Tech Herfrica, founded in Nigeria in 2023 by public policy advisor Imade Bibowei‑Osuobeni, is a social impact organization designed to close the digital and financial gap facing rural women and girls. Its core initiative, EquipHer4Growth, delivers training in digital literacy (in local languages like Yoruba, Hausa, Igbo, and Pidgin), provides smartphones, and imparts financial skills using hands-on, accessible learning methods. Graduates then gain access to HerLocal Market, an e‑commerce platform and WhatsApp-powered trade channel that connects them to buyers beyond their region, resulting in average income gains of 56 %.
By the end of 2023, Tech Herfrica had empowered over 4,000 rural women in Nigeria—teaching them digital tools, facilitating mobile banking, introducing bookkeeping, and providing access to health and agricultural insurance . Their efforts earned international recognition, including the 2023 ITU SDG Digital Game Changers Award.
What Makes the Model So Impactful?
- Localized training: Courses are delivered in indigenous languages and at a pace tailored to women who may have no prior experience with smartphones or digital tools.
- Device provision: Participants receive internet-capable mobile phones preloaded with learning modules and mobile banking apps.
- E-commerce empowerment: Using platforms like WhatsApp and HerLocal Market, women can sell products directly to buyers, skipping middlemen and tapping larger markets.
- Financial inclusion: Women learn record-keeping, access microloans, savings, and insurance products, helping to stabilize livelihoods and reduce vulnerabilities.
- Community ripple-effect: Trained women teach peers, creating peer-led digital support groups—which deepens impact beyond direct beneficiaries.
Tea Applications
Tea-producing regions are home to hundreds of thousands of women workers who face:
- Poor access to markets and pricing information
- Low uptake of mobile finance and low financial literacy
- Limited digital skills
- Minimal bargaining power and dependence on intermediaries
Just as Tech Herfrica gave groundnut and craft sellers in Nigeria a digital foothold, a TeaHer equivalent could uplift women in these regions by:
- Digital & Financial Literacy Workshops: Teach essential skills, WhatsApp Business, mobile money, price comparison tools, record keeping, savings groups, and insurance schemes delivered in native language and social context.
- Smartphone Distribution & Offline Learning: Provide internet-enabled devices preloaded with tutorial content in local dialects so women can learn offline and at their own pace. Offline content mirrors the “digital literacy for all” ethos Tech Herfrica pioneered.
- Agritech & Weather Alerts: Use simple digital alerts to provide planting advisories, weather forecasts (e.g. rain, frost warnings), agronomy tips, and pest/disease alerts—supporting more productive cultivation.
Tech Herfrica’s model proves that strategic, empathetic design which combines digital training, device distribution, and market access, can transform lives for rural women. More than 4,000 women in Nigeria have seen tangible income gains, increased confidence, and improved social standing through its platform.
For tea, adapting this model into a TeaHer initiative could revolutionize opportunities for women smallholders and labourers across tea landscapes bridging digital divides, connecting women to markets, and driving sustainable livelihoods. The blueprint is clear. The time is ripe.