Written by: Dr. Hynd Bouhia, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
The world has completely changed these past years, becoming all digital and relying primarily on technology, artificial intelligence, and networking. The sanitary crisis exacerbated the situation making e-commerce and digital transactions the main survival recipe for companies and businesses. This trend will carry on as new economic perspectives shape up and bring big hopes to business owners, entrepreneurs, and corporates. The question is, how could everyone play a part in that new trend? How can we ensure more entrepreneurs are prepared to master technology and be part of the digital world? To ensure that everyone has the same opportunities, how can we prepare and empower women to launch their own digital business and embrace technology?
It all starts at the education phase and all the training that complements it and confidence-building and nourishes the capacity to lead from childhood. In particular, to have more women and young girls contribute to the digital transition, it is important to prepare them through the right programs and access inspiring women role models, which will get them ready to embrace technology and navigate through this fourth industrial revolution.
The challenge is to get both boys and girls to choose scientific paths and get introduced early on to computer science and technology. Boys seem to be more predisposed to make that choice. Thus, computer science remains largely a man’s world, with few girls steered in that direction or earn programming credentials. This said, by staying enrolled through university, especially in STEM—Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics—girls will positively impact girls throughout the larger community. So the focus today should be to ensure that there as many girls as boys going getting all the technical skills to feel part of the digital transition.
Several statistical analyses have evaluated the many ways women add value to, generate knowledge in, and create new products or processes for the vital field of science. But despite ongoing pressure to boost their presence, women still represent a small minority of researchers. Today, we’re starting to understand better why, where, and how their numbers remain low and how much is lost with their absence from field or laboratory and innovation and technology.
The new motivational and inspirational book “African Girl, African Woman” shows how preparing women and empowering them through the right programs and access to inspiring women role models will get them ready to embrace technology and navigate through this fourth industrial revolution. The book calls all women to improve their skills and knowledge to contribute fully to the development of their community and economic growth. This inspirational book demonstrates how agile, empowered, and tech-savvy females will transform the African continent for good. For that, several programs, networks, and initiatives have been launched to support women in technology, encourage girls to code and to choose STEM, and find inspiration and passion in the digital world. The book shows the importance of getting women involved in Artificial Intelligence and machine learning programming to avoid the creation of biased algorithms and mechanisms.
Several women leaders and role models have been successful in the technology sphere and managed to rise through the corporate ladders and beyond the glass ceiling. These women leaders in tech are inspiring role models for all women around the world to look up to. Silicon Valley, where the tech boom started, announces the Year of the Women on a perennial basis. This makes some sense; women have, after all, made progress in technology and entrepreneurship. Yet they face such persistently discriminatory and sometimes openly sexist barriers – hiring, promotion, access to venture capital – that Silicon Valley is, to this day, still regarded as a nearly exclusive boy’s club. Those brave and determined women who crash this fraternity and succeed are even more remarkable and worthy of becoming stars for all young women.
The future of entrepreneurship is taking the form of tech startup companies. The trend was accelerated with the sanitary crisis and the lockdown. People are reinventing their way of working to survive through the crisis by moving everything online. Being tech-savvy is becoming the norm for success. Companies are turning digital, and both women and men need to be prepared to embrace this pivotal change.
Finally, the digital world is reinventing itself in every region of the world to fit the need of its young and booming population. A large trend of adaptive and frugal innovation is attracting millions of entrepreneurs to surf on it. Yes, each country and city harnesses and adapts technology in unique ways. This is why it is important to prepare boys and girls for a technological transition early on through STEM disciplines and raising awareness. This attention should be emphasized for girls in particular. They seem to be lacking the right motivation and support to boost them through a scientific career. But the call to become digitally savvy is for both girls and boys. They should develop the right tools at the right time for them to shape their behavior, build their confidence, and help them develop the necessary attitude to be part of the large pool of tech entrepreneurs who are taking over the world!
Dr. Hynd Bouhia, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Dr. Hynd Bouhia has cumulated more than 20 years of professional experience in high-level and leadership positions, covering investments, financial structuring, entrepreneurship, and sustainable development strategies. Hynd Bouhia was nominated by Forbes among the 100 most influential women in the world in 2008 and the most influential women in Business in the Arab World in 2015 and honored as a member of the Johns Hopkins Society of Scholars in 2018.
With a Ph.D. from Harvard University (GSAS 1998), an Engineering degree from Ecole Centrale Paris (1995), and a Master from Johns Hopkins SAIS (2000), Hynd Bouhia started her career at the World Bank in Washington before joining Morocco’s Prime Minister as an economic advisor. She was appointed in 2008 as the Managing Director of Casablanca Stock Exchange. After that, she structured and managed investments and venture capital funds.
As the CEO of Strategica, she advises entrepreneurs, companies, and institutions on economic intelligence, sustainable finance, and growth strategies. Dr. Hynd Bouhia is the author of the motivational book for women entitled "Africa Girl, African Woman: How agile, empowered, and tech-savvy females will transform the continent for good."
