Paving the way for South Africa’s women in tech
by AKANI CHAUKE
JOHANNESBURG – A PARTNERSHIP forged to empower and equip women with the skills needed to flourish in tech-related industries closing the gender gap in South Africa’s technology industry.
The partnership between Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Standard Bank, which have teamed with GirlCode.
Zandile Mkwanazi, GirlCode Chief Executive Officer, said as the world moves toward a Cloud-centric economy, GirlCode began collaborating with AWS, a prominent Cloud services provider.
In 2017, they organised joined forces with AWS for its all-women hackathon.
“Today we run skills development programmes to turn young women into fully certified cloud practitioners,” Mkhwanazi said.
Applications opened on October 1, 2022.
Thus far, 3 366 women have enrolled for the programme.
Of the participants, 55 percent are unemployed.
GirlCode has set a target of ushering 10 million women into a tech career by 2030.
“It can only be accomplished when we come together as an industry,” Mkwanazi said.
Powered by Standard Bank and AWS, the SHE Dares Cloud Practitioner Journey challenges women all over South Africa to earn the AWS Cloud Practitioner certification.
Ayanda Sibanyoni (20) is one of the graduates who joined the first cohort to complete the AWS.
She conceded being terrified before beginning the programme because she was uninitiated what Cloud computing was all about but study materials made studying easy and interesting.
“As I went through the modules, I started to understand how cloud computing works and the potential it has to improve and expand businesses,” Sibanyoni said.
– CAJ News
