Vodafone Ghana Foundation marks IWD with ‘Girls in STEM’ mentorship program

To compliment Vodafone Ghana’s passion to empower girls in Science, Technology, engineering, and Maths (STEM), Vodafone Ghana Foundation has organised a mentorship program to commemorate this year’s International Women’ Day.

The program which hosted some Executive Team including, CEO of Vodafone Ghana, Patricia Obo-Nai; Human Resource Director, Hannah Ashiokai Akrong; Director of Legal and External Affairs, Geta Striggner-Quartey; Director of Commercial and Digital Operations, Angela Mensah-Poku; and Director, Enterprise Business Unit and Wholesale, Tawa Bolarin, aimed at encouraging young girls to pursue their career goals and give them first hands-on training on Coding, Robotics and Website Development.

Speaking during the panelists’ session, Patricia Obo-Nai urged participants to choose careers they are passionate about and use technology to make them efficient and effective. “Follow your passion but take advantage of digital skills because there are so many automations going on now. Again, find people who will encourage and support you in your career path and build your confidence as well,” she said.

For her, Director of Legal and External Affairs, Geta Striggner-Quartey advised the young women and girls to be patient in their endeavor. According to her, it’s imperative for women and young girls to be patients in making career decision.

“We need to be patient in our career paths. Trust the process. Develop your own career plans and paths and diligently follow them. Have work ethics, work hard, take advantage of opportunities, learn more, and develop yourself,” she noted.

Speaking the importance of having a good working experience, Human Resource Director, Hannah Ashiokai Akrong, explained that when people have good working experiences, they don’t sometimes need interviews to be hired. “I encourage you to be open to working experiences. Be open to learn from people and organisations. Get out of your comfort zone and build many experiences as you can. Because if you have them, people just recommend you”.

She added, “Also, during recruitments, sometimes, you wouldn’t even be interviewed because of your working background”.

Earlier, Director of Commercial and Digital Operations, Angela Mensah-Poku advised that young women should not substitute hard work for other options. “Hard work pays. Prove yourself by working very hard, take advantage of opportunities, equip yourself with technological know-how, and master digital tools”.

Finally, Director, Enterprise Business Unit and Wholesale, Tawa Bolarin outlined some business startup tips to encourage young women to be entrepreneurs. “Be passionate and train your skill; start with some apprenticeship or be an employee for a period; draw inspiration from others who have made it; create a standard; work as if you are being paid overtime and be punctual; use technology to be more efficient”.

The program also formed part of the Foundation’s monthly ‘Birthday Stars’ project which seeks to execute monthly projects tied to employee’s birthday celebrants to mark selected international days, in line with the United Nations’ (UN) Sustainable Development Goals within the month.

The month of March focused on celebrating ‘International Women’s Day’.

The program hosted Women and Girls in Tech and ICT from 10 Universities and other Basic Schools.