IWD: At Zoho’s Business Summit, women entrepreneurs urged to embrace technology
By Eberechi Obinagwam
Women entrepreneurs have been urged to embrace technology to scale their businesses and overcome any fear of it.
Kehinde Ogundare, Regional Manager, Zoho West Africa, made the call on Thursday in Lagos at the second edition of Zoho’s Women in Business Summit for West Africa. The event, themed “Strong Women, Building Strong Businesses,” aligned with International Women’s Day celebrations.
Ogundare described technology as a “leveler” that does not discriminate based on gender. “It doesn’t matter whether you are male or female,” he said. “Women need to accept technology to scale up their business because that is the only thing that can make a difference between a future-thinking business and one that is not. If you are going to scale, you have to use software and technology to run your business. Women entrepreneurs should not be scared of technology.”
He explained that the event aimed to celebrate women in leadership, support and empower female entrepreneurs and professionals, and inspire others by bringing successful business figures to share experiences, coach, and help develop new skills.
Ogundare emphasized that Zoho’s commitment to women in business extends beyond providing software. It includes deliberate programs to build digital capabilities and foster a new generation of technology-confident leaders.
The company has partnered with women-led communities and organizations to deliver digital transformation training, business software education, and hands-on productivity workshops, focusing on lasting capability rather than mere awareness.
“Through Zoho Creator—a no-code/low-code development platform—women can build bespoke business applications, automate processes, and solve real challenges without deep programming knowledge,” he said. “It transforms them from consumers to creators.”
He added that technology should be empowering, not intimidating. “Zoho Creator enables entrepreneurs to shift from being software consumers into software creators, building solutions for operations, customers, and internal processes on their own.”
Keynote speaker Perenami Momodu, International Arbitration Consultant and Head of Africa Practice at Gateley UK, delivered a lecture titled “Resilience in Action: Legal Empowerment as a Catalyst for Women’s Economic Growth.”
She highlighted common pitfalls, noting that women often fail to safeguard their interests legally because they prioritize relationships over contracts and sign standard agreements without independent legal review.
Using Healthplus and Famfa Oil as case studies, Momodu illustrated how women-owned businesses can scale successfully. She pointed to Famfa Oil’s success as stemming from full compliance with licensing requirements from the outset, among other factors.
Momodu identified legal structure, contracts, and regulatory awareness as the pillars of legal empowerment essential for scaling businesses. “Solve real problems, not theoretical ones; build teams and not just businesses,” she advised.
She challenged the prevailing narrative around women’s economic empowerment. “For so long, it has been told as a story of struggle and survival,” she said. “That framing does us a disservice. Women are building significant enterprises across this continent and around the world.
“The question is not whether we can build—we have already answered that. The question is whether we are building with the legal and structural intelligence that turns great businesses into intergenerational institutions.”
She concluded: “We build with brilliance. Build with strategy. Build with structure.”
The event featured a panel session moderated by Alex Boyo, founder and CEO of Alex Boyo World (ABW). Panelists included Chinazom Arinze, CEO of Autogirl; Uloma Amodu, Regional Sales Manager, Truecaller; Datari Ladejo, Founder and CEO of Fernhill Digital; and Judit Didi Ebirim, CEO of The Apex Edge Consulting Co. The topic was “Redefining Success: Leadership, Balance, and Sustainable Growth.”
A fireside chat, moderated by Kehinde Ogundare, featured Itohan Okwumah, Managing Partner and Human Resources Lead at HM Solar Limited, on the topic “From Leadership to Legacy: Preparing for the Next Chapter.”
