IMPACT: Meet One of Nigeria’s Leading Woman Techpreneur – Nkemdilim Begho

Nkemdilim Begho is founder and Managing Director of Future Software Resources Limited, an IT solutions provider focused on online solutions, e-learning and IT security.

As one of the few leading women in Nigeria’s tech industry, she is passionate about driving innovative thinking, building a globally recognized technology brand and setting trends in the Nigerian Technology space which she is still

doing successfully.

She is Chris Uwaje’s daughter, the man who initiated the idea structure and content drafting strategy for the establishment of the National Information Technology Development Policy for Nigeria.

Highly respected as a leader in her industry, Nkem is recognized as an expert speaker on ICT in Africa.  Mrs Nkemdilim has a B.Sc. in BioInformatics from Ludwig-Maxmillians Universitat Munchen, Germany.  She is the recipient of the following awards -

• ·         She was awarded the Jim Ovia Prize for Software Excellence.
• ·         She is a facilitator at W.TEC and Ajegunle.org.
• ·         She is also a recipient of the Etisalat Prize for Innovation.

Nkem has been featured on several newspaper and magazine publications. She volunteers regularly for mentoring and empowerment programmes where she shares her experiences with young Nigerians and less privileged children.

Nkemdilim’s Startup Journey

Embarking on the first stage of her professional career in Germany at the Max Planck Institute (MPI) for Psychiatric Research in the department for Statistical Genetics and Proteomics, Nkem later worked at Affectis Pharmaceuticals AG, Germany before returning to Nigeria. 

Mrs. Begho developed software tools to aid genetic research, and plugins for Micro-array database (Java).

In 2005, Mrs Begho was the Channel Manager for Leapsoft Nigeria Limited.

Between December 2004- December 2009, she worked as Bioinformatics Consultant and Software Developer for Affectics Pharmaceuticals. Nkem developed a chemical compound database called Affectis KemSuite (Java PostrgreSQL) Affectis KemSuite is an in – house developed compound database system with chemical intelligence, which enables company wide data integration.

Her entrepreneurial journey really started with her company - Future Software Resources, which was a business initially incorporated by her father, Chris Uwaje, Nigeria’s foremost IT policy maker, on her behalf with the intention that when she was ready, she would take it over.

In 2008, she fulfilled that vision when she not only took over the affairs of the company, but rebranded it and refocused it to concentrate on online solutions, e-learning and IT security.

She’s one of the Board Members of the World Summit Youth Award from 2010 till date; Board Member of the World Summit Youth Award, a global e-content contest with core focus on the acceleration of the Millennium Development Goal implementation.

Today, Future Software Resources provides online solutions which include website design, web hosting and online social media management, basically everything a business needs to go online and survive online. Every company requires online services and somebody to manage it for them and this has sustained the relevance of Nkem’s business. 

The company’s e-learning and IT security services are also key selling points.

With the growth of technology in this market, e-learning is becoming more and more relevant as well as IT security too. 

Why Nkem is NaijaCynth’s Woman of Impact:

She was faced with a number of challenges when she first started out in her business, one of which was finding it hard to build a client base from scratch.

Her business initially did not have a large portfolio of clients to showcase neither any track record to show new clients. She started small by  initially building a company website and creating a business card – her basic approach to building a business which she has kept and practiced over the years, despite her success.

Nkem has been able to create, innovate and be part of those shaping the technology industry in Nigeria. She also wanted to be able to manage her own time and work on projects that isfulfilling her personally.

Finally, she wanted to create employment and grow as a leader and visionary, making a positive contribution to the Nigerian online space.

Kudos to her many achievements.