From Side Hustle to Small Business: Regina Honu’s Tech Hub in Accra

Target 8.3 – Promote policies for decent job creation, entrepreneurship and small enterprise growth

When Regina Honu graduated with a computer science degree in Ghana, she was ready to enter the workforce. But she quickly discovered that her qualifications weren’t enough to overcome outdated perceptions. Hiring managers saw her gender before they saw her skill. Doors didn’t open. Interviews turned cold. People were surprised that she even knew how to code.

Instead of giving up, she decided to build something of her own.

In 2016, Regina launched Soronko Academy, the first coding and digital skills academy for girls and young women in West Africa. She started in Accra, working with local schools and community centres to offer free and low-cost training. Her mission was simple: to give young women the skills, confidence and opportunity to enter the tech industry or to create their own business if the industry refused to hire them.

At first, the focus was on coding: HTML, CSS, basic web development. But it quickly grew. Regina saw that many women needed more than technical skills. They needed access to laptops. They needed financial literacy. They needed a network. Soronko expanded its curriculum to include entrepreneurship, design thinking, communication, and digital marketing.

By 2020, Soronko had trained over 6,500 women and girls across Ghana. Some became freelance designers. Others launched e-commerce stores. Tailors and bakers built websites to promote their work. One woman started an online tutoring platform. Another began selling handmade soap internationally.

But Regina wasn’t just teaching code. She was building a pipeline from learning, to freelancing, to launching full businesses. She worked with banks to help participants open accounts and apply for loans. She partnered with internet cafés and hardware providers to reduce barriers to tech access. And she brought in mentors: local entrepreneurs who could answer questions and provide encouragement.

In 2021, Soronko partnered with the Mastercard Foundation to scale its model to rural regions. Many of the women in these areas had never used a computer before. Some had never touched a smartphone. But with patience and the right tools, they learned to code, budget, and build online profiles. The academy also launched offline and low-bandwidth training options, ensuring that poor connectivity didn’t block participation.

Soronko’s success isn’t just measured by how many women it trains but by what those women go on to do. In 2023 alone, more than 300 graduates launched registered micro-enterprises, from digital services and online stores to community training hubs of their own. They’re hiring others. Paying taxes. And shifting what employment looks like in their communities.

Regina is now recognised internationally. She’s spoken at the United Nations, won awards across Africa, and been profiled by CNN and BBC. But she’s never stopped seeing her work as local and practical. Her office is still in Accra. She still walks into classrooms. She still listens carefully to what each new group of learners needs and builds from there.

This is what SDG 8.3 looks like in real time. It’s not about waiting for policy reform. It’s about creating infrastructure that supports entrepreneurship from the ground up. It’s about designing training that responds to real barriers. It’s about turning skill into income and income into independence.

For many of Soronko’s graduates, this was their first real shot at economic freedom. Not through charity. Not through theory. But through code, grit, and community.

Your Voice. Your Target. Your Legacy.

If your organisation wants to support decent work and entrepreneurship, don’t start with a jobs fair. Start with people’s skills. Give them access. Build a space where they can learn, try, fail, and start again. Create something local, but scalable. And let the impact multiply.

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