Technology

Infectious enthusiasm

Winner of the 2020 Social Responsibility/Community award, GirlCode is redressing gender imbalance in the ICT industry.

07 June 2021

After chatting to Zandile Mkwanazi, it’s easy to see why the organisation she founded and is CEO of won the IITPSA President’s award for Social Responsibility. When we start the interview, I ask her to tell me the story of Girl- Code, and a full, uninterrupted 20 minutes later, she’s still joyously recounting the organisation’s journey. I’m sure it’s this enthusiasm and passion that have been instrumental in the organisation’s growth and success.

Mkwanazi holds a B.Sc Honours in Computational and Applied Mathematics, and while studying for her Master’s in the same subject at Wits undertook an internship at the Johannesburg Centre for Software Engineering. There, she realised programming was where her passion lay. So, in 2014, she joined IT company BoxFusion. Attending a lot of events and hackathons she noticed a pattern. “Either I was the only woman in the room, or one of a small number; even at the company at the time, there were about three of us. It didn’t feel right. Surely there are a lot more women in the country who want to be in the tech space.”

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