OK. So I think we'll, we'll go ahead and get started. So I'm really excited to be here.I'm really excited to share and you know, I'll leave some time at the end to uh get to know some of you and feel free to ask any questions that you have um about tech entrepreneurship or anything that I share that resonates with you. I'll also share information about how you can uh just stay in touch with me afterwards. OK. So I am Juma Dad. I'm based in the US and I should preface and say, say that a lot of the information that I'm um sharing is is local but you will get um some general ideas of what you can do where you live. I do understand that this is a global conference and um a lot of the some of the information may not apply, but you can look for something similar uh where you are. OK. Fine. OK. So I'm the uh creator of the tech Women Network. It's an online uh community and career development platform for women with technical skills. I'm also uh the producer of something called the hu tech Summit.

It actually stemmed from uh the tech women network and it's a, it's an annual conference for women of color in tech just to keep them inspired, um educated and, and empowered. Um So I provided my Twitter information there. I'm my name on every platform. If you wanna connect with me on linkedin, I'm there too with my middle initial. Uh But let's, let's get started. So who is this woman that's before you? Right. Um My path is, is interesting. It, it, it's uh it's not really straightforward. Um I know I, I saw in the chat room that there are some um individuals of Nigerian descent in here. I am a Nigerian American um raised in New York City and I just kind of went through the path of going to school and in, in college, I studied computer information science and I eventually started working in the corporate space um in tech uh during a time when there weren't a lot of, of women in the space.

And after some years in, in, in the corporate setting, I, I started my own business and now I do consulting work and I empower um other women in tech and create platforms for them to share their skills. So as I just shared, um that's been my path uh against school and I've done everything from uh application development work. I've been a quality assurance tester. I've drafted technical documents and more um in the corporate, in the corporate space. Um So I have a very vast, vast background um before jumping into entrepreneurship and uh I'll share more about it. So, over the years, this is what I've, I've built, I, I refer to it as my, my data verse uh play off of my uh my last name, uh data and these are like just different brands that I've built or products that I've worked on over the years. Um So signature Red is my, is my company. That's if you think of like an umbrella, it's, it's above everything. Um I shared a little bit about the tech women network, that's the online community and career development platform um for Technical Women, the H tech summit, which is an online uh It's excuse me, it's an annual uh conference for women of color and tech again to educate elevate and empower them.

Um I also have techie who brunch um which is changing. I'm in the middle of pivoting some things because of uh what's happening with COVID. But Techie Soup brunch was a meet up at restaurants and cafes uh for women and, and men to just get together uh and talk about tech. If you enjoy good food, you were able to just have brunch and just just talk and tech repeat is an annual um spa Day. It's just a retreat for women in tech. So all of that falls under the umbrella of um my company's signature at all of those brands I'm also a contributor. I write about women in tech for Forbes women. Um I started that a couple of years ago. So, um I'm always looking uh for just women that are, are doing great things who work behind the scenes, et cetera. And last, but certainly not least, um I give back through something called project allo. Um Over the summer I give care packages to girls that are entering there that are, have just graduated high school and going off to college and just give them advice on what to expect at college with life.

Um For some, it's the first time that they're going, going to be away from home. People need advice on just how to live on campus, how to take care of their skin, their hair nutrition, you gain a lot of weight in your freshman year. So that's just the way that I, I give back annually. Um So that's, that's my, that's my daughter verse. Uh So let's, let's get started. Um And I, and to start, I wanna talk about, uh I just want to share a quote from someone that I, I admire. Um, everyone knows about Oprah Winfrey and just what she's been able to build for herself. Uh, and a quote from her just says, don't worry about being successful, but work towards being significant and the success will naturally follow. And that resonates with me as someone who, um who, who does what I'm passionate about like, I don't always take the route of, of, of just pursuing money. I like to do things that um make an impact in different ways. Like, if you, if you follow, you'll see that there are two things that are two elements that are always present with everything that I do. It's, it's empower, well, three empowering women and girls education and then helping or bringing people together through, through a, through a community.

So, with all of that and all of my ex experiences, um over the years, I've, you know, I've had to learn some things about navigating um working in a corporate space and then some of my passions and talents outside. Um And through that, I've, I've learned a number of things in terms of entrepreneurship. And I've, over the years, I've also given a lot of advice to people that are just trying to figure things out for themselves. Um We're in a unique time now with this pandemic and people are, you know, trying to, are really trying to take a look at their, their life and what they're doing and what they're passionate about and what can make money for them and just, you know, all of these things. And I'm, I'm with, I'm with you too. Um So with that, I just wanna share um five basic paths to consider for entrepreneurship and I'll, and I'll break them all down. Um But one, if you are uh again, technical women, you work in a corporate space, then uh you can become a business owner and we'll share more about that. Um And that is, is uh just you can, it can be related to what you're doing or it can be something totally different. Um You can become a consultant if you're an expert in your field, in some capacity.

Um that's similar to being a business owner, but you consult, I'm a freelancer and that's where you just work on different projects. Um based on your skill, you can start teaching, you can become an educator or you can do something in the realm of, of philanthropy or humanitarian work and um become a nonprofit leader. If you don't have big dreams and goals, you'll end up working for someone that does. And so that's a, that's a quote. I, I saw that and again, it resonates and, and let me just also say that there's nothing wrong with uh you know, working for people. Everyone does not aspire to be an entrepreneur. Everybody does not uh want to jump into that space. It's, it's not easy, it's a bit of a roller coaster. Um But if you do have the, the desires again, I'll sh I'll share some information with you. Um But there's nothing wrong with um with uh being part of making impact at a company. Um But if you desire and you have dreams to be an entrepreneurship to be an entrepreneur, you should, you should pursue it? Ok. So let's start first with, uh, uh, being a business owner and, and, and again, for the purpose of this presentation, it means that you are, uh, you run and operate your own business or start up. Ok.

So the first thing you would need to do is identify your product or, or service. Ok. What is it that you want to do with, with your business? Um, next, you want to create a business plan to flush out the idea. You wanna know what your service offerings are, what are, who are your competitors? How are you going to price your services and, or your products? Uh You need to know how to forecast, you know, what does your business look like? A year from now? Five years from now, 10 years from now, if you have a goal to sell it, what is the exit strategy? So these are all things that you work through um with a business plan? Ok. Uh Next and again, just remi just a reminder that this information is, is somewhat local to the States, but wherever you are, you just wanna find out the process for setting up a business in an entity. Ok. Um Decide on your, your company name. Uh You wanna check if it's registered. Um Here, there's a website and I'll share some resources at the end where you can check to see if a company name is taken. Um do that and then the other thing you want to do is just make sure you check for social media handles because you wanna know what, what you can um what's already out there.

Um That's using your name and of course, there, there may be some similarities out there but you just wanna be aware and then if being on social media is something that's relevant to your business, you want to make sure that you are uh you have the appropriate handles next, you want to get an EIN.

And again, that's lo that's for the state. Uh that's an employee, I employee identification number. And that's for the purpose of, of uh paying taxes for your business. You also need to create a business bank account where you are. And this is so when you get paid, you can, you know, trace your, your money, your, your transactions, et cetera and, and also prepare for taxes and last, but certainly not man um for business or either taking some sort of course, that's, that's something that II I didn't do initially.

Um when I jumped, when I started my business, um I just jumped into it, right? And then I, I realized that I needed to kind of step back and learn a few things about, about business. Um So I then circled back and I went to my universities, they have a small business development center. So I went there and that's when I learned about creating a business plan. And some other things. So I'm just, I'm just adding that as a note that if there is someone that can mentor you um with the process of starting a business, I highly recommend it. Ok. So that's all for a business owner. And next be the change you wish to see in in the world by Mahatma Gandhi. Next, you can be a consultant and consultant is someone that comes in to help implement change, make change, smooth out processes or just um be an extra hand uh for a, a project for a time period. So again, for the purpose of this, this presentation, when I refer to a, a consultant, I'm I'm sharing that you are an independent contractor who is hired to work sho work, work on short term or long term projects. OK. So how do you get started?

You identify your expertise and your service offering similar to uh starting a business? What are you consulting on? What, what do you know how to do? Right. If someone you know wants to bring you in as an expert, what is it? What do you want? What are you known for? What do you want to be known for? These are the things that you think through, right? And similar to being a, a business owner, you can create a company name, even if it's just your name, you know your name, consultant or your name XYZ, you can register that. Uh Then again, you want to create an, an, an EIN for taxes and then you wanna start positioning yourself to go after contracts, right? So there's government contracts, um city contracts and those are awarded to uh businesses. You can be brought on board as a co a consultant with a, a business that won a contract. So in that sense, you are kind of like a subcontractor. So you are brought on as a consultant for a specific task for a specific amount of time and period. OK, you bid on contracts and then another way that you can get consulting work is to register with a staffing agency. And through that they will send you information on, on work and projects. And this is how you can begin to build your portfolio as a consultant.

Life is too, life is too short to learn from your own mistakes. So learn from others and that's the beauty of teachers, right? Teachers, educators and just the fact that they share what they know, right. So this is actually another way that you can um be an entrepreneur, you can teach and now in today's world and similar to like what I'm doing now in this, in this uh course, you can do online classes. Uh you can work at AAA school, a university or college, you can just package what it is that you know, and create a curriculum and share it with uh with people of the next generation. So that's another way of um uh being an entre entrepreneur. Um So how do you get started? You identify your expertise, right? What is it that you want to teach on or if there's AAA theme on different topics, whatever it is you just wanna work through, through that. Do you want to talk if you're a expert on? Uh let me use something technical if you're a, an, an, an expert on SQL databases for, for example, or some or cloud, right? What is it that you wanna teach about SQL databases or cloud? And what already exists out there? And what, what, what makes it different about what it is that you're teaching and, and what will be your style, right? So, decide on your delivery method.

Um You draft up a curriculum, decide where it is that you want to work, whether it's against school online, et cetera or if you want to even be brought into companies to do trainings and workshops, that's another form of education. Um And then just get started, start applying, but just make sure that you flush out your curriculum first. OK. Service is the rent we pay for being it is the very purpose of life and not something you do in your spare time. Marian Wright Elderman. And I wrote about uh I, I chose that quote because I just think it's so the work that nonprofit leaders and philanthropists and humanitarians do is so important. And again, that's just another way that you can uh pivot from um being someone that's working in, in a technical role or working in a corporate space into becoming an entrepreneur, you can start a nonprofit or whatever it's called in your country or wherever you are. This is just, this is a way to give back to do good, make social impact. So here we have a process where you file, you become a founder or you create something called a, what's a, what's called a 501 C three nonprofit organization um as that you can earn a salary as a director of the, the uh organization.

Um and you can bring on staff, you can apply for grants, et cetera. So how do you get started? You identify who you want to help and determine what is your mission? So do you want to help people with something pertaining to education or do you want to help um senior citizens uh with computer classes? Whatever it is? However, you want to give back, do you want to help build technologies for um smart homes? You know, whatever it is that you want to do to give back, this is um this is a, a pathway to do. So, so get started, you identify your mission, your uh who you want to help and your mission, you also wanna see who is already doing the work, right? There are a number of organizations um that already exist. Um Does it make sense? To start something else. Can you combine with them? Can you add an extra arm to what they are already doing? Um Can this be a social, social enterprise component at your company? Maybe something your company isn't doing. But again, these are the ways that you can start thinking about um how to be a, a leader in the nonprofit space.

Um You create a plan, you, I uh you look for money grants and uh just apply for status and then you also, if you do do it independently, you're going to need a board of directors. So uh similar to how you would create job descriptions for um a company, you have roles or descriptions for other leaders that you would want to work alongside you. OK. So those are the five paths for entrepreneurship. Um I'd also like to just share uh just some general tools for entrepreneurs that you can use. Um Definitely, if you're gonna have a business, you wanna have an online presence, you need a, you need a website, right? You need, and there's so many tools now that you can use for this. Uh There's a number of, I don't wanna uh share anyone specifically, but there are a number of website tools that you can use. You need a sh uh great communication tool. Again, I've listed a few that, that are pretty common we're using. Uh we're using one now for this conference. Um You definitely also need a way to send and receive information from. Um you're following, you wanna build a database, right? If any of these platforms that we use, go away, what do you have? You know, there are a lot of people that rely on like Instagram and Twitter, but they're not collecting email addresses that is so vital for your business.

Even if you're on Instagram have a place for people to sign up. You wanna be able to always touch base with people that are following you. Um people that like what you're doing. Um So I definitely recommend you utilizing some sort of um newsletter service. Then how do you manage your task? Right? As a business owner, uh you need to have some sort of project management task tracking tool, whether you're using Microsoft project for yourself or just a number of the, the uh the tools that I that I recommended, but whatever works for you, but you just wanna make sure that you're managing your time and your task.

Um And that leads me into uh goal setting also, like back to what I shared about. What does your business look like when you're planning your business, you want to just make sure that you have your method in which you're tracking your goals to make sure that you're meeting them, your one year goal, your five year goal, your 10 year goals, they should live somewhere.

I know at the beginning of the year, a number of people like to do um vision boards. Um So that's something else that you can, you can consider, but you need to have task that you track and you measure. OK. And lastly to save yourself some time, you want to see what it is that you can automate. Like I shared about newsletters, social media. There are a number of tools that you can utilize to communicate with your audience um to transfer information from one platform to another so that everything isn't manual, you just wanna make sure that when you're running a business, you're not bogged down with a lot of the day to day admin like, like work.

OK? So those are some, some general tools that I re recommend for entrepreneurs. And then here are some resources. And again, this is very um local, but just look for something like this where you are. Uh whether you are starting a business, go to your government website to find out how to start a business and follow those steps. Um If you're looking for a business name, um again, this is uh a government website where you can search to see if the name already exists. And as I recommended, you can also just search on social media too to just see what's, what's out there. Um Then you wanna protect your name, you wanna protect your name, you wanna protect your brand. So um here we do something where you have to trademark, you can trademark, you can copyright it. So I provided that resource also for mentorship. Um There's an organization called Score and Score. What's awesome about it is that it's actually individuals that are retired, that mentor um people that are still working. So this could be the vice president of a tech company or, and AAA, former accountant, et cetera. These are people that have knowledge and specific skill sets that they now want to share with entrepreneurs. So score.org is, is a really great resource for nonprofit creation. I I share um an individual that helped me with uh with mine.

But there are again, a number of uh nonprofit get start your nonprofit resources and tools out there. So definitely look for what exists in your, in your area. Um When you want to, when you decide on your name and you want to uh register it, you definitely wanna buy the, the name wherever, whatever is the po the um uh popular extension in your country, you want to make sure you get that name there and then you also have the op option to buy international so that no one can use your name internationally as well.

You can also trademark international, internationally as well. OK. And then uh for uh tech support, uh we definitely have the women tech Global who's uh hosting this conference. And then I listed my, my community, the tech women network. OK? And a person who sees a problem as a human being, a person who finds a solution is a visionary, the person who goes out and does something about it is an entrepreneur. And so with that, I just want to now just open it up and just ask, see if anyone has any questions. And those are my fi five pathways to entrepreneurship. I hope that you've uh enjoyed it and I hope that you stay in touch and just feel free to ask any questions. I think we have a few more uh a few more minutes before we go and again, stay in touch. I'm also on linkedin and um I just look forward to uh sharing with you and staying in touch with you. Let me just check and see if there are any questions I'm gonna so bear with me as I look through the chat. Ha ha. Yes, Jacqueline, we take a crooked path. OK? What inspired me to take to make the jump to entrepreneurship? Um You know, I kind of went through a space. It, it's, it's a bit of a story.

But I, before I even got into computer and tech, I was always more of an artsy person, like very creative, like into the arts, drawing, dance expression. And it wasn't until I got to college before I even majored in computer science. I actually wanted to work in entertainment.

Um But I just went through a period where I, I had that I interned at a company and then I kind of got a behind the scenes look and I just realized that it wasn't for me. And I just looked at my coursework. I saw that I was strong in science and math and I didn't want to be a doctor out and I didn't, I knew I didn't want to be an engineer. So I chose computer information science so fast forward. Um After working in it for a number of years, I had this desire to do more creative work. Um I was coding. I was, you know, I just didn't feel like I was getting an opportunity to, to birth a number of the ideas that I had um in my, in my at, at work and an opportunity presented itself and rather than look for another it job, I said, you know what, I, I'm gonna start my own company and I've always been a big woman, friendly woman.

I've always been big on helping women. And so I started my company initially as a marketing and event planning company for women um before coming full circle and getting back into tech. So now um all of that experience eventually led to me um consulting in tech and planning, tech events for women. OK. Let me see if I have any other questions. Entrepreneurship. Oh Tech would be. Yes, we need, we need that. Uh we need that release tech. We need that spa day. Mavica. OK. Resonances me. OK, good. I'm glad to hear that. Is there a good place to look for what nonprofits are already out there? Um, there's something here called The Foundation. Um, uh, let me see if I can find the, um, there's probably something similar, I'm not sure where you are, Laura, but there's probably some, something similar, uh, to like the government site for businesses. There's probably something similar for nonprofits. I know there's something called the foundation here.

Um, But just take a look, Google uh nonprofits. I don't, I don't have a specific website to look to uh to recommend. What is the name or link for mentorship score? Would that be scored? Uh Score? Hold on, let me see if I can. Uh But score.org was the uh local uh the national, I'll type it in here. That's the national. I'm not sure where you, you're based. Um Atma. But uh that was the local one that I rec I recommend. Ok. Yes. Thank you, Sterling. I see. Ok. Great, great, great, great. Yup, great. Ok. Got it. Ok, Melissa, I see you. Ok, everyone's connecting, which is awesome. What advice would you give to transition into a tech career? Well, Melissa, everything is so, yes, Guar, that's another good one. Thanks, Kim. Um So right now, uh Melissa, it's vast, right? So I would say take a look at what it is that you like. Do you like uh networking? Do you like the apps on your phone? Do you like um uh software hardware, like the physical computer. What is it that you like ab about technology? Do you like, you know, smart homes, the devices you use in your home? I would say start there. Um If you're not sure, um find someone who is doing something that you think would be of interest to you and then look for what it is that it will take for you to break into that space. So let's say if it's cybersecurity, right?

Or if it's um someone that's a senior systems analyst, there are cert so many certifications, so many online courses. But I think the main thing is to find something that interests you because it's technology is so vast. Like again, do you like apps? Do you like hardware? Do you like network? Do you like, you know how things talk to each other? Um So start there. OK. I hope that answers your question. Ok. I think, I believe that's all. So do you think networks can support women to sustain careers in it? A lot seem to leave, you know, and that's some of the work that I'm trying to do. Like, I've been in this in tech for over 15 years now and now now is a good time to be a woman in tech. This is what I say. And I know a lot of people that have left that are leaving and I'm just encouraging them to stay or to find other ways to be a woman in tech, right? Whether it's starting their own business or um just participating in some capacity, like judging, being a mentor, doing public speaking, um hosting workshops. Like these are other ways if you don't fulfill, feel fulfilled in your current day to day work role, um these are ways that you can stay in tech and then find some other um uh what's the word I'm looking for some other ways to contribute or to apply some creativity or to be entrepreneurial.

OK. OK. I hope that answers your question, Paula. OK. So I think this is it. So thank you everyone for joining. I'll put my link in. I am, I think my linkedin isn't on there but I'm on linkedin. Just uh please bear with me. Um If I'm OK, hold on, I'll put it in the chat but it's, it's my name with my middle initial issue. OK? You'll see me with my, my big hair. This should be it. OK? And yet if you're a woman in tech, please sign up for the network. It's really easy. Just create a profile on there. And um yeah, and I will see you there. Thanks everyone. Have a good day.