ICTworks by Inveneo

The information technology field is very male dominated. In fact, it can often feel like an all-boys club, where women are not always welcome. This disappoints me greatly for two main reasons:

Women should be half the group

1. On a general level, as women are half the users, and therefore should be part of the developers and designers of technology tools.
2. On a personal level, as the father of a daughter, I want her to see technology as a career path, equal to any other

So I am filled with mixed emotions when I see pictures like this one, where women are greatly under-represented in technology groups. I am glad that there are actually women in the photo, but I wish there were more than just two.

That's why I am so excited to hear about AkiraChix - a community of women using technology as a platform to empower each other in Kenya:

They are having their first meeting this Saturday - if you're a woman in the ICT field, do your best to attend. And if you can't, here's an amazing book to read: African Women and ICTs explores the ways in which women in Africa utilize ICTs to facilitate their empowerment.

How to get more women in ICT

One question that is sure to come up is how to get more women interested and involved with information and communication technologies, as a profession. Recently, I asked that very same question to leading women in Silicon Valley. Their unanimous answer? Parents, mentors, and positive reinforcement from society matter most for girls to enjoy ICT.

In fact, here is Kristin Peterson, CEO of Inveneo, talking about her role models, mentors, and professional development that led her to be a successful woman in ICT:

So congrats to AkiraChix for setting an example for other women to follow - may your community grow and succeed so daughters everywhere (like iPad addicted ones I know) can grow up to be ICT leaders.

With the passing of Nigerian President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua, its time to reflect on his legacy with the most populous country in Africa. Online Africa has started the conversation with their post Nigerian President Yar’Adua’s direct contributions to ICT.

They list several achievements, but the only notable one, I feel, is the launched the first ever Pan-African Communication Satellite NigComsat-1. The rest are policy promises. Yet, I feel that both Online Africa and I are missing the more subtle impacts of his leadership.

What are the ICT industry contributions made by Yar’Adua for Nigeria?

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I hear much talk about how the Nigerian information and communication technology industry is the 2nd largest industry in Nigeria, right behind Oil and Gas, but I don't believe it. Why? Because if ICT were really such a large part of Nigerian economy, we'd hear about a thriving venture capital community that's support it.

Who is investing in ICT?

Who are the Nigerian Venture Capitalists?

Recently on the Naija IT Professionals newsgroup, we were presented with a list of Nigerian venture capital companies. But in researching the VC's Internet footprint, I only found these to be viable organizations:

• African Capital Alliance
• Bank of Industry, Nigeria
• Areos Capital
• First Funds
• AfriCap
• AfricInvest
• Unique Venture Capital

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Do any Nigerian Venture Capitalists focus on ICT?

One key aspect of Silicon Valley's dominance of the ICT sector, in everything from hardware, to software, to services, is the tight interplay between VC's and the surrounding technology companies. VC's provide the rick and patient capital that helps two college students go from garage fiddling to Hewlett-Packard, Apple, Microsoft, and Google.

Yet, if we look at the Nigerian ICT landscape, there are few, if any standout VC's. I checked each organization's portfolio from those listed above, I didn't see a focus on the ICT industry, or even the mention of ICT company investments.

No VC's? Then no large-scale ICT industry

Now why does this matter? Couldn't the Nigerian government, funders of some much else, also become the venture capitalists? As Paul Graham notes in his How to Be Silicon Valley post, VC's do matter more than government:

Do you really need the rich people? Wouldn't it work to have the government invest in the nerds? No, it would not. Startup investors are a distinct type of rich people. They tend to have a lot of experience themselves in the technology business. This (a) helps them pick the right startups, and (b) means they can supply advice and connections as well as money. And the fact that they have a personal stake in the outcome makes them really pay attention.

Bureaucrats by their nature are the exact opposite sort of people from startup investors. The idea of them making startup investments is comic. It would be like mathematicians running Vogue-- or perhaps more accurately, Vogue editors running a math journal.

So in the end, I don't believe that ICT is the 2nd largest in Nigeria. If there are no high-profile VC's, there can't be the Silicon Valley that can spawn a sizable technology ecosystem. In fact, how can Nigeria's technology industry be of any decent size when the World bank says that Sudan and Zimbabwe have higher Internet penetration than Nigeria?

Thinking about all the industries in Nigera, from Oild and Gas to Transportation or Power Generation, would you agree with Mr. Patrick Obia, when he says that Information and Communication Technology is the second largest industry in Nigeria closely following the Oil and Gas industry?

This is the 2nd largest industry?

Mr. Patrick Obia, Head, Marketing/Strategy Follytox NetSystems Limited, said ICT took the second position among other various industries because communication remained an essential and integral part of life.

Mr. Obia made these comments as Chairman of the Second Annual ICT Empowerment Workshop and Quiz Competition, 2009 for Secondary Schools in Lagos State, organised by Fresh Brain Komputers, as recorded by The Guardian, but its hard for me to believe.

Not when the World bank says that Sudan and Zimbabwe have higher Internet penetration than Nigeria.

Now there might be a 1.3 trillion Naira opportunity with Naija code, but that has to be less than the national agriculture output.

Or am I missing something?

What do you think? Can ICT really be the #2 industry in Nigeria?