Be intentional about digital skills acquisition — Ayoade

A call has been made for women to be intentional about acquiring and updating their digital skills to be at par with the pace of development.

The Chief Executive Officer of Charterhouse, an event hub, Theresa Ayoade, who made this call, stated that considering how fast the world was moving digitally, women should not be left behind.

“Women have suffered over the centuries from so many gender issues, from gender violence, unpaid work, inadequate political representation, among others and we certainly do not want to be left out of the whole world’s digital transformation.”

“Women, the future is digital and that future is now.

We are now living in the digital era. It’s a digital revolution and we cannot be left behind.

Let it not be said of our generation years to come that we failed to move on with the digital revolution and have let digital inclusiveness become a gender issue in the future,” she said.

Digital skills acquisition

Mrs Ayoade, who made this call recently at the Fifth National Women’s Summit and Expo, added that to achieve that, women must add digital skills acquisition to their vision board.

“Things are moving very fast. Now, we hear of concepts things such as: modern technology, robotics, artificial intelligence among others.

We need to be nimble about this so we do not get left behind,” she said.

The summit

The event, which was made possible by Charterhouse and Geisha soap, was themed: “DigitALL  Innovation and technology for gender equality,” brought together students, tech enthusiasts, entrepreneurs,  bevy of tech ladies across varied industries and there were conversations around demystifying digitalisation and the importance of women inclusion.

Apart from that, there were workshop sessions led by MEST, an Africa-wide technology entrepreneurship training outfit; a mentorship and career guidance campaign for female students, workers, entrepreneurs among others.

For her part, the Founder of Women in Tech Africa and Chair of the government’s Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Sector Skills Board, Ethel Cofie, spoke about being bold and audacious in order to grow.

“Women need audacity to ask for more in their careers and to grow more”, she noted.

Mrs Cofie also touched on the need for the love of technology to be instilled at an early stage starting from children.

Subsequently, the Marketing Director for Beauty, Well-being and Personal Care of Unilever Ghana and Francophone Africa, Nana Yaa Owusu-Ansah, urged all women to not only make their voices heard, but make their impact felt as well.

“In whatever field you find yourself, I encourage you to be intentional about boosting your digital skills as digital continues to transform businesses and society,” she noted.

Writer’s email: delali.sika@graphic.com.gh