Business
Cisco Tasks Young Females On ICT
The General Manager,
English West Africa, Cisco Systems Nigeria Ltd, Mr Dare Ogunlade, on Friday urged young females to have positive mind set towards embracing Information and Communications Technology (ICT).
Ogunlade told newsmen in Lagos that the biggest limitation for young females not being interested in taking up Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects was their mind set.
He said that the students believed that the subjects were difficult and not meant for females but males.
According to him, Cisco is encouraging girls to consider ICT as a valuable career option, and ensuring a gender balanced workforce.
“Despite the obvious benefits of ICT, many girls never ever consider a career in ICT. There is a lack of awareness among students, teachers and parents as to what a career in ICT could offer.
“We understand the value of diversity in the workforce and it is our aspiration to build a gender balanced workforce.
“To this end, Cisco hosted its Global Mentorship Initiative called ”Girl Power Tech” to encourage girls and young women in more than 50 countries and 80 Cisco office to discover the opportunities opened by careers in technology,’’ he said.
Ogunlade said that the initiative was held on April 23 to commemorate the global ‘Girls in ICT Day, which was initiated by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).
He said that the “Girls in ICT Day” initiative was in its fourth year that ITU and Cisco had been participating from the very beginning.
Ogunlade said that Cisco’s mentorship programme included office visits, meeting with Cisco female employees to discuss career opportunities and life in IT and meetings with other Girls in ICT Day participants via Cisco telepresence.
According to him, Cisco has an enduring commitment to encouraging students of all backgrounds to build careers in ICT.
“In 2014, Cisco employees spent 24,600 hours mentoring young men and women about the value of careers in technology,’’ he said.
Cisco is a multinational IT company that designs, manufactures and sells networking equipment.
Cornerstone of Financial Services
A survey of more than 1 000 global finance leaders undertaken by digital payment network Ripple shows that 72% of respondents believe they need to offer a digital asset solution to remain competitive.
According to Ripple, leaders from the banking, fintech, corporate and asset management sector have made it clear that the “digital asset revolution is happening now”.
“Digital assets are quickly becoming a cornerstone of financial services, underpinned by progressive regulation, growing interest from Tier-1 banks, a steady consumer shift from banks to fintech providers, and booming stablecoin adoption,” Ripple says.
The survey was conducted in early 2026 and the findings released in March.
Stablecoin Boon or Bane?
Ripple has experienced significant success in the stablecoin sector since launching its Ripple USD (RLUSD) stablecoin in 2024.
With a market cap of $1.56 billion, it is considered a major regulated player in the market.
No doubt the platform was pleased to learn through its own survey that financial leaders were most bullish about stablecoins.
Roughly three-quarters of respondents believed they could boost cash-flow efficiency and unlock trapped working capital.
Ripple noted that finance leaders were thinking about stablecoins as more than “just a new way to execute payments”; instead, they viewed them as effective tools for treasury management.
In March 2026, Ripple began testing a new trade finance model built around RLUSD in a bid to increase the speed of cross-border payments.
The pilot initiative, developed alongside supply chain finance company Unloq [https://unloq.com], is running on the XRP Ledger inside a testing framework developed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
The Asian city-state is one of the platform’s biggest growth markets.
The idea behind the project is to see whether stablecoin-based settlement can streamline trade finance, too often hampered by reliance on intermediaries and slow reconciliation.
The only potential drawback is that if the initiative takes off, the Ripple to USD price could be negatively affected.
Ripple has always championed its native XRP token as a bridge asset, the “middleman” in the process of a financial institution turning dollars in the US into pounds in the UK, for example.
Ripple converts dollars into XRP and then back into pounds.
If RLUSD can do exactly the same thing, questions will be asked about XRP’s relevance.
That is a bridge Ripple will have to cross if it gets to that point.
Tokenisation Partners
Another interesting finding from Ripple’s survey is that most banks and asset managers are seeking tokenisation partners to help execute their strategies.
Some 89% of respondents said digital asset storage and custody were top priority. “Token servicing/lifecycle management also ranks highly for banks at 82%, while asset managers place greater emphasis on primary distribution at 80%,” Ripple found.
The survey also revealed that just more than half of fintechs and financial institutions want an infrastructure provider that can offer a “one-stop-shop solution”. This rose to 71% among corporate financial leaders.
Ripple attributes this to institutions and firms wanting uncomplicated, cohesive systems.
Infrastructure Rules
In its final analysis, Ripple says companies across the board are looking for partners and solutions that are “secure, compliant, battle-tested and that enable growth and execution”.
“The message is clear: infrastructure decisions made today will shape competitive positioning tomorrow.”
No surprise that this is precisely where Ripple is placing much of its focus.
