April 18, 2018

Mrs Oremeyi Akah, the Chief Core Operations Officer, Interswitch, has advised women to use basic computer applications when starting off with technology.

Akah told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in an interview on Wednesday in Lagos that women should not be intimidated to build careers in technology.

“Women get scared when they are faced with technology, particularly software engineering,’’ she said.

“Technology powers life and as such too important to ignore in everyday living.

“It can be intimidating. Software engineering looks intimidating because it is virtual; it is not like building a car that you can see.

“But the first thing I will say is, don’t be intimidated.

“The second is, everybody is learning it. The world is in a phase where we’ve realised that technology powers life. So it has come to stay.

“A lot of people are trying new things. It’s a lot of forming, not defined yet,” she said.

Akah explained that there were so many ways women could leverage on technology for their businesses without having to be coders or write software themselves.

“The good thing is the internet has made things easy.

“You can learn anything on YouTube. You don’t even have to write codes, you can start by using what exists.

“If you sell food and deliver, you can create an Instagram page and add payments.

“You’re using technology to leverage your life,’’ she said.

She advised that parents should ingrain technology in their children’s education early.

She suggested Microsoft Paint as one of the simple applications children could be introduced to as early as four years old.

NAN reports that Akah received the SheCan Nigeria, ‘SheCan Code’ Award in Lagos.

It is an NGO that encourages women and girls to take up businesses dominated by men.