Learn more about Lenovo and GirlCode's learnership programme and how you can join it
Lenovo recently announced its new partnership with a well-known NPO GirlCode to empower. South African women with inclusive digital skills training and development.
Since 2014, GirlCode has strived towards empowering young women through various programmes, which include the highly regarded GirlCode Learner-ship and GirlCode online Bootcamp.
In response to questions sent about why this partnership is important to Lenovo, the company stated that it illustrates Lenovo’s unwavering commitment to provide Smarter Technology for All.
"As a partner that shares a strong synergy in this regard, we as Lenovo are incredibly excited to partner with GirlCode as we have no doubt that it will empower the women enrolled to uplift and upskill themselves towards a brighter future," the company told Guzzle.
Lenovo also does a Global monthly service where the company empowers its global network to meet the unique needs of communities where they live and work.
When asked when it all started, the brand noted that this would be Lenovo’s fifth annual Global Month of Service (established in
2016).
"Lenovo’s month of service is directed by the Lenovo global philanthropy team, led by philanthropy experts in each of Lenovo’s geographies. Each unique project is led by a Lenovo employee volunteer and requires months of planning and coordination. Last year, the global month of service directly assisted over 40,000 community members around the world, through 3,000 employee volunteers," Lenovo told Guzzle.
"The initiative is geared towards giving back to the local communities, as we strive towards empowering the world with the unlimited possibilities of technology."
Lenovo has then since reached out to GirlCode as it believes that there is an undeniable synergy between the core objectives of both companies.
"As an organisation whose vision is to provide previously disadvantaged women with opportunities and training within the STEM fields, we as team Lenovo have had our eyes set on GirlCode for a while."
"We strongly believe that there is an undeniable synergy between the core objectives of both GirlCode and Lenovo, which is to make a
fundamental impact and difference on people’s lives by harnessing the power of technology and digitisation. We believe that this collaboration is a perfect fit between our two organisations, and we definitely see a long-term, sustainable partnership going
forward with GirlCode."
Lenovo added that it sees this partnership and the services that GirlCode offers becoming a huge success.
"Between the coding skills that GirlCode is providing these young women, and the soft skills that Lenovo is contributing to further prepare them for the workforce, we strongly believe that this programme will aid these women to successfully secure opportunities for themselves within South Africa’s various technology fields."
"Lenovo is a company that is relentless in its pursuit of empowering women in technology-related STEM fields. In fact, we are so dedicated to this cause that we are proud to have a variety of our own internal programmes and policies that aim to empower more women within our own company. Lenovo currently has 36% women in the workforce, 27% in technical areas, and close to 20% at the executive level."
However, Lenovo notes that there is so much work still to do and that it will continue its efforts to bridge the gap which it has been doing since 2007 with its “Women in Lenovo Leadership” (WILL) that is set up to encourage female talent to expand their network, develop leadership skills, and work better together.
"We also sponsor key events such as the Women’s Forum and partner with other networks to promote our young talents in the organisation too."
GirlCode was started in 2014 after Zandile Mkwanazi (CEO) realized the lack of women within the Tech Company that she worked at the time, as well as in the industry as a whole.
"She then pulled in me (Tinyiko Simbine CFO &COO) and our third Co-Founder Jeanette Theu and we hosted an all-female Hackathon. Fast forward, a few years later and GirlCode has become a Learning Institution educating young girls and women with Coding skills and then finding them employment in Tech companies," Tinyiko Simbine told Guzzle.
GilrCode is best known for the hackathon competitions that it hosts every year and Simbine states that they do still host and plan to expand it across South Africa.
"We even hosted our first virtual Hackathon in 2020. It went well and it was very interesting hosting a virtual one. There has been bigger interest hence the need to host our next one in 2022 in even more provinces simultaneously," said Simbine.
Simbine added that its partnership with Lenovo has assisted GirlCode with equipping our beneficiaries with some much-needed soft skills to better prepare them for the work environment.
"The devices donated by Lenovo have assisted some of our beneficiaries in such a way that they can continue learning even while being at work," said Simbine.
The qualifying criteria for Girlcodes online Bootcamps are:
1. Applicants must have an IT-related qualification (Degree/Diploma)
2. Must be female
Written by: Shihaam (Gabriella) Steyn.
Guzzle Media
