Regina Honu (née Agyare), is a Ghanaiansocial entrepreneur, software developer and founder of Soronko Solutions, a software development company in Ghana.[1][2] She opened Soronko Academy, the first coding and human-centered design school for children and young adults in West Africa.[3][4] Honu has received multiple awards, including being named by CNN as one of the 12 inspirational women who rock STEM. She was also named as one of the six women making an impact in Tech in Africa and one of the ten female entrepreneurs to watch in emerging economies.[5]
She has received attention with features on platforms such as CNN African Voices,[6]BBC,[7]Deutsche Welle,[8]Aljazeera[9] as well as the Impatient Optimist blog by The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. In an interview with CNN's African Start-Up, she is described as a Ghanaian tech guru who wants to develop the next generation of women in technology.[10]
Honu's story was also published in Sheryl Sandberg's book Lean In.[11] She was named as the 2016 Vlisco Brand Ambassador.[12]
[edit]Honu teaching girls to code and create technology
Regina Honu set up the Soronko Foundation in 2012, which brought about the Soronko Academy in 2017, to train children and young adults in coding, IT skills, human-centered design in Ghana, West Africa.[15][3][16] The academy was started to help young people especially women and equip them in technical and soft skills necessary to help them in the society and bridge the gender gap in technology.[17][18] It is the first coding and Human-centered design school for children and young adults in West Africa.[3][5][19] By 2021, the programme is estimated to have trained more than 20,000 women and girls.[20]
Honu started the Tech Needs Girls Ghana movement, which aims to train and educate more Ghanaian girls into studying technology-related courses. The movement is noted for teaching girls how to code.[21][22]
She runs the Soronko Academy, the first coding and human-centered design school in West Africa, in association with the Tech Needs Girls programme, which has trained more than 3,500 girls in Ghana and Burkina Faso.[23]
As part of World Autism Day 2018, Honu partnered with Autism Ambassadors of Ghana for an autism awareness session.[24] The session helped to create awareness about autism and introduced an Autism Aid App that enable families of children living with autism to access information from experts on how to take care of these kids.[24]
She was honoured as one of Coca-Cola 60 Young achievers with an outstanding performance in Technology[34]
She was then awarded the Big Six award from Coca-Cola Ghana for her incredible contribution in Technology.[34]
She won the 2016 Startup Entrepreneur of the year and her organization won the Social Enterprise Startup of the Year in the 2016 Ghana StartUp Awards.[35]
She also won the JCI Ghana Outstanding Young Person award for scientific and technological advancement.[36]
Her organization was nominated for the editor's choice award in the Women in IT award in the UK[37]
She was a finalist for the ITU African Digital Woman of the Year.[38]
She was awarded a Women of Courage Award for Technology[39]
She is on the project advisory board of the UN Committee for the Rights of a Child, helping to update the Convention for the Rights of the Child for a Digital Age[39][40]
Tech Needs Girls was honoured in the 2014 Ghana CSR Diary Awards.[41]
