
When we set out to unbox a plan for investing in women, there were a number of options. Finally, we settled on covering up the gender gap in Nigeria’s design space. The first question that might play around in your head is, “Why choose design?”. In this article, we explain:
- Why we built a design-focused fund.
- The gender gap in Nigeria’s design space.
- The program sponsored by the fund.
- How to apply to the program in 3 minutes.
Why did we build a design-focused fund?
At Cowrywise, our daily creed is to simplify how investments work for everyone. What drives the possibility of that is design. We are intentional about everything we create; from content to products. In essence, we are a design-led investment firm.
Secondly, it takes more than equal pay to cover up the gender inequality gap. Various factors, beyond pay, contribute to this gap. Two notable factors are social norms flexible schedules. Thankfully, design-based careers come with flexible schedules and that makes it possible for more women to sustain their earning pace.
Nigeria’s Design Space: The Gender Gap
For us, design is a serious business for us. It’s never been an after-thought. Over the years, we have built a team around this core with quality and gender balance in mind. However, we struggle to find female designers to take up roles whenever we open them up.
At first, we thought this was peculiar to us; but after recent research, we saw that it was a general issue that needed to be fixed.
To understand the challenge better, we took a survey and got validation for our hypothesis. There is a gender gap in Nigeria’s design space. Here’s a break down of the results:
- The probability of finding a female designer in a Nigerian firm is 20%.
- The top three reasons for poor female representation are access to opportunities, technical know-how, and female design leadership.
With this fund, we will tackle all the top 3 hurdles for a number of Nigerian women (who have zero to little design experience). It will provide cash to sponsor one-on-one classes with female design leads in key spaces. Upon completion, we’ll take on some as interns, and have our partners take on as many as possible also.
Why are we investing in women?
The gender in the design gap is part of a larger story about how women don’t enjoy access to skills that can help them earn more. This is in turn is the reason why we have more poor women than men in the world today. The design fund is our way of contributing to the goal of lifting more women out of poverty.
Here’s an excerpt from Oxfam (a global movement against inequality) on why investing in women is important:
Gender inequality in the economy costs women in developing countries $9 trillion a year – a sum which would not only give new spending power to women and benefit their families and communities, but would also provide a massive boost to the economy as a whole.
What will this program investing in women cover?
For ease, the program has three paths. Each participant gets to choose one path after they successfully cross the first stage of applications. Here are the paths:
- Product Design
- Graphic design
- Brand identity design
These paths will feature a line-up of sterling tutors that work at top global firms. Keep reading to meet your potential tutors.
Damilola Oludumila (UX Researcher, Webflow)
Dami is a user experience researcher at Webflow. She is primarily focused on setting research operations in place as the organisation scales. She previously worked at PagerDuty as a user researcher and has consulted for various Nigerian startups.
Lola Salehu (Product Designer, Paystack)
Lola is a Product Designer at Paystack, a technology company solving payments problems for ambitious businesses in Africa. She is a writer, and self-taught front-end developer from Lagos, Nigeria. She is an advocate for inclusion and intersectionality in the tech space, as well as content-first design.
Damilola Marcus (Co-founder, Dá Design Studio)
Damilola is currently the Managing Partner and Executive Art Director at Dá Design Studio. She graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Architecture from the University of Lagos and has a Master’s degree in Environmental Design. Her firm is responsible for our brand identity and that of other amazing firms like Paystack.
Bolanle Banwo (Founder, The Female Designer Movement)
Bolanle is the Founder of The Female Designer Movement, an initiative she launched with a mission to train and equip women with graphics design skill-set and thereby help increase the number of women in the African Technology ecosystem. She is also the Founder of Geneza Brands, a branding agency based in Lagos.
How can you participate in this?
Fund Donors
We will match all donations made into this fund. Donate here to get a future female designer started with her journey. If you donate via your Cowrywise account, you’ll earn a rare badge.
Students
Once again, this program is open to only ladies (with zero to little to zero experience with design). Successful applicants enjoy fully paid classes that span between 12 and 24 weeks, depending on the paths they choose. Upon completion, you also stand the chance to intern at top firms. Tap here to apply right away. Applications close on the 25th of March, 2021. For this cohort, we’ll take on 75 students.
What happens after?
At the end of the process, we will ensure the following things happen:
- Place top 10 students in intern roles. Assessment and placement will be handled by Ingressive4Good.
- Setup design mentorships for the top 20 students with Dear Designer.
Got more questions about this? Drop a comment or visit this page.
Applications for #DesignFund4Women is now closed!
On 11th March, we kicked off this programme to launch the design careers of 75 women, partnering with @Da_Dsgn, @AsaCoterie, @TFDmovement, @Ingressive4Good, and @DearDesignr.
We recorded 6,000+ applications in two weeks!
Applications are currently being reviewed and all applicants will get feedback on the status of their application.
Good evening, my question to you please if open an account today in naira his the money will converted to us dollar to running the account
If you are investing in a dollar fund, yes.
Can the funds be traded rather than investing to increase gains?
What if your money is in cash(Dollar)
Please I already have an account, will I have to re-open another account before investing in dollar?
Can I invest in the next eurobond using dollar (cash)? If yes, will my returns be in dollar as well or it will be converted to naira??
Hi Helen, you can invest in Eurobonds at any time. However, we only accept naira deposits at the moment. Also, your returns accrue in dollars.
So which is best to earn the second way or first?
Focusing on returns will be better
Hi, what is the minimum amount you can invest with.
Hi there. You can invest the naira equivalent of $100
Hi Ope, does that mean I’d need two accnts to operate the fund, I.e a naira account to put in the naira funds which is d only 1 u currently accept, then a domicilary account where my returns would accrue in?
I want to invest in your Eurobond.
I have re-installed your new app an still can get the eurobond plan?
How much is the minimum equivalent dollar for a start?
Can i get an overview of all the benefits and rules of this plan?
***and still can’t get the eurobond plan?
Do you allow people from south Africa
Hello, my question is if I invest in the dollar mutual fund how do I get the returns?
Will it be in naira or in dollars and will I have to open another account for the returns to go into
Can’t you go down to 50USD
Hello Nsikak, currently the minimum is $100 but we we are looking at a possible review in the future.
The new minimum is $10
Hello will I have to re-open another account before investing in dollar?
luckysolomon444@gmail.com
I have invested in dollars mutual fund… It means I Will get my return in one year
Hi Jonathan,
How is the return/interest on your investment from November 27,2020 so far??
No you don’t have to, just click on invest in mutual funds, you will see the options there. You can navigate and alot with your account.
If I invest in the euro bond, it is expected that my return accrues in dollar, right? And how do I withdraw the dollar? Do I need to convert it to naira, if yes, how can I convert my dollar to naira on the app. Lastly, how long do I need to leave my investment on cowrywise? Or can I withdraw anytime?
Am interested. Let’s say I put in a $1,000. What the ROI…within 1 year.
Your interest is 6.6% then calculate it for one year, I think so
Hello,
As a Nigerian, can I save my money in dollars even though I don’t want to invest in a dollar mutual fund?
Pretty soon, yes!
If l invest in naira am l going to get it back in dollar
You’d be getting it at the prevalent naira exchange value of the dollar.
Am going to save in naira am going to get it back in dollar
You’d be getting it at the prevalent naira exchange value of the dollar.
Hello ope pls how much is $10 in naira
How long does the investment last.i.e when can I get my returns
I will give BIG CONGRATULATIONS to the entire Management of COWRYWISE for this wonderful opportunity to be a good investor with simple and sound education on various investment opportunities an investment can be done with little and grow within a short period period of time
God bless
Thank you so much ?
Now if I put 100$ in one year what is my return
If my return will be in the current dollar rate at the time, when i am investing and when am getting my returns, what exchange rate do u use? Black market rates or the bank rates – please verify in each case. Thanks.
Hello please if you can create the one we can start with the minimum $1 we’ll be happy ??
I just started investing in eurobond funds on cowrywise. So far so good, it has been a good platform to invest money and earn back. Kudos to the team behind this platform