In Ghana, in the late 80’s, a young girl was introduced to the game Pac Man. She loved the game, but more than that, she was fascinated by the technology behind it. She wanted to know how it was done. Not only that, she wanted the skills to design games herself. Pac Man was her cursory introduction into the exciting world of ICT. Regina Agyare was the only girl in high school to study IT. She was the first and only woman in the IT department of a big international bank, before leaving in 2012 to start her own business, Soronko Solutions, thereby becoming one of Ghana's first female tech entrepreneurs. She understood that Education was a sure way out of poverty and wanted to help the kids in Nima, a slum in Accra where thousands of people live in poverty, and where girl children are married off from 12 years old. Through teaching young girls about technology, Regina determined to be a change leader.

Armed with one laptop and a small table, she launched her outreach program, conducting regular Interactive Workshops, in which young girls learned how to use computers and technology, how to write code and how to develop websites. In 2013, using 80% of her business profits, she started the movement Tech Needs Girls, mentoring women and girls to innovate by learning to code. Today, there are over 200 Computer Science and Computer Engineers serving as mentors and role models in the field, and 3500 mentees in 8 regions in Ghana. This social outreach programme has expanded to Burkina Faso, and the curriculum has been translated into French, bringing coding to girls in French speaking Africa. Instead of being forced into early marriage, girls from the slums are now entering University on scholarship programmes or developing their own businesses through the Soronko Academy. Regina has not yet produced a game to beat Pac Man, but she is working on an app that converts text to sign language, to enable Deaf and Hearing people to better communicate, and an app enabling language conversions for tourists. It’s inspiring to see what one young woman can achieve as a social entrepreneur. BOOK NOW!

TED Talk, 2016: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITFV7ITOYQw African

Regional Conference 2017: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYoMVaoejhc