SWIS Africa at WITESA 5.0: Inside the Room Where It Happened

Earlier this month, 30 participants of the SWIS EmpowHER Programme travelled to Lagos to attend WITESA 5.0 — Africa's largest women in technology and engineering summit. It was two days of learning, connection, and the kind of energy that stays with you long after you leave a room.

SWIS Africa sponsored all 30 participants to attend, ensuring that the financial barrier that keeps so many young women out of spaces like this was not a factor for our cohort. Getting into the room matters. We made sure they got in.

Three of Our Own on the Panel

Of the 30 participants who attended, three were selected as panelists at the summit. Benita Ananias (University of Lagos), Adebanke Peke (Federal University Oye-Ekiti), and Jubilee Ozemoya (Elizade University) all took the stage on the panel titled "Talent is Everywhere. Opportunity is Not. The Mindshift Needed to Win", moderated by Elizabeth B. Rotimi, Founder of Tech Forge Africa Accelerator. The session ran from 11:35 am to 12:05 pm as part of the Talent track on Day 1.

To attend a conference of this scale and not just sit in the audience but contribute to the conversations on stage is exactly the kind of visibility that changes how a young woman sees herself and how the industry begins to see her too. These are final-year university students holding their own on a panel at Africa's largest women in tech summit. We could not be prouder.

What the Event Was Like

Day one at the Muson Centre in Lagos set the tone immediately. Attendees, speakers, and sponsors all described the atmosphere as electric, with many calling it an absolute 10/10. Over 2,000 women gathered across masterclasses, panels, and exhibitions covering everything from artificial intelligence and cloud computing to green technology and leadership, and the energy in the room matched the ambition of the agenda.

One of the most widely shared sessions of the day was the Execution Mindset Masterclass, featuring tech leaders Ashley Emmanuel, Nneka Eneni, Olufunke Fowler, and Nsikan Efo. The room came alive around a simple but powerful challenge: stop collecting ideas and start building the operational muscle to execute them. Three takeaways from that session travelled far beyond the walls of the Muson Centre. First, that action and operational skill matter more than conceptual planning. Second, that every task needs a Directly Responsible Individual, someone who owns it, not just someone who agreed it should happen. Third, that failure is not a full stop. Adopting a growth mindset means treating setbacks as data, not as verdicts.

These are lessons our participants will carry into their research, their workplaces, and their ventures.

More Than a Conference

For many of our cohort, WITESA 5.0 was their first experience of a professional gathering at this scale. The panels and masterclasses were valuable, but so was everything happening in between — the conversations over lunch, the LinkedIn connections made in hallways, the moment of recognising that the women building Africa's tech future are not distant figures but peers you can reach, talk to, and learn from directly.

That is what a room like WITESA gives you. And that is why SWIS Africa will keep finding ways to put our participants inside rooms like it.

None of this would have been possible without the support of the European Union and Global Youth Mobilization, whose funding through the Youth Empowerment Fund makes the SWIS EmpowHER Programme possible. It is because of their commitment to gender equality, youth development, and economic inclusion that 30 young women were able to walk through the doors of the Muson Centre and take their place in one of Africa's most important conversations about the future of women in STEM. We are deeply grateful.

To the Womenovate team and everyone at Tech Revolution Africa, thank you for creating and sustaining a summit of this quality. To Benita, Adebanke, and Jubilee, you represented not just yourselves but every woman in our cohort and every young woman watching. And to all 30 participants who showed up, engaged fully, and brought SWIS Africa's energy to Lagos, we are proud of every single one of you.

Follow our journey at www.swisafrica.org and on social media @SWISAfrica.