I wish I could tell you I walked in with complete confidence. The truth is, I had rehearsed that presentation more times than I care to admit, not because I didn’t know my work, but because I knew I couldn’t afford to be anything less than exceptional. That pressure is something most women in tech will recognise immediately. We don’t just show up. We show up prepared to prove.
That moment was over a decade ago. And yet, in many ways, the room hasn’t changed as much as it should have.
I started my career in traditional banking, learning the architecture of financial systems from the inside. What drew me wasn’t the prestige, it was the reach. The idea that a well-built product could touch the financial lives of millions of people who had never stepped inside a bank branch. That idea consumed me. It still does.
Over thirteen years, I have moved from managing mobile banking channels to leading product strategy for an entire continent at Branch International. I have shipped products used by millions. I have built and mentored teams. I have sat on panels and moderated conversations about the future of financial inclusion in Africa. By most measures, the journey has been one of growth and impact.
But I would be doing a disservice to every young woman watching from the edges of this industry if I pretended the path was straightforward.
It wasn’t.
There were moments I was talked over in meetings. Moments where credit for my ideas quietly migrated to someone else in the room. Moments where I was underestimated so consistently that I began the dangerous work of underestimating myself.
There is an imposter syndrome that currently burdens the chest of many young women in male-dominated industries and they are not imaginary. They are rational responses to an environment that never had us included in its original design.
What kept me resolved, strong and going, even with all the obvious realities was my commitment to the work itself. Product management majorly centers around having a deep understanding of people, what their needs are, their frustrations, and even the gaps between where they are and where they truly deserve to be.
African women have turned out to be extraordinarily good at this. We have spent lifetimes navigating complex systems with limited resources and finding ways through. That is not a liability. That is a superpower.
The work I am most proud of doing at Branch International, is not just a feature or a metric. Instead it is the culture of product thinking that we are building, a type where one user’s empathy is not just optional, the type where the person on the other end of the app is never abstract, one where the team around me, including the women on it, are made to know and strongly believe that their perspective is not just welcome but absolutely essential.
All of the decisions we make now, who build the product, who oversee strategy meetings, whose handson experiences shapes the design, will all determine whether or not this industry truly serves the continent or whether it’s going to extract from it instead. African fintech is at an inflection point.
I am of the belief that we can do better. Over time, I have seen what happens when women lead in this space. We ask different questions. We catch what others miss. Women are instinctive and we also build with a type of intentionality that stems from past experiences of how it is being left out of the system.
To all the ambitious women trying to find their place in this industry, it doesn’t matter if you’re a junior product manager still thinking about where you really belong or you’re a mid-career professional deciding whether to leave the industry or stay, there’s a something I would love you to keep with you: all of the discomfort you might feel is not a sign that you are in the wrong place. Instead, it is a sign that the place needs to change. And we are exactly the people to change it.
The barriers are real. But so are we.
About the Contributor
Adanne Anene is a product leader with over a decade of experience building and scaling financial technology products across Africa. She serves as Product Lead, Africa at Branch International, where she drives product vision and strategy, focusing on responsible credit access, compliance, and financial inclusion for millions of users. Previously, she held key roles at Diamond Bank, United Bank for Africa, and VFD Group, gaining expertise in mobile banking, digital channels, lending, and payments. Known for combining disciplined strategy with customer-grounded execution, she also prioritizes building strong cross-functional teams and mentoring women in tech, advocating for inclusive leadership and practical career development in Africa’s fintech ecosystem.
All Content Rights Reserved by Catalyst.
