Ellen Fischat’s passion for development played a key role in her wanting to become a social worker. She even ran a home for former street children for a while. A burnout, however, took her on a path towards startup development and tech incubation, eventually resulting in her appointment as the first MD of Silicon Cape. Founded in 2009, the initiative aims to drive the Western Cape tech scene by bringing together entrepreneurs, developers, and other stakeholders. Fischat’s key priority for now is taking tech to where it’s needed the most – South Africa’s poorest areas that are in dire need of economic opportunities.

“People ask me how I ended up in technology with my background in social work,” Fischat says over a cappuccino at the Workshop 17. The office hub in the V&A Waterfront houses the Silicon Cape initiative. “In social work, you learn about systems and you learn to understand and work within these systems, with all their processes and dynamics. Working with tech businesses is no different,” she says. “To work and flow, companies – like people – need a set of appropriate processes in place. I’m looking at segments of these businesses and how they interlink while solving problems when one of these segments is unhealthy. As a social worker, I did the same.”