Farida Bedwei

thumb|Farida Bedwei Farida Nana Efua Bedwei (born 6 April 1979) is a Ghanaian software engineer and co-founder of Logiciel, a fin-tech company in Ghana. Farida Bedwei is a software engineer and disabilities rights advocate. Logiciel develops technology solutions and provides micro-banking systems for more than 600 financial institutions. She was named one of Ghana’s most influential women in business and a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2016. Quotes Ironic that the largest minority group which cuts across race, religion and sexual orientation is (one of) the most discriminated against. Farida with ComicsofColor on her new book KARMZAH in 2019 You must put in the work. Do not expect a free pass just because you have special needs. You need to be exceptionally good at what you are doing but institutions also need to put up an enabling environment that lets people with special needs be as productive as they can be. Farida live at ADC Nobody is perfect. We all have a part of us that doesn’t work well. Identify your disability and turn it into greatness. Farida's interview with Eunice Baguma Ball,Author,Founding Women. I tell myself, “You can do this, you’ve done more difficult things and survived. And even if you don’t make this deal or you can’t do this task, life goes on”. My faith has also played an important role. Farida with Africa.com on African Women in Tech. We first of all have to cultivate the habit of reading, before more people would be motivated to write. Representation matters, and persons with disabilities are sorely underrepresented. Persons with disabilities are usually portrayed as being feeble and asking for handouts, in the media. I want to change that perception. We have weaknesses and strengths like everybody else and it’s about time the focus moved from what we can’t do to what we CAN do. A strong female lead, gives a role model for girls to want to emulate. I intend to change perceptions with my story. I was frustrated; frustrated with societal perception of people with disabilities and frustrated with reading about a foreigner's perspective of the "African Story", which usually involves wars, famines, AIDS and child soldiers. I think it is time for us to tell our own stories.Farida speaking on the inspiration for her writing I didn’t set out to impact anybody. I set out to prove to myself and to society that I could be a successful software developer despite having a neurological condition. If you don’t have a passion for your product and you want to become an entrepreneur because of the money, close up your business and look for a well-paying job. The frustrations and disappointments that come with entrepreneurship can break you, but if you are in it because you want to make a difference or you believe in what you are producing, then that spurs you on. There is a lot of potential for fintech in this part of the world. All my life I’ve been told to remove the word ‘I can’t’ from my vocabulary and replace it with ‘I’ll try’ and by grace, everything I’ve tried I’ve been successful at. “People with disability don’t want preferential treatment we want the playing ground to be given so we can compete as competitively as anybody else.” External links Category:Software engineers Category:Computer scientists Category:Women scientists from Ghana Category:Disabled people Category:1979 births Category:Living people Category:Women engineers from Ghana Category:Disability rights activists Category:Women activists from Ghana Category:Women born in the 1970s