SWIS Africa Joins WITESA 5.0 as a Community Partner

We are excited to announce that SWIS Africa is joining WITESA 5.0 as a community partner — bringing 30 participants from the SWIS EmpowHER Programme to what is set to be Africa's largest women in tech summit.

About WITESA 5.0

The Women in Technology and Engineering Summit & Awards (WITESA) is one of Africa's most significant gatherings for women in STEM. Now in its fifth edition and being held in Lagos for the very first time, WITESA 5.0 takes place on June 23 and 24, 2026, organised by Womenovate in partnership with Tech Revolution Africa. The summit brings together over 2,000 attendees and more than 60 industry-leading speakers across 9 to 12 specialised tracks covering cloud computing, artificial intelligence, green technology, and more — all in service of accelerating the full participation of women across Africa's technology and engineering sectors.

The two-day programme is split across two venues. Day one takes place at the Muson Centre in Lagos, with masterclasses, strategic panels, and exhibitions. Day two moves to the J. Randle Event Centre for the Gala and Awards ceremony, where over 55 awards will be presented to honour outstanding female engineers, innovators, and leaders across the continent.

SWIS EmpowHER Participants at the Summit

For the participants of the SWIS EmpowHER Programme, WITESA 5.0 will be far more than an event to attend — it is a live extension of everything the programme is designed to provide. Real rooms filled with accomplished women in STEM. Real conversations about career paths, funding, and opportunity. Real networks that can open doors. This is the kind of exposure that changes trajectories, and we are proud to be putting our cohort in the room.

Benita Ananias Takes the Stage

One of our EmpowHER participants, Benita Ananias, has been selected as a panelist at the summit. She will be speaking on a panel titled "Talent Is Everywhere. Opportunity Is Not. The Mindshift Needed to Win" — a conversation that sits right at the heart of what SWIS Africa exists to address. Benita's presence on that stage is itself a statement: the women we work with are not just beneficiaries of these conversations, they are contributors to them.

A Pre-Event with the WITESA Team

Ahead of the main summit, SWIS Africa and the WITESA team are planning a pre-event for our cohort. More details on this will be shared soon — watch this space.

Why This Partnership Matters

Community partnerships like this one are how ecosystems grow. WITESA and SWIS Africa share the same conviction: that the gender gap in STEM is not a talent problem, it is an opportunity problem. Bringing our EmpowHER cohort into a space of this scale — alongside thousands of women who have navigated the same barriers and come out building, leading, and innovating — is exactly the kind of experience that bridges that gap.

We are grateful to the Womenovate team for welcoming SWIS Africa as a community partner, and we cannot wait to see our participants show up and show out in Lagos.

Stay tuned for updates, and learn more about WITESA 5.0 at womenovate.com/2026witesa.