London engineer celebrated nationally as inspiration to future generation of women engineers

Robotics Engineer, Eneni Bambara-Abban has been awarded one of the Institution of Engineering and Technology’s (IET) Young Woman Engineer of the Year prizes.

Twenty-nine-year-old Eneni, who works at the Techover, won the Women’s Engineering Society (WES) prize at the prestigious IET Young Woman Engineer of the Year Awards ceremony last night.

Eneni is the founder of two organisations, the Techover Foundation and Anime and Chill. The Techover Foundation is an international NGO that focuses on encouraging, educating and supporting individuals from underserved communities into technology. Recently, Eneni taught over 50 girls in rural Nigeria how to build their first robot with sustainable and renewable materials. Anime and Chill is a safe and inclusive community of people interested in anime and/or gaming to come together and network irrespective of gender, sexual orientation or race.

On winning, Eneni said: “This is such an honour. The IET’s YWE awards were the reason I became an engineer and I never imagined I’d one day be back here winning an award!

“As someone who has struggled with imposter syndrome, my aim has always been to encourage other young women, including those from underrepresented communities, to push boundaries and pursue their dreams. I am so grateful to be the winner of this prize, to have my contributions and achievements recognised and to be a role model to the next generation.”

The IET Young Woman Engineer of the Year Awards celebrate women working in modern engineering – and aim to help change the perception that engineering is predominantly a career for men by banishing outdated engineering stereotypes of hard hats and dirty overalls.

As well as highlighting the talent of women engineers, these prestigious engineering industry awards seek to find role models who can help address the UK science and engineering skills crisis by promoting engineering careers to more girls and women. Just 16.5% of those working in engineering and technical occupations are women (source: Engineering UK).

Other winners include Ama Frimpong (33), Head of Product Development at 52 North Health, who won the Young Woman Engineer of the Year Award, Lauren Smith (22), a Trainee Medical Engineer at United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust, who won the Mary George Memorial Prize for Apprentices, and Lynn Tomkins who won the Gender Diversity Ambassador Award. Finalists Constance Rudman and Veena Kumari were both highly commended.

Dr Laura Norton, Head of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at the IET, said: “Engineers must develop products and services for everyone, but with women making up just 16.5% of the sector’s workforce, how can we ensure diversity of thought and innovation in order to create the right solutions for everyone? Awards like this are crucial for raising the profile of women within engineering and providing real-life role models to younger generations to encourage greater diversity within the industry.

“I’d like to congratulate our fantastic winners and finalists of this year’s awards. They are a real credit to the engineering profession and make excellent role models to young girls who might be thinking about a career in engineering and technology.

“It’s vital we champion engineering careers to the next generation – it’s a diverse, creative and exciting career, which offers the opportunity to change lives, or even the world.”

The winners were announced at the IET Young Woman Engineer of the Year Awards ceremony on 1 December at IET London: Savoy Place.

This year’s YWE Awards were sponsored by Alstom, Boeing, Capgemini Engineering, Collins Aerospace, Frazer-Nash Consultancy, GCHQ, Leonardo, MBDA, Northrop Grumman, Ofcom, Rolls Royce, Royal Air Force, Royal Mail, RS Components Grass Roots, Teledyne and Thales