South African women in the ICT sector could not have chosen a better time and place to be in the industry, says Mardia van der Walt-Korsten, deputy CEO of T-Systems.
She was addressing top female students from the T-Systems-initiated ICT Academy at Cida City Campus at a women`s day celebration in Johannesburg. Five of the graduates join the company as employees next week.
Van der Walt-Korsten says one of the reasons opportunities abound for women in the sector is because government has committed to uplift women.
Government officials have stressed recently the importance of girls taking up science and technology studies. Strategies have also been employed to ensure that doors are open for women to be developed for managerial positions in various sectors. Consequently, 26% of senior management in the ICT sector in SA are women, beating the global average by 7%, she says.
Many companies are also providing opportunities for the disadvantaged to enter the ICT market. An example of this is the consortium of companies that support the academy. These include SAP, Sun Microsystems, Dimension Data, Succinct, Deutsche Entwicklungsgesellschaft (DEG), CompTIA, Cisco and Oracle.
In a later interview, van der Walt-Korsten spoke about T-Systems`s commitment to empowerment, saying: "Our country`s only chance of real greatness is educated people".
In addition to a bachelor of business administration degree with Cida, the academy`s students undertake three-years of ICT training. Students` training is accredited.
The programme also provides students with the opportunity to work alongside T-Systems professionals on actual projects. This ensures that they have relevant experience before they officially join the marketplace.
The company`s clients also benefit from the arrangement, as they are able to meet their empowerment requirements within the safety net provided by a competent multi-national, van der Walt-Korsten says.
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