It was a tech-driven student conference held at the University of Ghana Business School (UGBS), Legon, Accra on Friday, December 10, 2021.

It had about 40 students nationwide in attendance.

The conference was to equip females pursuing STEM programs with the right mindset to explore careers in Tech and breakthrough challenges associated with pursuing STEM courses.

The Founder of Siscode Ghana, Carl Asamoah, at the summit noted it was to provide a platform for participants to be mentored by persons already in the field.

“As an organisation promoting STEM education for females in Ghana, we felt the need to organise such a program which will not only motivate girls to explore careers in STEM but will also be an opportunity for them to be mentored by women who are making it in the Tech/STEM space,” he said.

He assured the summit will be held annually to expose more girls to STEM and grant them the opportunity to be mentored by women excelling in the field.

The free event had a panel of six female speakers from rich and diverse backgrounds in attendance.

The speakers took turns to enlighten participants on the theme: Helping young girls breakthrough Technology.

They advised beneficiaries not to give up despite the challenges they may face in the male-dominated industry.

The panel also shed light on how to balance relationships with career, personal branding, networking, and choosing a STEM career path.

Speaking on personal branding, Dr Sara Jaynr McLeod, a Medical Officer and single coach advised the ladies to brand themselves well to stand out.

A tech expert, Clarinick Bekoe-Derby, stressed being strategic and highlighted specific Tech skills that are helpful to possess in this modern digital age. 

A rep from Facebook, now META, Joy Buchanan, touched on how upcoming females with an interest in STEM can enhance their personal brands to be marketable in the job market.

Other speakers included Erica Daniel, Gloria Yamson, Dr Esime Agbloyor, who also provided a great deal of knowledge on cervical cancer, and career development and how to handle oneself at the workplace as a female.

The subject of intimacy coaching was introduced to the girls present.

Aside from these, participants were blown away by the amazing prizes and gifts they benefitted from at the summit.

Following a fierce quiz competition held at the contest, two participants walked away with a free laptop each coupled with social skills learnt.

A makeup session was held to teach the participants beauty tips and ways to apply the right products.

An elated participant, Abena, who is a level 300 engineering student at the University of Ghana, said: “The speakers spoke to us naturally away from a strict classroom lecture. The speakers said a lot of things that resonated with me.

“They are well informed about their various paths and have empowered me a lot. I also loved the prizes. We weren’t expecting that at all. It was a great program.”

Other participants described the summit as inspirational and therapeutic.

This was after Siscode stormed the premises of the school to mark the end of the academic year celebration popularly known as ‘Our Day’ with them being the first of its kind.

To climax their joy, the charity organisation also donated computers to the school which they explained are meant to enhance the teaching and learning of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the school.

Presenting the computers, the Founder of Siscode, Carl Asamoah, stated that the importance of technology cannot be overemphasized.

He explained it was crucial for the pupils to be offered effective education in ICT as the world is rapidly advancing in the field.

“All children must be offered the opportunity to acquire IT skills irrespective of their background. So the computers will enable the teachers to provide practical lessons to the pupils during IT classes instead of the usual norm of sticking to theories and in extreme cases using non-relatable objects to represent parts of a computer,” he said.

Authorities of the school expressed their heartfelt gratitude to Siscode for their immense contribution to the development of the children.

The pupils on their part, speaking to some volunteers at Siscode, said they were extremely delighted about the opportunity.

Siscode Gh is a not-for-profit startup organization set up to help equip underprivileged children in Ghana, especially young girls with IT skills such as coding and expose them to current IT trends like AI, Machine Learning amongst others.

Since its inception in 2020, Siscode has been working hard to make learning and teaching of IT skills available for children who do not get the opportunity to acquire these skills.

Siscode wants to make IT and coding accessible and exciting from an early age.