African Connected Summit 2025 in Diani brought together voices and leadership from over 50 nations to engage on the many facets of our Afrocentric digital realm, how to enhance and strengthen it, secure it, and ensure it works for the socio-economic progress, personal safety, and national security of all Africans.
A core thread from the summit was the importance of inclusive cybersecurity leadership. Globally, women make up less than 25% of the cybersecurity workforce. In Africa, that number is even more alarming, less than 9%. That’s why I was proud to be part of two powerful sessions at the summit pertaining to Women in Tech Leadership.
We heard keynote insights from Mwende Gatabaki and Roshana Cole that truly set the tone. I then had the honor of joining a panel moderated by Carol Odero, alongside Lorna Hardie, Donna Owiti, and Dr Joyce Wamicwe. Together, we dug into why women must have a seat at the table where cyber-centric decisions are made, not as a matter of tokenism, not even just equity, but due to efficacy because we bring a different lens and lived experience. More so as cybersecurity is more than tech, it is social, legal, humancentric. And to secure the digital realm, we need all perspectives present.
Cybercrime is now the world’s third-largest economy, and its rise risks derailing the many benefits of digital transformation. And in this, women and children face the harshest edges, from online gender-based violence, to child sexual exploitation and abuse , to the rising femicide rates in countries like Kenya. This cannot be tackled through legal reform alone. We need dedicated efforts toward capacity building across the justice sector, access to psychosocial support, and even medical care when necessary. Governments must dedicate real budgets, not just ideas. The private sector, too, must step up through targeted CSR.
As African women, we must secure our place unapologetically, not to compete with our male colleagues, but to complement them. If digital threats are evolving, so must our leadership. We are not asking for space. We are taking it, with purpose, with urgency, and with a shared vision for a safer digital Africa.
ICT Authority Communications Authority of Kenya William Kabogo Stanley Kamanguya, PMP®, OGW Vincent Ngundi, Ph.D Philip IRODE, Msc CISA CRISC CISM CGEIT CDPSE ITIL CBCI CIO Africa by dx5