Cape Town-based coding project codeX will receive half of the $1 million (about R14.7 million) Google has committed to non-profits and social enterprises in SA.
This is one of the announcements Google SA made at its first Google for South Africa event that took place yesterday in Sandton, Johannesburg.
In 2017, CEO Sundar Pichai committed to provide $20 million in funding to African non-profits over the next five years as part of the Google Impact Challenge, giving non-profits opportunities to apply for funding.
As part of the five-year investment, Google has committed $1 million to support the economic empowerment of girls and women in the country, said Asha Patel, head of marketing at Google SA.
According to Patel, the search engine giant awarded $6 million through the Google Impact Challenge last year to 36 non-profit organisations across the continent. In SA, Google selected 12 non-profits as recipients of a $2 million award and also received guidance to further their projects.
She confirmed codeX will be the first to receive $500 000 (around R7.4 million) to continue with its work of creating an ecosystem of female coders from underrepresented groups.
“One of the key focus areas of our programmes has been the empowerment of women and minority groups, and I’m happy to say that 48% of the people we have trained in South Africa are women.
“The work these organisations do to support women and young girls is commendable and we are excited and honoured to be working with them.”
We will spend the additional $500 000 working with non-profits for capacity-building and provide smaller grants to non-profits in SA, she added.
Project codeX is a full-time, one-year coding programme in Cape Town that trains and places young talent as software developers.
Through the project, codeX aims to help participants learn practical skills the tech industry demands and help them find a job at a top local company that suits their interests and ambitions.
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