Ms Angela Wamola during a recent Women in Technology networking forum in Nairobi. PHOTO | COURTESY
By SIMON CIURI, sciuri@ke.nationmedia.com
In Summary
- Women in Technology (WIT) platform brings together women within and out of the industry with aim of mentoring and growing them in their careers.
Women in Technology (WIT), a Safaricom platform that seeks to break the dominance of men in technology, has come a long way in the short span of about two years.
SHARE THIS STORY
“WIT is driven by Safaricom with the mission to advance women in technology, from the classroom to the boardroom.
‘‘The platform brings together women in technology
related careers both within and across the industry with the aim of
mentoring an growing them in their careers,” said Ms Angela Wamola, the
Head of Strategy and Planning at the mobile service provider.
Ms Wamola, 38, has spent more than a decade in the engineering and telecommunications industry.
WIT was launched in 2012 as a forum to bring
together and grow young women in technology in their respective careers,
the 1999 graduate of Civil Engineering at the University of Nairobi
told the Business Daily in an interview last Friday.
Passionate about exploring the world of technology, Ms Wamola decided to venture into IT after university.
She held various positions at computer firm
Computech before joining Safaricom in February 2001 as a Specialist
Engineer. She rose to the position of Planning Manager in January 2006.
Ms Wamola assumed her present position of Head of
Strategy and Planning in June 2012 after three years serving as Head of
Core Network Planning and Support where she was responsible for design
and support of Safaricom’s core network.
“There were few women in the technology division at
Safaricom and even fewer in management, hence the need to form a
network bringing together passionate, ambitious women working within the
technology field,” said Ms Wamola
WIT was formed with two main objectives; to create a
platform where Kenyan women in technology can network, and to share and
offer a wide range of support initiatives and resources to advance
their careers.
Today WIT has a working partnership with Akili
Dada, Cisco, Stem Africa, Afchix, high schools and universities. The
forum has also rolled out programmes targeting girls, with Tech
Innovation being the most recent.
The programme seeks to encourage girls to pursue technology related subject.
WIT’s other programmes include networking forums,
monthly internal forums, children’s forum Kids go Tech, the 47/47
platform which targets girls in all the 47 counties, and the campus
outreach programme targeting female engineering students in
institutions of higher learning.
WIT also seeks to encourage students to venture into the technology field.
To implement the programmes, WIT has initiated
different platforms, including a networking one. This is a monthly event
which brings together women in the industry to network and discuss
topical issues and how they affect their careers
No comments :
Post a Comment