The charismatic Nompilo Mkhulisi (24) , an honours student in Information and Communications Technology (ICT), came to the Durban University of Technology (DUT) with a huge passion to explore every opportunity the institution had to offer. Her thirst for becoming an ‘adaptive graduate’ grew from the first day she had entered DUT, striving to take on any opportunity that the University provided her.

“During my first year at DUT, I auditioned to be a presenter for Radio DUT and was honoured with the opportunity to co-host an evening show. That experience taught me a lot about confidence and finding my inner voice. The following year is when my leadership side started to come out,” she said jubilantly.

She then applied to be in the House Committee for one of the DUT residences and was given the opportunity, which was very new to her but she still wanted to take up that journey because growth meant everything to her.

“I believe from every challenge, we grow for the better. After my term had ended, I had been exposed to so much that some of the experiences hugely contributed to where I am now. Then the following year, I applied for the similar position to be part of the Green Campus Initiative (GCI) executive and worked with different students’ academic levels, and even improved my communication skills as well,” she replied.

“I have also been studying Mandarin with the DUT Confucius Institute and I was grateful to have received the opportunity to travel to Fujian Province in China, for the one month Winter Camp programme. Cultural exchange is dear to my heart and through learning Mandarin, I have been exposed to it and I have entered and won several competitions as well,” she beamed.

For Mkhulisi, being in leadership roles paved the way for her journey academically and she has never looked back. Through her choice of study in ICT, her faculty and department had given her many opportunities to be part of the initiatives and through that exposure, she was selected as part of the National Machine Learning Research Conference, Indaba X Deep Learning South Africa Organising Committee.

“The conference is set to take place from 12 July to 14 July 2023 at the University of Cape Town. I believe I have mostly used the opportunities provided to me by DUT to grow my network and to learn,” she added.

In terms of ICT and her passion for it, it started in her primary school days. She fixed mobile devices (software) that she had never touched before. Unfortunately, she did not have sufficient access to computers during my Primary and High School years. However, that did not stop her passion. “It’s unbelievable to think that the first time I touched and turned on a computer was at DUT. From that moment, I never stopped. After a few months at DUT, my mom got me a PC, and with the help of my lecturers, I started exploring further. Reflecting on those days is the main reason I aspire to bridge the digital divide, especially in rural and underserved communities,” said the determined Mkhulisi.

She further explained that coming from Clermont in Durban, a township that had not been exposed to digitals skills, she thought of those first-year students who might come from worse upbringings and how will they cope without the know-how and knowledge of having digital skills.

Mkhulisi decided she had to help those in such communities and went on to become the founder of Mina Network Central, a female community organisation aimed at bridging the digital divide and building a sisterhood of empowered women.

“We launched on 17 March 2023, organising our first workshop where we hosted over 50 females. The purpose was to educate them about the opportunities that await within the digital world and guide them towards unlocking their potential through mastering digital skills. We aim to bridge the digital gap, by training individuals (mainly DUT students) to gain digital skills and use those skills for their academic, personal and entrepreneurial purposes. Mostly, we have been for focusing on is using digital skills to grow student businesses, increase their sales and be digitally visible,” she said.

Mkhulisi explained that she plans on hosting another training workshop in July this year, as well as launch a mentorship programme which will give room for flexible consultations. She relayed that female students from DUT can be a part of Mina Network Central as she is planning on creating a standard team, and as soon as the process is finalised a communication will be sent to the DUT Pinboard.

“No student will now have to hide, dodge classes because they do not possess pre-digital skills. No student will use traditional old methods as their sole method to market their business because they do not have relevant digital skills, we are here to bridge the digital gap,” she said happily.

Pictured: Nompilo Mkhulisi.

Waheeda Peters