Recently updated on August 29th, 2017 at 07:59 am
Abocoders Nigeria has emerged the 2016/2017 winner of the $5,000 Miss.Africa Seed Funding for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Programs.
Abocoders is a startup that provides secure and sustainable livelihoods for young women in Northern Nigeria through ICT training, focusing on software development as a means of empowerment. The initiative of Aspilos Foundation is headed by Simi Olusola.
Abocoders will use the $5,000 grand prize to reach more lives and open more opportunities. The Bahir Dar University STEM Incubation Center, Ethiopia and Ubongo Game Lab, Zambia each won $1,000 in the second round of the $7,000 fund that received more than 200 applications from 24 countries across Africa.
Miss.Africa is an initiative of the DotConnectAfrica (DCA), a charitable organization that promotes the advancement of IT education to the African society.
Its pan-African campaign STEM for Girls avails grants to launch or expand the initiatives of women and girls to increase digital opportunities in IT training, jobs and leadership roles on the continent.
Nigeria had the most Miss.Africa Seed Fund applications at 33%; Kenya was second with 11%; and third Ghana with 9%. Tanzania and Cameroon followed with 5%; and South Africa, Ethiopia and Zimbabwe tallied at 4% each.
The third round of the Miss.Africa Seed Fund 2018 will be announced in July 2017.
