Every year, International Girls in ICT Day celebrates the power of inclusion and the importance of ensuring girls and young women play a meaningful role in shaping the future of technology. Across Africa, the tech landscape is shifting, and at its core are women who are blending international insight with local action, stepping into ICT roles, redefining them, and using their skills to create systems, solutions, and services that directly address Africa’s challenges and potential.
One such changemaker, Lesedi Masina, Creative Director at Lesedi Agency, is a beneficiary of the TechnoGirl Programme, which empowers high school girls by placing them in job-shadowing opportunities within STEM industries. It was during her placement at Sentech that her interest in ICT was first ignited. Seeing women succeed in high-level technical roles wasn’t just inspiring, it was transformative. It helped her see a place for herself in a field that often feels out of reach for young African women.
That spark would soon ignite a larger flame. Through TechnoGirl’s extended network, she earned an internship at Happy Horizon Group in the Netherlands, a chance to immerse herself in advanced ICT environments and explore global trends, which became a turning point in her career. It was there she was introduced to Artificial Intelligence through hands-on workshops, before AI became mainstream locally.
“I realised IT isn’t just about building impressive applications,” it’s about creating tech that works alongside business, marketing, and users, ensuring it’s adopted and makes an impact,” says Masina.
Her international experience shifted her thinking. It wasn’t just about hard coding or development, instead, it was about building systems that integrate, adapt, and support real-world needs. While she observed the underrepresentation of African women in the global tech scene, she also saw enormous opportunity: the chance for African voices to bring unique perspectives, solutions, and resilience to international teams.
Instead of simply observing how small businesses, the backbone of local economies, were being left behind in the digital revolution, she founded Lesedi Agency Innovations, a company focused on closing the digital gap for small and medium-sized enterprises. Her work involves more than building websites, it’s about crafting smart strategies to increase online visibility, engagement, and conversions, helping entrepreneurs reach modern markets and scale sustainably.
Her influence now extends beyond her own company. Today, she works with the TechnoGirl Trust as a full-circle moment, helping replace outdated Excel-based systems with a custom-built digital tracking solution. This tool now supports the organisation’s ability to track mentorship, partners, beneficiary outcomes, and employment data, all of which help TechnoGirl scale its national impact more effectively.
Her story, while remarkable, is not isolated. It’s part of a broader movement of young African women who are returning from overseas with the tools, knowledge, and perspective to reshape the continent’s future.
To grow the ICT sector an investment in accessibility and inclusivity is crucial. The journey for many girls begins with exposure, a chance to shadow a professional, build confidence in STEM subjects, or simply see someone who looks like them in a position of influence. Mentorship, affordable data access, and gender-conscious policies all play a role in ensuring the tech industry is open to all.
“Stay curious. Ask questions. Seek out mentors and communities. Your background is not a limitation, it’s your edge. Use it to build, innovate, and lead,” is Masina’s message to girls who are beginning their journey.
Beyond International Girls in ICT Day, we celebrate the pathways that connect global experiences to local innovation, and the African women who are boldly walking those paths, transforming not only their futures, but the future of the continent.