Sadalbari Open Software CEO Lisa Retief has won the ICT category in the Department of Trade and Industry 2005 Technology for Women in Business (TWIB) awards.
The award was presented to her at a conference at the Cape Town International Convention Centre last week.
Polo Moretlo of Toka Designs in Gauteng was the overall winner of the 2005 TWIB awards. She was selected from a pool of category winners. These include Retief, Jeanette Ngwane of Pro Soil Distributor Projects (mining), Betty Nkosi of Nonhlanhla 104 Investments (textile, clothing and crafts), Sophie De Wet of Agfood Holdings (agriculture, food and agro processing) and Desiree Tansi of Potties' B&B (tourism).
The TWIB award honours women entrepreneurs for creatively using technology to enhance their business.
According to deputy minister of trade and industry Elizabeth Thabethe, the awards acknowledge and reward the fruits of businesswomen's hard labour. In her speech, she said the awards further affirm and encourage women to work harder and achieve more, and present those who would like to follow in their footsteps with a path of success to follow.
Thabethe commended the finalists for demonstrating creative talent for growing and diversifying their business through technology. She said they exuded an intense sense of vibrancy that made TWIB notice them and the value of their businesses. This vibrancy is the source of a creative energy that gave them a competitive-edge, she said.
Retief, who was also a finalist for the overall prize, was enthusiastic about the conference. She said sharing experiences and discussing challenges with other women business owners was invaluable and inspirational.
"I was reminded that I am part of a very important economic shift - a realisation of some of the key aspects of our South African constitution."
Retief said being a finalist in the competition and winning the ICT category has renewed her confidence and provided additional motivation to go forward and improve her contribution to her own company. It has also motivated her to contribute specifically to the empowerment of South African women.
Her company contributes to the ICT sector by making software available in the open source domain. This includes eWage, an open source human resource management system, and Zinf, a process framework for building workflow solutions.
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