Symantec is proud to participate in TechWomen, a program that empowers, connects, and supports the next generation of women leaders in STEM (see previous entries here and here). Participants live in Africa, Central Asia, and the Middle East, and companies like Symantec help provide mentors and support to advance their careers, pursue their dreams, and inspire even more women and girls in their communities. This article from allAfrica.com highlights the program.
Promising young girl coders from Khayelitsha met the Twitter vice-president for engineering, Nandini Ramani, to discuss how to pitch a business idea and how to use social media to grow their success.
Ramani was among a group of 40 of the top women in technology from around the world at the gathering, which took place on 29 January at the Bandwidth Barn. The women, from TechWomen, are in South Africa to meet the country's leaders in information and communications technology and discuss women's roles in the sector.
TechWomen is a mentorship programme that supports female leaders in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (Stem). "The idea is to bridge connections and encourage women and girls to pursue careers in Stem," said TechWomen representative Kelsi Ward.
About 60 girls and women joined the meeting, where the TechWomen shared their experiences of working in some of the biggest and most innovative companies in the world.
The young coders were from GirlHype, an organisation that aims to empower young women and girls with digital and media education skills. The Bandwidth Barn tests incubation models that work best in a community environment and that support the local community's needs.
The visitors included professionals from Symantec, Juniper Networks and Twitter.