Not to fall behind their male counterparts in the Continent, women in Africa are taking it as a challenge to be at the forefront in the technological shifts sweeping across Africa. To provide a forum for discussing various methodologies and approaches to promote and familiarize women with technology, nearly 250 participants from 31 countries assembled at the second edition of the Women in Business leadership meet organized by the Africa CEO Forum in Paris in the third week of June. Incidentally, the first edition was also held in Paris in July 2018. The two-day summit took stock of the impact of new technologies on the business world, as well as the role of women in science and technology. The need for prioritizing the research relevant to the continent was also discussed at the meet, which reverberated with different ideation and how they can successfully be tried at workplaces. Developing and innovating technologies that can help Africa to move in the value chain in manufacturing, agriculture, services etc were flagged. At the same time, the meeting underlined the role of cutting edge digital technologies like artificial intelligence, robotics, Internet of Things, roll out of 5G etc since the future growth very much depended on the level of digitization and how quickly people absorbed such breakthrough technologies. There was a feeling at the summit that the women are under-represented in science streams in general and research in particular. This barrier should be broken only by empowering women to pursue higher studies in science and take up jobs in premier research institutions, where research staff are mostly men.
