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The founder of PARIWO and creator of the social media platform, neno, Ann Daramola, discusses building technology by and for African women and reimagining digital platforms that centre Black African experiences.
Jun 1, 2025
Photo Illustration by Ezinne Osueke / THE REPUBLIC. Source Ref: ANN DARAMOLA, PEXELS.
I got the chance to join the public beta test for neno last year after discovering PARIWO. The name PARIWO—a Yoruba word meaning “to make noise”— describes the ecosystem of digital publishing tools and platforms created to amplify voices from the margins. neno, meaning “word” in Swahili, is PARIWO's flagship product, a community-owned and story-based social media platform, built with the intention to create spaces where marginalized voices can gather and share their stories in ways that reflect their own contexts and needs, with algorithms designed to be organic and non-toxic.
PARIWO is led by Ann Daramola, a software engineer and entrepreneur with 15 years of technical experience across companies including Disney and Glossier. Daramola, an African woman of Yoruba descent born in Nigeria, blends her technical expertise, feminist principles and continental and diasporic ties, with her work as a community organizer advocating for Black tech workers and as a curator of Black African stories throughout the diaspora.
This conversation with Ann Daramola takes on special significance at a moment when African women’s digital existence stands at critical crossroads in an increasingly anti-activist internet where all major platforms are now owned by far-right leaning men; where technology enables hypervisible organizing while at the same time amplifying existing systems of power that marginalize Black African voices.
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About the Author
is an African feminist and interdisciplinary PhD student at Emory University, where her research examines the intersection of critical technology studies, African feminisms, and digital cultures. She is the Gender and Feminism sub-editor at The Republic.
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