In Ghana, very few girls, if any, are interested in technology. It is seen by many as a man’s world but Ashesi Alumnus, Regina Agyare begs to differ.
The young, dynamic social entrepreneur, who graduated top of her software developers’ class back in 2005 is making great strides in the area of technology.
She has refused to subject herself to the dogma most Ghanaian girls are made to face.
“As an African woman you are not taught to start your own business, the rule is you go to school, get a job and marry so entrepreneurship is not something you are taught.”
Narrating how she fell in love with science and tech, an exuberant Regina said it all began with pacman; a computer game that was very popular in the late 90s.
“When I was young, I was very interested in science and technology. My dad brought home the first computer and I played pacman and was hooked.”
After her university education, Regina found herself in the banking sector; having being hired by a prestigious international bank and later a local bank where she worked in the IT department on both counts.
“I grew up in Ghana, and after graduating from college in 2005, I landed a job at a prestigious international bank in Accra. I was the first and only female in the IT department. I was very excited and worked twice as hard as my male colleagues to prove myself. Soon, I was receiving acclaim for the software I developed. But even though my work was good, I kept getting passed over for promotions and found myself growing more and more frustrated.
When I confronted my supervisor with my feelings, I was told I was too young and the men in the department would not take kindly to me being promoted ahead of them. I then spoke to the human resources department and told them I would resign unless I was treated fairly. They listened to my concerns, and I was surprised when I was offered a double promotion to right the wrong. I was happy for a time, but soon I realized I wanted something more out of my career.”
Even though Regina had the secret desire to establish her own company, it took four years and what she describes as sleepless nights to heed the call.
“I had the secret desire to start my own company but was not bold enough to take the first step. Banking provided security and comfort; entrepreneurship felt too risky. So I ignored what I truly wanted and went to work for a smaller local bank instead. I tried to convince myself that my problem was the boredom associated with working for a larger institution and that developing software for a local bank would be better.
I was wrong. It took me four years and a lot of sleepless nights to realize that when you have a dream and a desire, it is like an alarm clock going off inside you. Hitting the snooze button doesn’t work; the alarm will just go off again. Eventually, you have to wake up.”
Finally gathering the courage to quit and throwing her supervisor’s caution to the wind, Regina started Soronko Solutions in 2012.
“I finally gathered all my courage and quit. My supervisor cautioned me that entrepreneurship would be difficult and I would end up back in the banking sector. Others said I was too young and should wait until I was 50 to start my own company. I was given a day to reconsider my decision but returned an hour later with my signed resignation.”
I first started with a laptop and a table in my father’s house because my dad is an internet service provider so I could get free internet. I got the support of my family and I thought I would come up with something I see as a need because technology literacy is very low in Ghana”
Now I am a social entrepreneur using technology to change lives in West Africa. I am very fulfilled and love what I am doing. Listening to my inner voice was the best decision I’ve ever made. Each morning when I wake up, I am thankful for a new day and look forward to a bright future where my technology solutions and success stories will be replicated in other developing countries.”
The African digital woman of the year finalist has also begun an initiative called “Tech Needs Girls” where she teaches young girls in slums how to code.
“They are very intelligent girls. Just that they have either not been given the platform to shine or nobody believes in them”
She said she and her team were astonished at how much the girls were very eager to learn; “When we started teaching them HTML, they started speaking up and we were amazed because they were actually able to design websites and come and do presentations and explain their HTML codes. We have coding classes every Saturday”.
“I want the next Mark Zuckerberg to be a 12 year old Ghanaian girl”, she said with a grin “young Africans to be change leaders. I want them to look around, identify the problems and have the skills to solve it.