Lightedge has teamed up with the Cape IT Initiative (CITI), to move into the communities and encourage more young girls and women to enter the IT industry.
CITI, an independent, not-for-profit, development agency that supports the growth of IT businesses in the Western Cape, has initiated the Women in IT project, which aims to change the perception of the ICT industry among the female population.
This initiative consists of two distinct phases:
The first phase, captured in May, involved high profile female ICT executives in the public and private sector speaking to 15 000 female students at 20 schools in the Western Cape about IT as a career choice. These talks outlined the benefits of working in the IT sector, the professionals` real experiences of working in this sector, as well as advice on how to gear up for a career in IT while still at school.
Lightedge has sponsored the competition at the end of the first phase that will see one student walk away with a laptop of her own.
The second phase is aimed at working women to encourage them to become IT entrepreneurs. Through a competition, women in the Western Cape will be invited to submit a business plan that has the potential to create jobs. The author with the best plan will win over R100 000 of business assistance in the form of free office space, mentorship and business assistance required to turn their idea into a viable operation.
Says David Musikanth, Lightedge marketing and corporate sales director: "The IT sector offers young people a rewarding and fun long-term career path, but until now it has been viewed as an industry more suited to men. Our involvement in the Women in IT project allows us to play a small role in this runaway success to redress this sector`s stereotype and invite more females to join the exciting world of ICT."
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