When it comes to technological development and breakthrough in tech, blacks in Canada are the unsung heroes. Over the past years, blacks have made significant impacts and giant strides in science, engineering, and business in Canada. Despite the challenges faced which include racism and discrimination, blacks are constantly making an impact and unique contributions to the country’s technological and ICT development.
There are few of the many Black Canadians who have played a key role in the development of the ICT sector in the country. By continuing to recognize and support the work of these individuals, we can help to ensure that that sector remains a vibrant and innovative space in the years to come.
The diversity and inclusiveness in Canada’s tech ecosystem have increased tremendously in the past five years. However, we cannot conclude that the growth has been rapid enough to strike a balance. Despite the growth and black participation in tech, they earn pretty less than the other groups within the industry.
A good number of blacks have contributed immensely to the development of the tech industry within and outside Canada. In the spirit of black history month, we are celebrating the tech inventors and innovators of black descent.
Here are the three black tech leaders we have on our list to celebrate:
Tamar Huggins
Tamar is a respected and celebrated author, social entrepreneur, and tech educationist. Huggins has played a very vital role in the inclusivity of blacks in the tech industry in Canada. She has helped several tech founders to raise funds and thereby positioning them for growth in the booming tech industry. This has enabled them to lunch their startups in Canada. In 2015, Huggins founded TechSpark; intending to motivate young girls and children of black descent to delve into the tech industry. It is worthy to say that TechSpark is Canada’s first technology and design school committed to empowering girls and children of colour through innovative tech education.
Mark Dean
Outside Canada, we’re proud to write bout Mark Dean, an African-American computer engineer who has made remarkable strides in the field of computing. With a Bachelor’s degree, Master and Ph.D. in electrical engineering, Dean has performed undoubtedly well in the field of computing. As a computer engineer with IBM since 1980, Dean holds more than 20 US patents which include 3 of IBM’s original nine PC patents. The array of his invention includes the colour monitor for PCs and the first gigahertz chip. When it comes to Digital Transformation, Dean is a voice even in the global space
Bryan Johnson
Still in tech education which is undoubtedly the only medium through which more inventors and inventors would be bred is Bryan Johnson, the founder of the Black Boys Code (BBC). Bryan founded the BBC as a not-for-profit organization in Vancouver to inspire boys of black ancestry to become digital creators and innovators through coding workshops. The BBC currently has its headquarters in the US and has several chapters across Canada.
Conclusively, it is evident that the relevance of black people in the tech industry cuts across all eras. While giving credit to those that made giant strides in the past, in the likes of Mark Dean, we celebrate the present efforts of Tamar Huggins of TechSpace and Bryan Johnson of Black boys code as we know that their current efforts will yield good outcomes in the future and the relevance of the black people in the tech space will continuously blossom as we look forward to the next big thing from the kids trained by Tamar and Bryen who are undoubtedly intelligent enough to take the tech space in the nearest future.