It was William Shakespeare who in his book, ‘Twelfth Night’ said; “Be not afraid of greatness. Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and others have greatness thrust upon them.”
For Damilola Adediran, a Nigerian tech entrepreneur, and founder of CodeSchool Africa, who was recently admitted into ForbesBLK, achieved greatness through hard work, perseverance, and determination.
A graduate of Mass Communication, Damilola’s passion for education technology led her into establishing a talent development company where she has helped over 5,000 Africans learn technology skills across the continent.
The multi-faceted leader is passionate about achieving a dual mission which is empowering marginalised African youth, women and girls to become economically empowered, while building a robust tech ecosystem across the continent.
Damilola’s passion for STEM was first brought to the fore when she kick-started a role as a digital marketer in a tech company. It was at this role that helped her realise the power of technology and how liberating it can be to both organisations and individuals.
“The passion to further empower individuals stemmed from the massive loss of jobs that occurred during the Covid-19 pandemic where several youth lost their jobs in Nigeria due to the lack of tech skills, led me to team up with my co-founder to start CodeSchool Africa an EdTech company and social enterprise that has trained over 5,000 youth in tech skills since it opened shop in 2021,” Damilola said.
Being consistently driven with passion to help the underserved people, Damilola was not still satisfied with her reach, as statistics revealed to her that there were several hundreds of people scattered around Africa especially women and girls who have been marginalised and abused and could not afford the cost of learning these skills to become economically independent.
“This is what led to my launching ‘TechHer4Change’ in August 2023, with the objective of helping marginalised and abused women and girls learn a tech skill and connect them to job opportunities, mental health coaches as well as internship opportunity,” she explained.
The innovative tech founder alongside her team boasts of building Africa’s first user-centred e-commerce AI-Powered Learning Management System (LMS) called Witti; a platform that helps digital creators sell their courses, and ebooks, among others, helps learners learn conveniently, while helping youth earn and become economically empowered through its free affiliate programme.
Damilola, as a female in a male-dominated Edtech industry faces the challenges of societal and cultural barriers that limit women and girls’ access to education and opportunities, a challenge which she said is enormous, especially in the area of attracting and retaining top talents within the tech industry in emerging markets such as Africa.
However, she said despite these challenges, her aspirations remain ambitious.
“With the help of my team my aim is to continue scaling CodeSchool Africa, Witti and TechHer4Change to reach a wider audience and have a greater impact on marginalised communities.
“Besides, I’m eager to expand my work in the tech space, exploring new opportunities to leverage technology for social good,” she stressed.
Damilola’s ultimate goal is to create a more inclusive and equitable tech ecosystem in Africa, where women and girls have equal opportunities to thrive and contribute to the continent’s development.
in addition, her expertise, passion for technology and driving positive change has earned her several awards, fellowship and recognitions such as Vital Voices, Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF), Academy For Women Entreprenuer (AWE) A US Consulate Iniative, FutureFemale Business School (A UK-Nigeria Tech Hub Initiative).
Damilola prides herself in creating opportunities for women and girls, while simultaneously building a brighter future for Africa’s tech landscape.
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