A digital transformation expert, Mayowa Adeoti is the Chief Executive Officer of an IT company, Websitechic and also the founder of a sales funnel platform, Trainerskit. In this interview, she explained the need for women’s involvement in the tech sector and other issues. SEGUN KASALI brings the excerpts.
How challenging was studying Programming as a female?
Curiosity made me study Computer Science, actually. It was not something a lot of people were doing at that time and I was curious about it. Well, to me, it is what I am passionate about. I know quite alright that we have very few ladies in this industry but I feel empowered because a lot of people underestimated me. My male colleagues always feel they have more experience than me just because I am a female and I am already stereotyped. The truth is when we have females in this field, a lot of them don’t develop themselves to a level where they can be at par with their male counterparts. So, until I started talking and showing what I could do, a lot of my male counterparts did not expect what came out. So, I feel stereotyped because the male counterparts’ perception is that she is dabbling into it without the knowledge that I am in it for the long run.
How do you mean “long run”?
Long run in the sense that I would carve a niche for myself and achieve a lot as a successful woman techpreneur. I started off as a programmer, with a company that creates E-Commerce website. After leaving the company, over the years, I also went into e-commerce by building my own e-commerce store, MarketZone.com and that was before Konga or Jumia’s entry into the market. Mine was a multi-vendor store but I had a problem. At this time, Internet was only available to the people in the offices. So, because of the limited access to Internet facility, I started having problems.
What problems did you have?
I could not recon ciliate the stock I had on the website and the stock my physical vendors had. No doubt about it that it was a successful venture but because of lack of knowledge, I had to close down the store and I waited a few years. And then, I went into the training aspect of e-commerce. My vendors were ignorant because they did not know how being online could help their businesses. Then, Jumia and Konga came with a publicity tug of war which really helped the market because a lot of people got exposed. But, small businesses were not keying into it still.
So, the problems were blessing in disguise?
Yes, it was a blessing in disguise. So, I got online just because I realised Jumia, Konga and few other stores in Nigeria started doing well and people started transacting businesses online. And I realised that few businesses doing well would rather post on Instagram or just post on Facebook to sell. So, I looked through my history and I discovered it was lack of knowledge of the potential of the Internet. So, that was how I started teaching people how to understand the importance of having their own e-commerce store in order to automate their processes. After impacting them with the requisite knowledge, they started saying “oh! This makes sense and that was how people started asking me how I could help them. As a result, I pushed my name and business to them.
Was that how you came about the brandname “Websitechic”?
When I started training people, I realised that there were other people with websites too. But, I realised that I have a niche because they did not know that their websites should be automated to follow up on the need. So, I took that as my niche and thought about it. I am talking about the usage of website which involves transforming your physical shops to a website that is selling digitally. So, I had a coach then because there was a message I wanted to pass across to people whose accessibility was challenging. So, she gave me an idea, she said you know what you are, a chic. You know so much about website. So, you could be a website chic.
Do you think that the name has favourably placed and differentiated you amongst others?
Oh my God! Yes. That name has carved my niche for me. The name is now a household one and the truth is up till this moment, I have been able to mentor a lot of people. The day I will be so happy is the day we will have online businesses boom so much that it will have a huge effect on our economy. The COVID-19 pandemic changed the perception of people towards e-commerce because a lot of people bought numerous things online. A lot of businesses that were not online were affected. But, it was just a business as usual for those with online presence. A little effort was just added to what they were doing offline that they took online. This is what applied to developed countries and that is why Amazon is the best seller in the world.
What was the motivating factor amidst the challenges
It was really challenging when I first started because this is a tech field. I am saying something technical to non-techys. So, when I started, many people would look at my mouth and say what is this one saying? They didn’t understand it; hence, I had to go back to the drawing board and I thought about how to put out my message in a layman’s language. So, I realised that the end game of people is to sell more, grow their business and make money. I thank God I didn’t allow the stereotype to weigh me down.
Do you think this stereotype is still very much present in the sector?
Yes. I absolutely believe that we need more women to be entrepreneurs in the tech industry because I believe women have extraordinary ability. We don’t get tired easily even when we face challenges as long as we still have our goals in mind. Like I had had so many challenges trying to break through the minds of people that are not necessarily illiterates but they did not just know they could do so much online without putting so much effort into it. They don’t know they can automate their business processes, don’t have to pick phones and make code calls because their websites can do these things for them. So, as a woman, I was able to get through all these barriers and mindsets because of my tenacity.
What is your advice to other women in this regard?
They should not allow society to define them. In fact, I did not get to the labour market before being stereotyped as a lady while I was in the university. By the time I wrapped up in the university, I was one of the two women that could programme in a class of 257. Even the lecturers were like the women could go into the business side of computer. They already stereotyped us right from the university thinking that you cannot cope as a woman. So, nobody believed I could go into programming considering my health challenges and others. But, my goal set me apart. So, I would like to encourage women to look at the antecedents- if they see women that are successful, they can also be successful too and do better. The fact that you are a mother does not stop you. The fact that you are a woman should not stop you. Whatever skill a woman has, she can do better than her male counterparts.
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