In line with the National Campaign to promote the culture of cyber security and raise awareness on the responsible use of social media, a conference has held with a thematic focus on "Women's Digital Entrepreneurship and Social Transformation in Africa". The Cameroon National Youth council, president, Fadimatou Iyawa Ousmanou, organized steered the conference under the Women and Youth Leaders Empowerment Forum (WYLEF).
The WYLEF is a worldwide network and setting that aims at facilitating the involvement of young people and women in experience sharing, exchange of ideas, mentoring and network at national, continental and global levels.
Speaking to The Post newspaper, Fadimatou Iya Ousmanou said: "As part of my duty and responsibility as a young Cameroonian and youth leader and an IT engineer, I am in the domain of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, which is my main motivation that brought me to organize the WYLEF forum. This forum is for the interest of the youths and women so that we can bridge the gap that exists between urban and rural areas within the use of digital, and also to promote various opportunities that exist in favor of the Cameroonian youths This she stated will open doors and create a link for international participation and experience like they had during the conference that held through video conferencing and on site in the Protestant University of Central Africa campus in Yaounde.
The conference was aimed at promoting Women's and Girl's Digital Entrepreneurship as a means of innovation, empowerment and positive transformation of their environment. To Fadimatou, "it is to create an interconnection between us and other countries, to show the Cameroonian girls that they can dream bigger; that they can be a part of those countries belonging to the commonwealth; they can be able to participate and be successful in what they are doing so far. She added, “This is why you had many governments that were present, development partners that were present and also private sector companies."
Amongst the panelists were; Lydie Assimwe Makuru, journalist at the Congolese National Radio Télévision and director of online media; Habsatou Nadia, founder of Learn&Adapt Consulting; Larissa Ateh, founder of Youth Internet Morals and Young Ambassador for Pronec-Rearmorce.
Working in partnership with the Cameroon National Youth Council, the Ministry of Youth and Civic Education and the United Nations Development Program, the expected outcomes of the forum were to build participants who could; identify the promising digital sectors in which they could develop their entrepreneurial initiatives; identify issues that girls and women may face in their digital entrepreneurial initiatives and the resilience approach, be sensitized on the urgent need to make positive use of cyberspace for the empowerment of girls and women; identify digital sectors in which they could be able to develop their entrepreneurial initiatives and finally be encouraged to take innovative initiatives using digital technology to positively transform their environment.
Fadimatou Iyawa Ousmanou also doubles as a Goodwill Ambassador for the promotion of cyber security in Cameroon is herself a shining example for girls and young people to follow. Her multiple titles include Advocate for the African Union Youth Charger Hustler; Peace Ambassador of ICESCO, DSG Afro-Arab Youth Council; NYD Commonwealth Youth Council; Knight of the Cameroon Order of Merit and a PhD student in Peace and Development at the Protestant University of Central Africa.
Sa'ah Siona Ikei, The Post Newspaper
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