ETHEL D. COFIE
OkayAfrica's 100 Women celebrates African women who are making waves, shattering ceilings, and uplifting their communities.
Ethel Cofie’s entrepreneurial successes have shown that African businessswomen are “not new to this, they are true to this” as the popular slang phrase goes. She has created a global platform, “Women in Tech Africa," which is a week-long event showcasing over 10,000 women’s contributions in technology. In addition to spearheading “Women in Tech Africa,” she is the CEO and Founder of Edel Technology which is an internationally renowned IT Consulting firm.
Cofie is a Ghanaian born, Yale graduate who is vocal about the originality and authenticity of creating an IT culture unique to Africa’s customs and resources, as opposed to simply imitating what famous technological hubs in the West. She is cited as saying, “In the attempt to ‘copy and paste’ a Silicon Valley, we ignore what our inherent advantages are in Africa for creating entrepreneurial ecosystems and that’s why we are most likely to fail at it.”
Failing doesn’t seem like it’s in Cofie’s immediate future. She was named one of the top 5 women impacting IT in Africa and her company, EDEL Technology Consulting Company, was recently named IT Consulting Firm of the year by the Telecoms and IT Industry. —MB