Standard Bank, in partnership with African Teen Geeks, started on a journey with an initiative known as Girl Geek in August 2016. The initiative was launched around National Women’s Day as a long-term investment into the support and growth of young females from the public schooling system into the world of Computer Science/ IT.
The 1-year learnership program has come to a successful end for the previous group. The next intake of 33 young females partaking in the learnership program with Standard Bank will commence on August 8th 2017. But the journey for the first group does not end here. Those who have invested the effort and energy will be assessed and the top 10 will have two more years of Mentorship and Leadership to ensure their entrepreneurial and IT skills are nurtured further to make future tech leaders.
This partnership demonstrates the continuous investment and commitment that Standard Bank and Africa Teen Geeks (ATG) have displayed in creating female leaders who can contribute towards a thriving South Africa.
“Standard Bank and ATG will be commemorating the 61 years since the women marched to the Union Buildings by hosting 61 girl geeks at Lilliesleaf farm to inspire, educate, and equip girls from disadvantaged background with computing skills,” said Yashin Abed IT Executive, Standard Bank. These girls are part of the thousands disadvantaged children who attend coding classes during computer Science Week and Saturday classes at UNISA labs nationwide.
“The Girl Geek initiative is aimed at increasing the percentage of women working in the traditionally male-dominated technology field. Children cannot aspire to what they haven’t seen. The exposure the girls receive from the program inspires them to raise their aspirations. We are grateful to all our partners for their unwavering support of ATG programs” said Lindiwe Matlali, Founder of Africa Teen Geeks.
Since the launch of the Girl Geek program, the girls had taken part in two hackathons: #Hack4health aimed at solving problems in their local clinics and hospitals and the recent #Hack4Justice hackathon in partnership with the United Nations office on Drugs and Crime education for justice initiative.
The Girl Geek event will take place on August 8th 2017 at Lilliesleaf Farm, Rivonia from 08:30-13:30.