Women entrepreneurs urged to be resilient

Aspiring women entrepreneurs in the tech space have been challenged to develop a spirit of resilience if they hope to succeed with their innovations or businesses.

Folake Owodunni, the 2024 Aurora Tech award winner, gave the charge during a panel session at the 2024 Wetech Conference sponsored by inDrive last weekend.

She described her success at the last edition of the Aurora Tech Award as a product of resilience, signalling a turning point in her career.

While advising eligible women in tech to apply for the 2025 Aurora Tech Award, Owodunni maintained that the initiative remains the best platform to get the desired recognition and support.

The tech entrepreneur noted that her initiative, Emergency Response Africa, aims to address the issue of inadequate response to emergencies in Africa by connecting ambulances and first responders to patients through technology.

The initiative, which has received tremendous acceptance from various state governments in Nigeria, continues to attract successful partnerships aimed at improving emergency response, such as transporting pregnant women in labour to hospitals.

Read also: Breaking down barriers and empowering women entrepreneurs

According to her, the need for better emergency response systems motivated the setting up of Emergency Response Africa. An inspiration she attributed to high-profile deaths and numerous unreported cases of death in Africa due to the knowledge gap on the part of the public during the period of emergencies.

The initiative, designed to confront issues such as public panic and misconceptions about emergency services, aims to improve emergency care by educating the public and ensuring timely and effective responses to medical emergencies.

Catherine Akindele, the acquisition manager, inDrive Nigeria, speaking to the success of the Aurora Tech Award, said, “The Aurora Tech Award was borne out of the need to foster fairness, inclusivity and empowerment of women in technology.”

Akindele stated that the award has received a significant number of applications from participants with innovative tech ideas, with only a few selected each year.