Abisoye Ajayi-Akinfolarin

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Abisoye Ajayi-Akinfolarin (2018)

Abisoye Ajayi-Akinfolarin (born Abisoye Abosede Ajayi ; born May 19, 1985 in Akure , Ondo State , Nigeria ) is a Nigerian social entrepreneur who works to improve the living conditions of women and girls.

She is the founder of the Pearls Africa Youth Foundation, a non-governmental organization that aims to provide technical skills to young girls in underserved areas of Nigeria. On November 1, 2018, Ajayi-Akinfolarin was named one of ten CNN Heroes of the Year. In the same month, she was listed as one of the BBC's 100 women for 2018.

Life

Abisoye was born in Akure, the capital of the Nigerian state of Ondo. She became interested in computer topics at an early age, did an internship in the field and trained at the Nigerian Institute for Information Technology (NIIT). She graduated from the University of Lagos , where she graduated with a BSc in Business Administration.

Ajayi-Akinfolarin began her professional career at an IT consultancy specializing in audits and information security based in Lagos. After starting as an intern, she rose to become an associate consultant within seven years . As an IT consultant, Ajayi-Akinfolarin was one of the few women in the field. A government survey conducted in Nigeria in 2013 found that less than 8% of all women in the country are employed in skilled workers, management or technology.

To close this gender gap and to promote more women in their field, Ajayi-Akinfolarin founded the Pearls Africa Youth Foundation in 2012 , a non-governmental organization that supports girls - especially underprivileged - in developing technological skills. The training programs have names such as #GirlsCoding, GC Mentors, GirlsInSTEM and Empowered Hands. Since 2012 (as of 2018), the organization has provided over 400 young girls and women between the ages of ten and seventeen with practical knowledge of computer, web technologies and programming. The programs are broadly based, from very low-threshold offers for young girls from very poor backgrounds to mentoring programs for young women in higher grades. For example, a young woman from the Makoko slum , who had learned to program through Pearls Africa , developed a website to enable fishermen in her community to sell their products directly.

Ajayi-Akinfolarin is a member of numerous regional and international education and technology organizations and publishes in international media and magazines.

Awards and honors

  • CNN Heroes honoree, 2018
  • BBC 100 Women, 2018
  • ONE's 2018 Women of the Year Awards

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Abisoye Ajayi-Akinfolarin: The Coding Hero. In: guardian.ng. November 5, 2018, accessed January 22, 2020 .
  2. ↑ a b c Abisoye Ajayi, Pearls Africa get underprivileged girls into IT and coding. (No longer available online.) In: viva-naija.com. web.archive.org, 2019, archived from the original on April 15, 2019 ; accessed on January 22, 2020 .
  3. ↑ Top 10 CNN Heroes of 2018 revealed. In: cnn.com. CNN, accessed January 22, 2020 .
  4. ↑ PROGRAMS - Pearls Africa. Retrieved January 25, 2020 (American English).
  5. ↑ This 17-Year-Old Girl Built A Website To Help Fishermen In Makoko. Retrieved January 25, 2020 (French).
  6. ↑ Abisoye Ajayi-Akinfolarin. In: TechCamp. Retrieved January 25, 2020 (American English).
  7. ↑ BBC 100 Women 2018: Who is on the list? In: BBC News . 2018 ( bbc.com ).
  8. ↑ ONE's 2018 Women of the Year Awards. In: one.org. ONE, 2018, accessed January 22, 2020 (American English).
personal data
SURNAME Ajayi-Akinfolarin, Abisoye
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ajayi, Abisoye Abosede (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Nigerian social entrepreneur committed to improving the living conditions of women and girls
DATE OF BIRTH May 19, 1985
PLACE OF BIRTH Akure , Ondo State , Nigeria