Third year Information and Communications Technology (ICT) student inspires women to excel in technology, Nombuso Msweli held her first online webinar titled: Reframe Your Mind for a Career in Technology, on Google Meet on Saturday, 8 August 2020.
The webinar took place after she was selected by Google to be an Ambassador for their Women Techmakers (WTM) programme.
Hosting the webinar was a step closer to Msweli fulfilling her dream of empowering women to excel in technology and changing their narrative on women in tech spaces.
The speakers she invited were women leaders making their mark in the technology industry such as 2020 Moses Kotane Institute Hackathon winner, Zoleka Dlamini, Samkelisiwe Zulu, the Operations Director at Yalda South Africa and Botswana together with Founder of AfriZulu Tech, Nosisa Dlomo.
Zulu encouraged her guests to choose a volunteer programme that will sharpen their skills in technology and help them empower other people, especially women.
Dlomo who recently established her own tech company during lockdown inspired other women to use the lockdown period to think of innovative ways to survive.
Dlamini encouraged women to change their views about the technology industry and stop being threatened by the fact that it is male-dominated sector.
Msweli, a software developer from Mtubatuba, in northern KwaZulu-Natal, said the event was to identify what can be done to attract more women to join this industry.
She said for her it was to see what people are expecting from her as a WTM and how she can influence Google to offer a helping hand.
“I am really excited because I’ve been praying hard for an opportunity like this. A lot of women apply to be WTM’s and it makes me really happy to be one of the selected to represent Google Developer Groups (GDG) Cloud Durban and my university. I will now accomplish one of my biggest goals and that is to work with women and host events to inspire and uplift females in my field of study. Even though I will not get paid but I am excited as I will get to attend events and get mentorship that will help me in the workplace, in the future,” said Msweli.
Speaking about one of the things that pushed her to excel in technology, Msweli said it was the embarrassment of getting to DUT during her first year and not being able to operate a computer.
This motivated her to change her attitude about technology and strive to achieve more.
Explaining how she was exposed to the opportunity of becoming a WTM, Msweli said that she is a Project Manager at Varsity Genie, an educational organisation aiming to make education fashionable among the youth. Their team hosted a lot of tech based events on campus, which resulted in her being selected to participate in the 2020 Peace Summit for emerging leaders in Thailand.
“I have been working with Fanie Ndlovu at Varsity Genie since 2018. Fanie, being a GDG Cloud Durban Organiser, appointed me as one of the organisers that was responsible for leading women-based events in the GDG Cloud Durban. GDG Cloud Durban wanted a woman organiser to represent them as a WTM, which required me to go through the selection process. The selection is based on your involvement in projects that promote gender equality in the tech spaces,” said Msweli.
Her biggest goal is to launch an Innovation Youth Centre, to bring technology to the rural areas that will teach people new skills. She also plans to work with women based organisations to uplift women in leadership and entrepreneurship.
Back home, she said they are very proud of her, that she is making a name for herself while staying in Durban and did not allow the city life to get her off track.
Pictured: Nombuso Msweli
Simangele Zuma
