“Silence that inner voice that says that you can’t, and turn it into ‘can’t afford not to’; show up and push through the fear,” said Zimkhita Buwa, CEO of strategic data company Intellinexus, who shared her journey of building a career during the recent Women in Tech webinar hosted by the University of Pretoria (UP). “If you do this, there’s growth and great reward waiting for you on the other side.”

This was just one of many inspirational messages shared by speakers during the webinar, which focused on barriers and opportunities in the tech sector and was hosted by TuksNovation, the business and technology accelerator established by the University in 2017.

“The first thing is to seize the opportunity,” Buwa said. “As a student who needed funding to finish my tertiary education, I applied for what I thought was a bursary, but which turned out to be a scholarship to study at Universiti Teknologi Petronas in Malaysia. I spent the next four years in a country I couldn’t previously place on the map and, by taking up the opportunity, I was exposed to professional excellence and learnt how to work with a diverse group of people. I’m proud to say I graduated cum laude, and so my advice to women looking to succeed in the tech sector is to have the courage to ‘do it afraid’.”

Buwa went on to encourage women to be intentional about helping others rise, and talk about the power of mentorship and how ‘finding your why’ is the driving force behind whatever you may set out to achieve.

With reports showing that women make up only 28% of the global tech workforce (World Economic Forum, 2023) and occupy lower-paid positions compared to their male counterparts (according to the World Bank, for every R1 earned by a man, a woman earns about 79 cents), it’s clear that there is still a way to go to achieve gender parity in the tech sector.

Matshepo Koape, senior manager in the Business Development and Client Engagement division at UP’s Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS), spoke about digital literacy and her experience with female entrepreneurs in the local communities that GIBS serves.

Zimkhita Buwa

Dimpho Lekgeu

Mathebe Mhlongo

Matshepo Koape

“Many women in marginalised communities lack access to tech tools and the internet,” she said. “Even when there is accessibility, there is often a digital skills gap that hinders their ability to fully exploit the opportunities presented by the digital economy. We give them training to improve their skills and confidence, and have developed a learning app so they can learn in their own time and at their own pace. We also set up WhatsApp groups so that a cohort of women who have been through a programme with us can share experiences and seek advice from one another. Another big focus is on digital marketing, which, if implemented effectively, can level the playing field and help women business owners access customers they never would have otherwise.”

Koape added that while the challenges that exist are significant, the opportunities are even greater, and by providing women with the tools and knowledge that they need, they can not only overcome the challenges, but also thrive in the digital economy.

Marie Brown, Madam CJ Walker and Ellen Eglin may not be well-known names, but these African-American women were trailblazers of their time, patenting a home-security system, becoming America’s wealthiest black female through cosmetics manufacturing and inventing a clothes wringer for washing machines, respectively.

“These women exemplified the characteristics of vision, visibility and virtue, and, like them, we need to ‘ditch the male toolkit’ and carve out our own path as women in the tech sector,” said Mathebe Mhlongo, who is the manager responsible for Enterprise and Supplier Development at Telkom. “Yes there are barriers – lack of representation, gender and cultural bias, lack of funding and support, a mismatch of skills and market needs, and a lack of networks and mentors are just some that come to mind. But at the same time, women can take advantage of opportunities by ensuring that other women in their team are elevated to leadership positions, rethinking their funding journey if they are business owners (by making use of crowdfunding or angel investing, for example), cultivating a growth mindset and leveraging networks for success. It can be intimidating to approach a potential mentor, but I remind myself that every expert was once a beginner. Networking is also about building real relationships with people; you don’t have to network with the deliberate intention to collaborate.”

Telkom FutureMakers is a multi-faceted programme, one focus of which is on nurturing entrepreneurs as they transform the information and communications technology sector.  

“If someone has a viable business, we will help them use tech to take their venture forward,” Mhlongo said. “For example, if there is a business that requires SIM cards, we could partner with them and supply the tech that is needed.”

When it comes to women excelling in the tech sector, session moderator Dimpho Lekgeu, a media and communications practitioner, said she believes it’s about women taking the seat that they have at the table – a meaningful seat, where they make industry-advancing decisions.

To which Buwa added: “And when the self-limiting beliefs creep in, I remind myself of the conviction that I have a right to be here – I have the qualifications, I have the experience, I have earned my seat at the table.”

The webinar ended with a call to action to female business owners to make use of some of the support and opportunities available from TuksNovation in their growth journey.

Visit tuksnovation.co.za for more information.