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Investing in women in technology is creating a diverse and globally competitive Cape Town <p>Today, I visited the Cape Innovation and Technology Initiative (CiTi) to meet young women entrepreneurs who are receiving critical skills training and business support to enable them to compete and thrive in the digital economy. </p><p>CiTi supports women in tech through career acceleration programmes and business incubation programmes, as well as through ecosystem support through their Bandwidth Barn tech hubs. The women I met today were from a range of these programmes – either forging their digital careers with local tech businesses or building their tech-based businesses. They were ambitious, energetic and future-focussed young leaders for the Cape. </p> <figure class="subtopic-fullsize-img"><img class="responsive" src="https://resource.capetown.gov.za/cityassets/Media%20Centre/Women%20in%20technology%201.jpg" alt="" /></figure> <div>​​The information communication and technology (ICT) sector is one of the key growth sectors the City of Cape Town has identified to act as catalyst for investment and job growth in Cape Town. Other high-growth sectors include the business process outsourcing (BPO); craft and design; clothing, textiles and fashion; and renewable energy sectors, among others. </div> <br> <p>Cape Town, as the digital capital of Africa, has seen great success in this arena as we are home to more tech start-ups than anywhere else on the African continent. This is a key sector for us and aligns with one of the goals of the Organisational Development Transformation Plan (ODTP) - to leverage technology for progress. </p><p>The City has made available R9,6 million in funding this 2018/19 financial year in support of CiTi programmes. This includes tech skills like coding, job-readiness training and career placement (CiTi’s growing CapaCiTi programme), business incubation support for women in business, CiTi’s work in support of the growth of the city’s township economy, and CiTi’s Education Technology cluster. </p><p>I sat down with Lungile Kunene, a boutique owner from Salt River, to learn about her business called Izembatique that is using technology to grow and attract more customers.</p> <figure class="subtopic-fullsize-img"> <img class="responsive" src="https://resource.capetown.gov.za/cityassets/Media%20Centre/Women%20in%20technology%202.jpg" alt="" /></figure> <div>​​Lungile is a graduate of CiTi’s Top Tech Tools for Women in Business Programme, supported by the City of Cape Town. This programme supports small women-owned businesses – which is run at the Woodstock and Khayelitsha Bandwidth Barn. A total of 25 women have been trained through this programme at CiTi in Woodstock. So far this programme has delivered inspiring results and it is my hope that more women and young people look to this sector where they can use their energy and creativity to break through barriers through technology.</div> <br> <p>I encourage all business women, and especially women interested in the IT and design sector, to apply for this opportunity. CiTi is currently searching for 20 women entrepreneurs from the Cape Flats to join the September Women in Business Programme. For more info and to apply, visit <a href="https://www.citi.org.za/women-in-business/" target="_blank">https://www.citi.org.za/women-in-business. <i class="icon link-external"></i></a></p><p>The 10-week programme is aimed at creating a supportive space for women-owned businesses to explore tech tools and develop a strategy for implementing them. Women business owners are introduced to a range of free and/or powerful online and digital programmes and platforms to support their business activities. These cover areas including: admin, finance, accounting, tax, e-commerce, plugins, graphic design, document management, digital marketing, social media, HR, personality profiling, project management, project communications, legal advice, payments and banking apps. </p><p>What is especially encouraging is that all of these tools are presented by women entrepreneurs who have implemented them in their own businesses. This makes the advice both practical and inspirational.</p><p>In addition to the Women in Business programme, I also met some of the young women mastering coding and crafting a bright new career for themselves in the world of technology.</p><p>I also met Nonkululeko Sogaqa, a young analyst and one of the students of CiTi’s CapaCiTI programmes. She struggled to find work but thanks to the programme she was trained and placed in an internship. Today she is a Microsoft Dynamics Nav consultant at GoSolutions.</p><p>She said to me she found her passion, and the training gave her the extra push to excel. </p><p>CiTi’s CapaCiTi programmes have been running for eight years, with support from the City of Cape Town on a number of training projects. These programmes equip young, unemployed South Africans with in-demand technical skill sets, alongside the 21st century business skills they’ll need for a career; then facilitates applied work experience through internships and job interview introductions. These programmes provide the young participants with a powerful acceleration platform to launch their careers in Cape Town’s tech sector, and support growing SMEs and large corporates to source and support young, diverse talent to grow their business. </p><p>This year, the City-supported CapaCiTi is training over 100 young people on a NC-IT-Systems Development and Oracle Java programme, in partnership with the Western Cape Government and EOH Proserv. These candidates receive intensive, highly supported skills training and certification, mentorship and coaching as well as relevant modern career skills such as critical thinking, collaboration, and presentation. They are currently completing their internship phase (at 23 companies) and will be connected with further job opportunities with local companies towards the end of the year. </p><p>CiTi is providing incredible support to Cape Town’s tech industry and, with the City’s support, it is playing a pivotal role in attracting more investment to the sector by building a strong skills base. </p> <figure class="subtopic-fullsize-img"><img class="responsive" src="https://resource.capetown.gov.za/cityassets/Media%20Centre/Women%20in%20technology%203.jpg" alt="" /></figure> <div>​​Just this year, between January and June, CiTi supported 87 SMMEs and hosted 156 events to encourage debate and knowledge sharing among ICT industry players. The CapaCiTi programme has supported over 400 young people this year alone, and is scaling up to support a further 3 000 programme participants over the next three years. </div> <br> <p>The successes of CiTi and the women who are receiving training in Woodstock and Khayelitsha is building a more vibrant and diverse economy that will enable Cape Town to be more competitive in the future.</p><p>This is part of the City’s commitment in alignment with the ODTP to take Cape Town to the next level and build a globally competitive city where all our residents, men and women, are empowered to grow the economy. </p><div> <strong>End<br></strong></div>2018-08-20T22:00:00ZGP0|#904f8ac3-ad18-4896-a9a8-86feb1d4a1b7;L0|#0904f8ac3-ad18-4896-a9a8-86feb1d4a1b7|Statements;GTSet|#62efe227-07aa-45e7-944c-ceebacca891dGP0|#1d15b990-1e5a-4a9d-b41b-33ad4a0496bf;L0|#01d15b990-1e5a-4a9d-b41b-33ad4a0496bf|cape innovation and technology initiative;GTSet|#2e3de6c1-9951-4747-8f53-470629a399bb;GP0|#dd5a9495-a7b0-4463-8ed9-b6242e0035f2;L0|#0dd5a9495-a7b0-4463-8ed9-b6242e0035f2|information and communication technology;GP0|#1b05f64b-82b6-48ff-9032-784fac58cf97;L0|#01b05f64b-82b6-48ff-9032-784fac58cf97|executive mayor1

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