The organizers of WEETS 2024 selected Cynthia Alabi for the prestigious award based on her expertise in the tech industry, particularly in tech sales, customer experience, customer success, and product design.

“We are thrilled to announce Ms. Cynthia Alabi as this year’s TECHLIFE Excellence for No-Code Roles award winner,” said Ugochi Emmanuel, convener of the summit, which focuses on empowering women and promoting digital inclusion in Nigeria.

After a rigorous selection process from five shortlisted candidates, Cynthia Alabi was chosen for her over a decade of experience driving growth in technology-driven companies.

Upon receiving the award, a surprised and excited Cynthia Alabi expressed her gratitude and commitment to continue working hard in the industry. “I am thrilled and motivated to work even harder,” Cynthia, who was also part of a panel session on ‘AI Leadership: Navigating the future of women in businesses said.

With a unique blend of skills in sales, marketing, and business development, Cynthia Alabi has a proven track record of supporting and creating customer-centric brands, services, and solutions. She emphasized the importance of empowering women, noting that when a woman is empowered, the family and society benefit as a whole.

Cynthia’s exceptional ability to foster business growth in startups is fueled by her expertise in non-technical roles, including customer success, account management, customer service, and enterprise sales.

Prof. Umar Danbatta, Executive Vice Chairman of the NCC, who restated this commitment in Lagos at the 2022 Nigerian Women Entrepreneurs and Executives in Tech Summit (WEETS), Thursday, September 15, 2022, where he was conferred with the ‘Icon of Digital Revolution Award’ for his role in stimulating digital connectivity in Nigeria, said promotion of gender equality is a major component of ICT development.

He noted that the gender dimensions of ICT, manifests in access and use; capacity-building opportunities; employment and potential for empowerment, and that all these dimensions need to be explicitly identified and addressed, to leverage on technology and communication as powerful catalysts for political, economic, and social empowerment of women, and the promotion of gender equality.

Speaking to the theme of the event, “Reskilling Women and Girls to Thrive in the Digital Economy”, Danbatta, who was represented by Nafisa Usman Rugga, NCC’s Head, Digital Media Management, said the theme resonates deeply with the drive by the Federal Government to ensure an all-inclusive digital economy that drives the strategic vision plan of the Commission.

He expressed his appreciation to organizers, Techlife Media and Communications Limited, a Lagos-based media organisation, for the iconic recognition for his contribution to Nigeria’s digital progression which is an encouragement that he would dedicate to the entire NCC team of professionals that are dedicated to the digital revolution in the country. Danbatta commended the organization for holding forth its annual gathering that pivots discussions on promotion of digital access, skills and knowledge among the women and girls in Nigeria.

Danbatta indicated that one of the ways through which the Commission strives to achieve an inclusive growth, is through increased digital connectivity to all, regardless of gender and other accidental circumstances, and that the Commission has continued to play a front-seat role in driving the implementation of the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS), 2020-2030; the Nigerian National Broadband Plan (NNBP), 2020-2025; and related policies aimed at deepening connectivity for all citizens, thereby bridging digital gender disparity.

“The NCC has put in the front burner the need to expose girls and young women to more opportunities in the digital ecosystem, in line with the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) resolution 70, which advocates gender mainstreaming and promotion of gender equality, as well as the empowerment of women through information and communications technology (ICT), and we are fully committed to this,”, Danbatta said.

The organizers, while justifying the reason for conferring the award on Nigeria’s chief telecom regulator, stated that after“ reviewing the criteria set for the award, we reckon that Prof. Danbatta deserves the award for blazing the trail in accelerating digital revolution in Nigeria, especially with the historic auction of 3.5 GHz spectrum in a fair, transparent, and credible manner, and considering the various initiatives embarked upon by the Commission under his leadership, to inspire girls and women to play active roles in the evolving global digital economy”.