Post #2: Our First Mentoring Call
Learn about Apps and Girls, and the Social Sector Franchise Accelerator in our Get To Know Us post, here!
Apps and Girls founder Carolyne Ekyarisiima has been very busy the past few months, between hosting a Girls Entrepreneurship Summit in Dar es Salaam, and attending the Obama Foundation Summit in Chicago. In Tanzania, the Girls Entrepreneurship Summit held this year on November 17–18, is an annual event, where female participants build innovations for social and economic change while learning to pitch a business idea. Girls from different schools compete in teams to develop technology solutions to community problems. This year, the teams coded apps, built websites, and made prototype devices under a mentor who guided the design thinking. Winning team members won smartphones and tablets, but their projects don’t stop there. Apps and Girls wants these developments to continue, and so the teams are still carrying out their work with the mentors.
Challenges and Opportunities Arise
The event received great media coverage and the organizations impact and unique approach even garnered the attention of filmmakers for the up and coming documentary “Coding Like a Girl” (learn more about this film here!), which features how young girls around the world are using coding to change the community. The summit featured an array of speakers from the U.S. Embassy, business leaders in Tanzania, and members from the Ministry of Education, some of whom showed interest in future partnerships.
Carolyne faced some challenges when some speakers and panelists cancelled last minute, leaving her to rearrange the event’s schedule. Carolyne mentioned that, when dealing with local companies in Tanzania, scheduling events and forming partnerships can prove to be a bit difficult because of variance in communication and priorities at different levels of management. However, making a persuasive case and engaging senior decision makers instead will likely lead to more sustainable partnerships.
Overall, the summit was very successful, and Carolyne hopes to expand and improve next year, with the help of the U.S. Embassy, who funded the summit this year. Carolyne reflected on the growth of her leadership skills while coordinating the summit, by going out of her comfort zone and delegating tasks to others rather than taking everything on herself. Lori suggested documenting all improvements and ideas for next year, and doing a post-summit meeting with the Apps and Girls team to assess their performance and gauge how they can improve the summit around a common vision.
Meeting the Obamas!
Carolyne also had the fantastic opportunity to fly to Chicago in late October for the inaugural Obama Foundation Summit after she was nominated by the U.S. Embassy. The summit welcomes civic leaders from around Chicago, the U.S., and the world to exchange ideas, explore creative solutions to common problems, and experience civic art, technology, and music around the globe. She was very excited about the entire event and connections she made. She even had a conversation with Michelle and Barack. Prince Harry, the hip-hop artist Common and Lin-Manuel Miranda were there, among others. At the event, these change leaders brainstormed international program ideas to lead the Obama Foundation to help young people across the world. Carolyne was introduced to a network of African billionaires and other potential supporters. These amazing connections with hard to reach people will serve Apps and Girls well in the future as Carolyne continues to build networks.
Video from https://www.obama.org/summit/
Looking Forward…
Another item on the Apps and Girls agenda is finding space to call their own. The organization need a space that can accommodate thirty people for coding hubs and training rooms. Local schools are an option, but they typically don’t have designated computer labs, and there can be issues with bureaucracy. For example, when they want to invite a speaker to the office, or have flexibility in their use of the space, they must go through several administrators before a decision can be made. Carolyne is working on a deal between the Open University of Tanzania and Apps and Girls, but this is only a short-term solution. Apps and Girls needs a permanent space to call their own.
Other options for an Apps and Girls office space includes government-owned facilities, but there are limitations to the use of the space where Carolyne feels she may not be able to run her business there as she likes. Getting a permanent space exclusively for Apps and Girls will be critical, where they will be free to do anything they wish — hold trainings, boot camps, and have fun events in a private space without worrying about securing multiple levels of permission. Ideally, Carolyne would love an office space in the business city center of Dar es Salaam, which would provide economic and social benefits for the girls she serves, but it would come at a high cost of around $100,000. Carolyne is working on identifying and pooling funds from a variety of sources.
Over the next month, Carolyne plans on developing a list of contacts for funding sources. Next time, Lori and Carolyne will deliberate on how these networks can unfold. Successful events like the Girls Entrepreneurship Summit and the Obama Foundation Summit resulted in connections that will be important for Apps and Girls’ partnership outlook. Working with partners can help the social enterprise build capacity to scale. It will be exciting in the next call to see what sort of partnerships and funding opportunities develop.
Read all about our Student Research Fellow, Gina Occhipinti, as she visits Apps and Girls in Dar es Salaam, here!
