STEMbees® is a non-profit organisation focused on encouraging and mentoring more young African females to pursue their dreams and careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).

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Our goal is to increase the visibility and participation of girls and women in STEM in order to help close the gender gap. We are building a community of Sisters in STEM, a SiSTEM.

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STEMbees was founded in 2014 by Linda Ansong, Angela Koranteng and Lady-Omega Hammond. The initiative was sparked in December 2013 during our entrepreneurial training in Software Development at MEST Africa. 

 

After being one of the few women in our undergrad STEM courses (Civil Engineering, Actuarial Science, and Geomatic Engineering) at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), we found ourselves in a similar situation at MEST Africa, with only four women out of twenty (20) trainees. The previous cohort had a woman, who left half-way through the program and the cohort after ours, well, just had one more woman than ours. 

 

We have observed that STEM is more often skewed towards men and boys, as well as those with access to resources, such as the elite, middle-class and affluent. As females in the STEM space, we have firsthand experience of the challenges minorities face when pursuing STEM careers. We are also aware of the advantages and versatility that our STEM education has provided us.

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Hence, the birth of STEMbees, to encourage and support girls and young women – particularly those from underserved communities and low socioeconomic backgrounds – to pursue their education and build their careers in the STEM.