Business

It takes a village

HP’s African dream: teamwork, mindfulness and putting the community first.

03 September 2020

When Ify Afe’s uncle gifted Afe and her siblings with a computer when she was seven, it completely changed her life. “I spent every single moment that I could outside of school hours on the PC, learning everything, teaching myself how to type, trying to understand how to put together presentations…everything was exciting for me,” says Afe, who is now MD for HP Inc. Central Africa, which includes Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia, Sierra-Leone, Angola and Libya. “At the dawn of cyberspace, when we had a dial-up modem, I learnt how to interact with people outside my shores. For someone like me, who is a dreamer, that was the best thing you can imagine. I think that’s where my unconscious journey into technology began.”

At Afe’s university graduation, she gave a speech about her life goals. She said, with confidence, that she would be working at one of the largest, multinational technology companies. After several interviews and applications, a friend told her HP was looking for interns, and that’s how her career officially began.

ITWeb Premium

Get 3 months of unlimited access
No credit card. No obligation.

Already a subscriber Log in