GE Kenya Celebrated Valentine's Day With A Women In Tech Breakfast

GE
Ladies who attended the Women in Technology breakfast in Nairobi appreciated the opportunity to network.
23 February 2017
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GE Africa (Lagos)

If there's one thing people in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields are acutely aware of, it's that more women are needed in science. There are several reasons to support this call for gender parity and one of them is due to the incredible job growth taking place in STEM. Another compelling reason is because the female point of view is needed now more than ever. Take, for example, how male-dominated science and technology allowed the first generation of car airbags to injure women because engineers didn't foresee that breasts close to the steering wheel could push deployed airbags up towards the neck. Situations such as this and others show that a gender bias in science has affected research outcomes and damaged women's health.

The most significant job growth in coming years will take place in STEM fields, and specifically in the digital coding and programming area where Africa and Europe anticipate that 80% of jobs by 2020 will require a STEM education. GE has been supporting much-needed STEM development with global and SSA initiatives such as the annual Girls in Technology Day, which takes place in Nigeria.

This month, GE committed to closing the gender gap by promising to place 20,000 women in technical roles by 2020 and this initiative will also involve a 50:50 gender representation in all entry-level technical programmes.

Following this announcement, the GE Women's Network (GEWN) in Kenya decided to celebrate Valentine's Day with a Women in Technology breakfast forum about working in a digital organisation. The forum was hosted by GEWN Kenya together with the GE Africa Communications team with guests from Microsoft and Safaricom, which are both respected technology leaders which have made progress in promoting women in technology across the African continent.

The GEWN was created to accelerate the advancement of women working at GE. By sharing information, best practices, education and experience, network members help one another to develop the leadership skills and career advancing opportunities needed to  drive GE's success. "It's exciting for women working at GE in Kenya to learn and share experiences with our industry peers in the digital space. We see a huge opportunity to partner and support initiatives that promote more women in leadership and technology roles," said Brenda Mbathi, GEWN Leader, East  Africa Hub.

One of the guests at the Valentine's Day forum, Amrote Abdella, Regional Director for the Microsoft 4Afrika Initiative said: "I lead a technology  initiative in Africa with some of the best technical and non-technical talent  from across the region. Technical or not, there is no substitute for competence and confidence in your role, especially for women aspiring to take top leadership positions."

The Microsoft 4Afrika Initiative is a multi-year commitment by Microsoft to actively engage in Africa's economic development to improve its global competitiveness by enabling Africa's youth, businesses and governments through technology to innovate as they meet  21 st  century challenges. Microsoft has promoted women and girls in  technology through initiatives such as DigiGirlz for high school, the EmployMentor programme for female graduates and the Cloud Startup Academy for female  entrepreneurs.

Founded in 2012, Safaricom's Women in Technology (WIT) is a network championed by passionate women working at Safaricom in technology-related careers. Their initiatives include Kids go tech, which focuses on children between 5-16 years of age to nurture their creativity and innovation; 47/47, which is a high school outreach and mentorship programme aimed at reaching out to at  least 47 girls' high schools across Kenya's 47 counties in one year; Campus Outreaches, which target  female engineering students at institutions of higher learning; and WIT Networking, which is a monthly engagement with women in technology across industries in Kenya in which GEWN  members have participated in the past.

"Our vision is to advance women in technology, from the classroom to the boardroom through a multi-pronged approach to bridge the wide gender gap that exists within technology industries in Kenya. We empower women at all levels of their technology careers by providing them with the exposure, networks and support to excel in  the STEM industry," said Lillian Kiambati, Safaricom WIT Director.

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