Africa's all-in-one financial ecosystem, Moniepoint, has partnered with Google Developer Group (GDG) Lagos and Women Techmakers Lagos to strengthen the pipeline of female technology talents in Nigeria through leadership development and hands-on product building initiatives.
Partnership Unveiled at International Women's Day Event
The partnership was unveiled during an International Women's Day event themed "Break the Pattern," hosted at Moniepoint's headquarters in Lagos. The event brought together women from both technical and non-technical backgrounds across the country's growing digital economy.
Keynote Address by Moniepoint's Head of Product
Speaking during the event, Head of Product at Moniepoint Inc., Kemi Nwogu, emphasized that women must move beyond merely fitting into existing structures and begin shaping the future of technology and leadership. According to her, long-standing stereotypes have discouraged many girls from pursuing careers in science and technology.
"From a young age, many girls have been subtly discouraged from pursuing science and tech. They are told sometimes directly, sometimes indirectly, that tech is too hard, too technical, or simply not for them. These patterns are not facts, they are constructs. And what has been constructed can be deconstructed," she said.
Nwogu added that the future of technology would require leaders capable of building people and cultures, not just products and systems. She also urged participants to deliberately build relevant skills through online courses, coding boot camps, open-source projects, and practical problem-solving experiences tied to defined career goals.
Panel Session and Practical Workshop
The event featured a panel session titled "Unscripted: Leading Beyond the Patterns We Inherited," moderated by Atinuke Oluwabamikemi Kayode, with panellists including Chukwu Adaeze, Chinenye Ogbu, and Motunrayo Koyejo. The discussion examined traditional leadership patterns within Nigeria's technology ecosystem, including workplace cultures that equate productivity with exhaustion and rigid management structures across creative and customer-facing industries.
Participants also took part in a practical workshop tagged "Prompt to Production," facilitated by Taiwo Famakinde. Attendees were guided through product development processes ranging from prompt design and rapid prototyping to deploying functional applications using artificial intelligence tools. The workshop culminated in a buildathon where participants developed and deployed software solutions in real time, with top-performing projects recognized at the closing ceremony.
Comments from Women Techmakers Lagos Co-organizer
Speaking on the initiative, Co-organizer of Women Techmakers Lagos, Funke Olasupo, said the programme was designed to bridge the gap between inspiration and practical execution. "IWD celebrations are often heavy on inspiration, but we wanted to offer something more — a proof of capability. Oftentimes, there is a gap between having ideas and actually building them, and we set out to bridge that by creating a space where women could easily deploy their ideas into live products with AI in just a few hours," she said.
She noted that participants left the programme with stronger technical confidence and leadership skills needed to navigate their careers independently and contribute meaningfully to the evolving technology ecosystem.
Broader Investment in Tech Talent Development
The "Break the Pattern" initiative forms part of Moniepoint's broader investment in Nigeria's technology talent development ecosystem through developer community partnerships and internal engineering programmes. The fintech company said its talent development efforts include collaborations with GDG Lagos as well as initiatives such as Women in Tech, DreamDevs, HatchDev, and the Federal Government's 3MTT programme aimed at deepening digital skills across the country.
