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Elizabeth Gould: Talent huntress

Elizabeth Gould was the finalist in the IITPSA's 2016 IT Personality of the Year Award.

Kirsten Doyle
By Kirsten Doyle, ITWeb contributor.
Johannesburg, 24 Nov 2016
Elizabeth Gould: I realised that echnology and entrepreneurship could drive economic development on the continent.
Elizabeth Gould: I realised that echnology and entrepreneurship could drive economic development on the continent.

Gould studied Economic Development of Africa at UCT, then went back to New York and became a journalist, spending most of her career covering innovation, startups and suchlike.

On a later visit to SA, she spent some time in the rural Eastern Cape. "I couldn't get the image of people in huts, using mobile technology, and the potential of what that could do, out of my head."

At the time, she was involved in a startup accelerator and realised how technology and entrepreneurship could drive economic development on the continent. "I thought there had be a way of reconciling the huge skills shortage, the demand for developers, and the amazing young people who just didn't have the training and opportunities to get these jobs."

Gould hunts for the talent she knows exists, but which doesn't have access to computer programmes at a university. CodeX gives them on-the-job-type training and uses its connections in the industry to place graduates in jobs afterwards.

Read about the other IT Personality finalists

BRANDON BEKKER
CAREL DU TOIT
EDWARD LAWRENCE
LEE NAIK
LUVUYO RANI
MARIUS COETZEE
SBU SHABALALA
ZOAIB HOOSEN

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