Why we didn’t hear about this amazing feat totally eludes me. I feel it personally because their story is my own story, as regards the hurdles they had to face to take part in a competition that they qualified for. Doing all these with little or no support structure at all.
However, unlike my story, they went ahead and won. I feel immensely proud of them.
We should give these girls all the publicity they deserve. They’ve earned it.
–
P.S.: The video is only free till the 5th of November, courtesy of Google. So be sure to watch it before then.
We never heard about them because they have no foreign VCs backing them and do not belong to the Yaba Left clique
Most importantly they did not attend an “educational institution” at Ikoyi that they had to “travel for 3 hours” for some free lectures with a free MacBook
Instead they attended an humble venture called - http://ikapturenetworks.org/ somewhere in Cross River - where they learnt to code with no strings attached but with the sole goal of helping them realise their true potential…I feel so proud of them even though I dont know them.
Well Done Girls !!! I have stolen their picture from their website to put here as a great honour to them.
Asides the confusing accent, their pitch was excellent.
Now, it is impressive to know they got to SF without needing the typical “Lagos Channels” however, people do not just find out about what you are doing no matter how good it is.
It is important to reach out to your local channels and see what exposure you can get.
Of course it did not help that there is no app to show.
But somehow the guys all the way in SF kind of found out about them? But the guys in Lagos could not find them, right?
This is not true. Gold does not advertise itself but people go searching for Gold because they are out to find something of value and great reward. Greater people then transform the Gold to even more valuable objects.
Their website said it will be out in October. Has anyone contacted them about the app and they said it is not available?
I am not having a go at you but I am not too impressed that you are trying to simplify and minimise their great efforts. The fact is that they did it without all the deluded Startup hypes in Lagos, especially the ones that are claiming to change the lives of youths… Yes I went there
So celebrate them on their achievement and move on…
I struggle to find out where and how I minimized their efforts.
BTW, the people in SF did not find them. They found the people in SF. They most likely applied for a competition that was advertised and were selected.
In real life, there is ZERO sentiments. If you have a good idea, you show it.
How would anyone learn about them if there is no app and they have not reached out to anyone.
Why have you @Tola not promoted the 11 old chap in Minna that built a microscope from old car parts? See, @Tola you are part of the problem in not helping expose up an coming technologists.
BTW, I modus operandi is not to celebrate and “move on” if you want to help someone, you do not “move on” you help the person by staying and working alongside them.
Thank you… he had lost me a couple of lines before that last one. Yes it is impressive that they got to SF without needing the typical “lagos channels”. No, I don’t see how that statement simplifies or minimizes their great efforts. FOH.
I never heard of the chap from Minna and I am also proud of him now that you have mentioned him to me. Send me his picture, profile or whatever is out there about him and I will sing his songs wherever I can.
But what I won’t do is insinuate that he ask for my blessings or the blessings of some self glorified mafia clique before he builds his next microscope. Most importantly I will not try to diminish his efforts by asking why the microscope is not powered by bio-diesel but applaud his efforts…
Now you can see why the lady asked in the interview - “How long did it take you to get to San Francisco?”.
@celestocalculus it was a great watch. Talk about it ain’t over till it’s over! The different contestants had really cool ideas. Congrats to Team Charis & I hope their app makes the difference they envisioned and more!
Can we all get past the negatives and celebrate these girls please? I personally have a choked throat and tears in my eyes, and I am proud they got that far. Everyone here knows it is not easy to get in the public eye.
Please celebrate them! And please push iKapture into every one’s face around you! And pretty please if you can do something similar in your environment, please do so!
I remember how weird I felt being the only girl interested to computers, and being the only female in my CSC class interested in coding. Let’s give these ones the sisterly love they deserve!
Start the spark! Thank you
@Tola has a point but bro, if there is one thing I have learnt it is the ability to update one’s argument constantly with new data/information.
See this: http://www.scottaaronson.com/blog/?p=2410 It is an impressive post on Aumann’s Agreement theorem and common knowledge by Scott. It seems to me you were being insistent on your point.
You have not heard of Aishat? What haven’t you heard of her? If she was in Lagos, you would have heard of her. So because she did not come pay homage in the south you decided not to hear of her?
Why did you assume it is a him. Oh you are sexist too? So women cannot build stuff? I’m actually amazed that you think technology is the purview of women only. What a shame! Why do you want her picture to celebrate her? what will you do with the picture of an 11 year old? 11 YEAR OLD???!! Wow! Well, it is the internet and all types of people are here. Including those looking for the picture of 11 year olds!
SHM!
Looking for the picture of an 11 year old girl.
I hope you see everyone can extrapolate? That we decide to behave and discuss with people in online forums like we will do in real life is a matter of choice.
You said it was a “chap” and In English a chap means a guy. See you just want to controversial and offensive. I have no comments and will the let the passerbys make their own conclusions…
Please people, lets move past this back and forth and reach out to these girls and actually give them the support they need. This really is sad oh.
The world has already honoured them by creating a movie that [kinda] focuses on their achievement and throwing it open for the world to see. Let’s do our own little to fan the flames, so that their application can become significant beyond the competition.
This is the reason why I started this thread, not for this back and forth.
To contribute, I’m adding them to the new MadeInAfrica sub on reddit which I mod and they definitely make me want to gear up on the #LetsFundAfricans project. I suspended all work on a media project (HERfrica) covering female experience and innovation to focus on a startup recently but I just might post something there and share to add to the coverage. However, I hope others like Techcabal, YNaija and Linda Ikeji will give these ladies more coverage and help them gain access to more education, funding and mentorship.
I think there’s a lot going on that we’re not aware of especially in the area of girl/women tech and it is crucial that devs and the media contribute towards spreading the word. Success in the west doesn’t come from doing stuff alone, it comes from people talking about it because the media finds ways to spin and tell the same stories over and over till the world knows about it thereby increasing the value of the subject and the media entities. Nigerian and most African media companies fail to get this. They just want to cover the success stories and the celebrities/scandals. How many blogs were started just because Linda Ikeji bought a mansion from blogging? No vision, no long term plan for these new blogs. They just want to post dumb stories we’ve read elsewhere whilst innovators beg for coverage… I guess that’s a rant and a solution for another day…
PS: The team’s hande is @TeamCharis. Follow and encourage them.
Did someone say “confusing accent”? What’s confusing about the accent?
Anyway, those girls did us proud. After going through the stress and the fact that they almost lost it because of the Visa problem. I never thought they could pull off that great presentation. Kudos to the ladies. Their determination to move forward and succeed is rare. I hope they strike that deal with the state government!
Also, this is not the first time Technovation Challenge winners from Nigeria would be travelling to SF. In 2013, the Winning team from Princeton College were also in Silicon Valley. The girls trip are always fully funded by the organizers!
Watching the video carefully, its obvious that at the time of their travel, visas were not being issued by the embassy,due to some global challenge; so it took concerted effort of the organizers, the US embassy in Nigeria, some embassy staff and others to get the girls to the US.
Overall, their feat is our pride! Lets celebrate them together
Martha Alade - Technovation’s Regional Ambassador in Nigeria
I just saw the video on YouTube last night because someone posted it on Ada’s List. It was really inspiring that despite all odds they made it and emerged winners. It brought tears to my eyes and I was really proud of them. I am surprised that not even the government recognised them and presented them with awards.
Now it is a pity that none of the so-called blogs saw this as a worthy news to celebrate them on their blogs but are quick to post raunchy photos, and kendal’s outfit to the vet. None of which adds value to our name as a collective Nigeria especially, where in the diaspora there are more bad news than great news like the #TeamCharis about Nigeria. I celebrate them.
More women in Nigeria and Africa as a whole needs to be more involved in technology. It’s high time we train our youths not to become just Consumers of technology but also creators. I am planning a DjangoGirls workshop in February next year ;a free one day workshop that focuses on teaching women how to develop and host their own website for free using Django a Python based framework . I am really looking forward to encouraging more women into technology.
