"We must preach the gospel, 'Go abroad set up new businesses, bring in the other fellow as a local partner, be it a shoe factory, a supermarket, a sales outlet, an assembly plant, a hotel, or a local airline.' We know know that whatever community, whatever nation we may belong to as citizens, we are residents of this earth: that we are bound together and will be increasingly bound together, as we make greater and better use of the air, in a common fate: the fate of this small planet which to all of us is home. Because of aviation, men are beginning to think of themselves and of their earth in different terms -- terms which make war -- ultimate war -- less and less acceptable."

"Today, America is ideally fitted, by heritage, by ability, and by the will of her people, to maintain this leadership – upon which our national economy, our standard of living itself, is becoming increasingly dependent."

"Raising money is the most difficult thing I ever did as an entrepreneur"

"When you look at the original vision and the potential and where we are, you will know that there is so much to do. If I get complacent I may have to step aside so that the vision can move forward.Funke speaking on the need to stay motivated"

"“I don’t know that I am unique in that regard. It is all the things we learn: hard work, integrity and focus, but it is really about value creation. Each individual has to think about how they can utilize the opportunity and the assets they have to generate value and if you create value, you will be successful in business. That is what I strongly believe.Funke on the secret of her success"

"A connected Nigeria is a more economically prosperous Nigeria."

"Through MainOne, my goals and ambitions have become more focused on improving Internet access for the citizens of West Africa in order to drive economic growth and human development.Funke speaking on her aspirations for starting MainOne"

"While the developed world was fully connected, here in Nigeria the average young person didn’t know what the internet was."

"We can’t leave an entire generation of young people without proper access to the internet."

"I believe mentorship programs for girls will provide the exposure, encouragement to acquire the foundational skills, and networks required for higher education and future career opportunities in technology.Funke on encouraging young Africans girls to pursue careers in tech"

"“It’s not really that you are innovating new technologies, but you’re innovating processes. You’re innovating deployment methodologies. You’re being very resourceful in terms of how you get things done to deploy what is already known and established practice in other markets.”Funke speaking in an interview with Harvard business school"

"Every entrepreneur has to raise capital. If your business is going to grow, you have to raise capital. You have to be smart about raising capital, you have to be determined about raising capital."

"For anything you are trying to do, there are a thousand other people trying to do the same thing. Even if it costs a billion dollars."

"“If we’re going to transform our society, our society needs to be developed. It’s a youth population, it’s education, access to information, it’s the ability to innovate. It’s giving young people access that is going to bring about the full benefits of this.”Speaking on her vision and the importance of internet connectivity for the African youths"

"So if you are growing a business you have to be very deliberate and you have to do your homework on who exactly has the capacity to buy, how much money do you need, where should you prioritise your efforts."

"There is so much opportunity, there is so much need here that we need to transform our society, when you look around us. No one is going to do it for us and we also have to get our government on board with us to meet the aspirations of Nigerians because that’s what democracy is all about."

"...Now, of course, there are opportunities here, because we haven’t fully developed our society, that are not available elsewhere as well. So, it’s a risk-reward type of situation."

"The major challenges holding women back from success in this region are the lack of access to educational and professional opportunities and an inadequate number of female role models in the tech industry. However, African women are maximizing the opportunities that improved access to education and technology careers offer. Our representation in the industry is not far behind what you find in more advanced economies.Funke discussing the challenges facing African women in TECH"

"“I came back from the US and the Internet had been exploding over there, but in Nigeria there was no Internet and no infrastructure. So we decided to put the pieces together and make this happen."Funke speaking on her vision to bridge the Digital divide in west africa"

"It is one thing to get girls to study these subjects, it is another thing to transit to the career and stay in the career. A lot of research shows that within the first ten years shows that women who are working in tech tend to drop out. So, the workplace must be also friendly to women. Things are changing but change also takes time."

"If success means living with joy, contentment, and doing great things with my talent, then failure is the opposite of success. It means not living with joy, contentment, or using my skills and gifts. Failure would also mean not pushing myself out of my comfort zone, and not daring to try new things and ideas."

"I see a bright future. Traditionally, we have had few women in this space. Globally in terms of people studying STEM subjects across the world, 35 per cent are women. In Nigeria, the figures are just about less than that. In terms of Women studying technology and engineering in Nigerian universities, you have about 25 per cent according to the figures from JAMB."

"It is important to grow people. To realise that people are individuals with their dreams."

"It also encourages women who are in technology all ready to step out."

"We encourage the women we find to give talks to the girls so that there is visibility."

"CNBC All Africa Businesswoman of the Year (2012)"

"It also encourages the girls to rise to the top to see these women as options."

"We need more women in the space because they bring their unique perspective to development, technology and policy."

"Africa's Most Powerful Women In Technology (2013)"

"We can promote more female empowerment in startups by creating a larger pool of women in tech, giving women in tech more visibility, and addressing challenges around gender bias with regards to funding.Funke speaking on the increased participation of women in the TECH space in Africa"

"Do not be afraid to take bold steps and ask for help. The most successful people did not make it on their own. You need to find mentors and advisors along the way: experienced, wiser people who know a lot and can help you fulfill your aspirations.Funke's leadership advice to African women and girls in TECH"

"Revalidating the role of women in technology is not meant to compete with the men, it shouldn’t be like that because we all have our area of strengths and perspective. We are bringing different levels of exposure to the team or workplace."

"There is a greater awareness of the issue of, the gender gap in technology."

"It is best at this age for parents, guardians and teachers to give the girls the opportunity to be the best, have confidence in themselves and basically dream as widely as they can."

"Over the years, we have been able to create awareness about the gender gap."

"Gone are the days where girls are relegated to doing domestic chores, leaving boys to go to school and have a career."

"And they asked if I would be willing to work on that, but it was much too big a job for me to do by myself. And the other women I had worked with had young children, including Elaine, Barbara Wade, Anne Kirby (ph). I mean, there were a number of them and I said we can work on this"

"“I think if there have been fewer women than men in computing, it’s because they’ve been discouraged back at the education level from majoring in math, or engineering, or computer science.”"

"“Go after it! Don’t be afraid to major in something in college that will lead you to this.”"

"It really amazed me that these men were programmers because I thought it was women’s work!"

"Food is fundamental to any development, growth or change."

"When you're fighting for something, it's always a grueling battle."

"But when people emotionally connect with what you’re trying to do, or it resonates with them, that’s a huge reward."

"You’ve got to tune out your self-doubts and understand that it’s okay to fail"

"If you’re not making some notable mistakes along the way, you’re certainly not taking enough business and career chances."

"Uncertainty is even more stressful than the certainty of pain. Get clear on where you stand financially, and make that plan. That's financial self-care."

"Do it if you are creative or a risk-taker. Don’t let your talents go to waste. It’s so freeing to be in charge of your destiny on some level, to rise and fall on your abilities."

"They get isolated, isolated, isolated, and their circles become ever smaller. They never meet real people. Except online, and that’s not real."

"Be your genuine self. Don’t edit yourself. Women especially do this because we’re raised to be people-pleasers"

"Also, available seminars and conferences are expensive and not flexible, so to address this problem, I designed O’track to enable health workers to easily choose courses online."