23-25 April 2024
Virtual & In-Person*
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Lyndi
Lawson-Smith
Managing Director at Umuzi
"Expanding Women's Access to Tech Careers in Africa"
"Expanding Women's Access to Tech Careers in Africa"
Don’t miss out and join visionaries, innovators, and thought leaders from all over the world at the Women in Tech Global Conference.
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Session: Expanding Women's Access to Tech Careers in Africa
Globally, women in tech careers are vastly outnumbered by their male counterparts - only about 27% of tech focussed roles are held by women. Unlike the demand for tech skills which is on an upward trajectory, this figure has actually decreased in the last two years. Furthermore, those who do enter careers in tech are likely to be paid less than their male colleagues and are much less likely to climb the ranks into senior leadership roles, where female representation is around 10% . Fewer young women receive funding to study in tech related fields and only a small proportion of computer science graduates are female.At Umuzi we support young women across the continent on their learning to earning journeys to careers in tech. We continue to learn about the barriers to access that confront young women in Africa wanting to pursue tech careers and we have invested in interventions that expand their access to the skills they need to enter the field and thrive in it. We partner with UNICEF, Google, Meta, SAP, and many African tech training organisations and African companies to offer particularly young women and Youth on the Move (refugees / migrants) digital skills training and support to become economically active in the digital economy. We currently have 3,000 women in training.
Key Takeaways
- Why do women's voices in Tech matter?
- What interventions we have tried to improve women's access to tech careers?
- What has worked and what hasn't?
- Things we want to test and the questions we're asking
Bio
Access to high-quality education is the key solution to addressing social inequality, unemployment and economic stagnation. Since having my own children, the failings of our existing education system, and the many ways in which these failings entrench inequality in our society, have become increasingly apparent to me. I spend a great deal of time dreaming up ways to break it further and put it back together in a way that makes sense.I am the Managing Director of Umuzi - an EdTech provider that creates and delivers learning pathways that launch and drive digital careers in Africa, with the goal of reducing economic inequality.
Formerly, I co-founded a technology-driven education business and sat on the executive team through the acquisition of, and merger with, a leading creative business school. I served as a Campus Director and worked directly with several strategic partners and blue-chip clients to develop and implement solutions to drive B-BBEE objectives and scarce skills development.
I have been privileged to have had the opportunity to speak, consult and train in tech implementation and integration for education, digital transformation, and skills development strategy.
