of Dulcie Mativo and Thomas Jakel as they travel the African continent overland with an electric motorbike, to interview over 100 inspiring changemakers in 20 countries, from Morocco and Mauritania to Liberia, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa and many more...
By AfricaXRegina Honu is a Ghanaian computer scientist, founder of Soronko Solutions, a software enterprise and a Changemaker, that has taught thousands of girls how to create technology and to code through Tech Needs Girls Ghana and Soronko Academy.
Now Regina might seem like an unlikely entrepreneur. Like many of us, growing up, she believed that entrepreneurs were special kind of people. That entrepreneurs were born and not made.
She on the other hand was socialised like an average Ghanaian girl as she says and that meant:
“A good Ghanain girl must be seen and not heard. Just follow the rules, check all the boxes. And I was that girl, that followed all the rules and checked all the boxes.”
However, Regina’s path seemed to change, when she decided to become a computer scientist.
She noticed how computer science was so male dominated and in her first jobs, working for two banks in Corporate Ghana, she was the only woman in the IT department, and experienced discrimination, sexism and stereotyping.
However, she also noticed, that she had a higher earning power than her colleagues, because of her skills and so saw the opportunities that working in tech presented.
Eventually, she decided to quit her job and start Soronko Solutions, a social enterprise, developing software and supporting her not for profit projects Soronko Academy and Tech Needs Girls Ghana, that have engaged several thousand girls in creating technology and learning how to code.
When she launched Tech Needs Girls, at the time, there were many other programs. But they were targeted at teaching people how to consume technology, not how to create it. She decided to stand out by teaching girls how to create technology and how to code. In the beginning no one believed that it was possible:
‘Girls are not built for math and science’ , ‘it is too advanced’, ‘ the girls are not going to get it.’
She got a lot of this kind of backlash in the beginning. But she believed that she could teach girls how to code and that it was all about how you tailor the content, how you deliver it and about female role models in tech.
Fast forward to today and Regina has been covered in a book by Facebooks CEO Sheryl Sandberg, CNN has interviewed her, as well as Al Jazeera and BBC. We are grateful that we also had the chance to meet her and learn a ton from this inspiring entrepreneur.
Find out in this AfricaX interview with Regina Honu. The Interview with Regina Honu is also available on our Youtube Channel.
For more information on Regina and her projects, please visit:
And for more interviews with African Changemakers that we interviewed on our trip through the continent with an electric motorbike, visit our AfricaX Blog.
_______________________
YOU LIKE THE AFRICAX PROJECT?
Here is how you can learn more and support...:
👉🏾 Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/africaxproject/
👉🏾 Check out our Blog: https://www.africax.org/blog to listen to all of the episodes as a podcast and watch the videos
👉🏾 Donate and help us empower the next generation of young entrepreneurs and changemakers in Africa through https://www.yesfoundersfoundation.org with as little as 10 USD
👉🏾 Or last but not least GET THE AFRICAX BOOK HERE... and follow the epic adventure of Dulcie Mativo and Thomas Jakel as they travel the African continent overland with an electric motorbike, to interview over 100 inspiring changemakers in 20 countries, from Morocco and Mauritania to Liberia, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa and many more...