Story, Louvier Kindo Tombe
Judith Yah Sunday Epse Achidi, General Manager of CAMTEL was speaking during a four-day TechWomen Delegation Trip Scheme to Cameroon, branch of the US femele leaders’ development program – TechWomen. Cameroonianin women in technology gathered at the Hilton hotel to share knowledge, upgrade their leadership skills, support, connect, and network with each other. Present to boost their commitment in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) was the General Manager of CAMTEL who delivered a keynote address on the theme “empowering sustainable leadership”.
“The role of women in STEM is now more critical than ever,” Judith Yah Sunday said.
“Women are no more just contributors but catalysts of change.”
The CAMTEL boss, herself a leading woman in technology shared her experience with the upcoming female leaders showing them what is takes to develop sustainable leadership skills, how to stay at the top and overcome eventual challenges.
“Hardwork and education truly pays, but success is not just about reaching a destination, it’s essentially about the journey itself,” the GM told the different TechWomen.
In her address at the opening of the Cameroon TechWomen workshop, the president of TechWomen Cameroon, Aurel Tayou, revealed that Cameroon now counts about 55 women in technology who constitute an association of TechWomen alumni. The idea is equally to boost leadership development, sustainable impact and networking.
Aurel Tayou, praised CAMTEL for supporting their different initiatives and Judith Yah Sunday for standing by them.
“CAMTEL, being a tech company, it’s normal to support such an initiative,” says Judith Yah Sunday.
“We are sure that CAMTEL is going to help us have a bigger impact on our communities because we have started an initiative to impact more people all over the country. We need the strength and support to achieve and we know that with the support of a high level leader like CAMTEL, we are going to achieve that,” Aurel Tayou said.
Aurel is an alumni of the 2016 corps of the TechWomen program, an initiative of the US Department of State Bureau for Educational and Cultural Affairs. She is equally president of a business accelerator, Brain Booster which is a co-working space for women. She told her peers at the workshop that her secret is “think big, start small, scale fast”.
The Cameron National Youth Council (CNYC) was associated to the TechWomen Cameroon program and its president, Fadimatou Iyawa could not hide her feelings.
“We are glad to have being associated to such an initiative that will go a long way to help the Cameroonian youth,” she said.
Present to assist the TechWomen was a US based mentor, Jayme Farrell Ranker, who said she is privileged to partner with Cameroon TechWomen.
“It’s my first time to mentor an emerging leader from Cameroon, who founded a company that helps young girls get more involved in STEM, am privileged.
The GM of CAMTEL, before seperating with the TechWomen encouraged them that “together we are strong, and together we can truly make a difference”.