by AKANI CHAUKE
JOHANNESBURG, (CAJ News) – MORE than 100 women entrepreneurs have begun the journey towards growing, improving, and digitising their businesses through the acquisition of skills and use of new technologies.
Huawei South Africa, in partnership with the Department of
Communications and Digital Technologies, has officially launched the Women4Tech digital skills training programme, which 107 women attended.
The programme aims to help tech-forward women entrepreneurs with three specific technological skillsets: cloud computing, digital marketing, and introduction to app development.
Aside from the training, the attendees will also be afforded a
networking opportunity with other successful women entrepreneurs,
including an award-winning woman app developer within the Huawei Mobile App ecosystem.
“Our Women4Tech programme has attracted women business owners from all over the country,” Huawei stated.
“Women and girls were more negatively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and when it comes to rectifying the digital gender gap, we need to keep this in mind.”
Huawei stated the programme is aimed at giving women owned businesses an opportunity to participate fully in the digital economy.
“In the march toward the fourth industrial revolution or 4IR, it is critical that no one gets left behind. And that is why our Women’s month initiative resonates more.”
Women4Tech will continue until August 25, with attendees receiving a six-month Huawei Cloud subscription and a certificate of attendance at its conclusion.
The Women4Tech programme kicked off with an introduction to cloud
computing by Michael Langeveld, Vice President of Huawei Cloud Southern Africa.
“Cloud allows us to solve problems here and take those solutions to the world,” he said.
Langeveld mentioned two kinds of environments pertaining to the cloud.
“The first is people who consume cloud products and the second is value creators who create and resell cloud capabilities. We think there’s a great opportunity in the latter,” he explained.
Musa Kalenga, a renowned entrepreneur, investor and author, is
delivering the Digital Marketing course.
Kalenga said over the last decade, consumers had evolved in their need for information and the way they consume it while technology has evolved to such an extent that the consumer context was now digital.
“The importance of digital marketing is that you can easily track and monitor how you reach, engage and convert consumers through strategic integrated communication,” Kalenga explained.
In 2016, Huawei signed a digital skills cooperation agreement with the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies (DCDT).
“This digital skills training programme is important for us as a
country, in order for us to have the required skills set that is needed to sustain and grow our ICT sector,” said DCDT Acting-Director General, Nonkqubela Jordan-Dyani.
“It’s amazing how resilient our sector has been during the pandemic. We’re all grappling with the current losses, but we believe that the ICT industry will stay standing and may even be stronger than before.”
The department in rolling out its five-year Digital Skills
Implementation Programme.
It has decided to launch and host an annual Digital Skills Colloquium to galvanise and strengthen partnerships for the digital skills development towards the mobilisation and attraction of investment into the fourth industrial revolution (4IR) learning areas.
“The main objective to the colloquium is to ensure the department on leading in Digital Transformation brings about creation of new
opportunities for South Africans to participate in a Digital Economy,” Jordan explained.
– CAJ News