TECH

Zandile Mkwanazi, Lindiwe Matlali and Sewagodimo Matlapeng are fighting gender inequality in their industry by empowering others

- Shannon Manuel

ZANDILE MKWANAZI – GIRLCODE

ZANDILE MKWANAZI IS THE CEO OF GIRLCODE, an NPO aspiring to become Africa’s leading digital and innovation hub for young girls and women who want to get into tech.

‘I started my journey into the tech world in 2013 as an intern at the Johannesburg Centre for Software Engineering on its CoachLab Programme. The work didn’t correspond with what I was studying, but I thought it an opportunity to acquire skills I’d later need in the workplace. Devising solutions using code sparked my passion for tech. I learnt how to build apps using

YouTube, followed by a patient registry solution that I entered into the SA Innovation Summit awards, where it was one of the top ten finalists. I owe my initial success and passion for coding to the centre’s founder Dr Barry Dwolatzky for allowing me to be part of the programme.

‘In 2014, I started working at Boxfusion and attending tech events and hackathons where I realised I was either the only woman there or one of a few. That was disheartening, so I looked for other women in tech. I asked my manager if we could host a women’s-only hackathon, to which he readily agreed – and that was how we started GirlCode.

‘Following the success of our first one, it became an annual event, attracting more women each year, mostly university students studying an IT-related degree. It was then that we realised GirlCode could also be a platform that engages women in tech, facilitates the advancement of their skills in the industry and encourages other people to join the tech revolution.