Melissa Slaymaker, WiT Director, South Africa

Women in Tech is a global organisation with a presence in 46 countries and multiple products, programmes and services focussed on achieving their mission to empower five million women and girls in STEM by 2030.

Part of the Edison Alliance (World Economic Forum), the organisation is making a tangible impact through its initiatives.

These include education, start-up funding through its crowd-funding programme, new job opportunities through its Talent Hub, donations of technology to underprivileged students, schools and learning centres, informative events and mentorship programmes. So far, this global movement has made a difference in over 1.5 million lives.

The South African chapter, launched as a non-profit organisation (NPO) in 2020, is founded and headed by Melissa Slaymaker.

“My career started in recruitment, specialising in IT where I discovered that my superpower lay in connecting people,” she says. “When I returned to South Africa from a period of living in England, I wanted to continue with this line of work and empower people to improve their lives. I was so taken with what WiT was doing globally, that I reached out to them to establish the organisation in Cape Town and set up the NPO with two other directors, Erika Reeves and Hwalani Mabaso.

“I’m very proud that the chapter has blossomed with the collaboration of corporate partners, including Absa. Absa has taken our work to heart and more than just making a financial contribution, they are deeply committed to our agenda with a active hands-on contribution to what we do.”

Slaymaker says its first local project was in the township of Philippi in the Cape Flats, which is one of many townships where communities are negatively impacted by crime. Despite the challenges, there are many entrepreneurs and students with enormous potential in the community. The Philippi Village, which services the Nyanga, Gugulethu, Mandalay, Crossroads and Philippi townships, is a beacon within the area and has become a safe haven for many children and adults to study and have access to technology.

“Research shows that 87% of children in townships have no access to a computer, and 78% have no access to a smartphone,” says Slaymaker. “Then there’s the issue of access to data, coupled with township crime hotspots and devices getting stolen. I went knocking on doors with a wish list and managed to create partnerships with donors that made the Women in Tech Hub at Philippi Village sustainable. Today the centre is changing lives through providing access to all levels of education, regardless of gender, cultural or racial background.

“As an NPO, all our projects are the result of donations. Donations go beyond just funding computers and furniture; they are making a huge difference to the learning experience at Phiriphiri Secondary School, Talfalah Primary and Fondwe Primary schools, for example. “Our programmes include the cyber excellence programme, delivered by Take Note IT, in conjunction with the University of Venda; #LiveToLearn Women in Tech AWS cloud certification programme, jointly sponsored by AWS and Absa, and our partnership with Binance, enabling us to teach Blockchain across Africa and Brazil. We also have robotics fairs and school career days.”

WiT’s “This Is Me” four-month programme teaches young women life and job readiness skills to help them gain confidence. “This is a soft skills programme that focuses on confidence-building, networking skills, interview skills, public speaking and entrepreneurial skills, personal branding, emotional intelligence and even financial planning, all of which are essential for young women in order to succeed in the workplace,” says Slaymaker.

“We also provide platforms for valuable networking opportunities as there is so much power in making connections. We have our National in person meet-ups and virtual PowHer Africa series, live panel discussions that put the spotlight on women doing great things in STEM and also connecting women to an ecosystem and network of industry leaders that can provide invaluable mentorship and advice throughout their careers.

“This works hand-in-hand with the mentormentee mission of marrying up mentors with mentees to build women through collaboration, enhancing mentee learning and development.

WiT also has a very active regional and global annual awards programme, with two categories sponsored by Absa: The Global Leadership Award and Lifetime Achievement Award. These awards are not restricted to women, and nominations and category winners are stringently vetted by an independent panel of judges. Regional winners are invited to attend the global awards ceremony in Dubai.

“None of this would be possible without our committed sponsors who invest so much in our projects. Likewise, we could not do this without our volunteers, who work on our various programs giving up their time so selflessly.

We need more volunteer community managers and welcome any offers of help from those who share our vision to achieve gender diversity in the workplace, because we really want to take this nationwide into all the provinces.

“The benefits for sponsors of being part of WiT extend beyond just supporting the important Women’s agenda – it opens the door to networking, connecting with and recruiting top talent.

“Ultimately, it’s about being a part of an organisation where everyone feels welcome and where free education and connectivity for those that are disadvantaged makes tangible the intent to uplift communities and contribute towards making alleviating poverty an achievable goal,” she concludes.

www.absa.co.za