Women’s day is right round the corner and we cannot ignore the tremendous effort and contribution the ladies and young women around us have brought to the Information, Communications and Technology sector in Uganda. Throughout the month of March PC Tech will celebrate women’s day and especially women who have greatly influenced and are still influencing the Tech scene in Uganda. Now we probably know a few of these and many of you have heard of them too.
We recently interviewed Lyndsay Handler who won “Outstanding Woman in Innovation” at the MTN Innovation Awards last November for her role in touching over 300,000 lives through ReadyPay Solar a sort of “Yaka” for off-grid homesteads. For as low as 800/= users are able to pay for their solar equipment over a set period of time and in addition to giving them light and powering their phones and radios, ReadyPay has given them a credit score!
If it wasn’t for Winfred Mwebaza, there would be no PC Tech. Okay, let me explain.
Back in 1999 in South Western Uganda, a small crowd of young boys camped outside a little room about half the size of the classrooms on either side. If it had been in 2016 you would think that #SteadyProgress was “serving gravy”! Entry into the computer lab was more competitive than actually getting into Ntare School at S1. Ms Mwebaza, as her students called her back then, was the custodian of the lab, and the internet. Never mind that it was dialup, measured in Kilo bytes.
Whereas many of the boys were content with playing games, Albert and Joshua wanted more. Fortunately, Ms Mwebaza not only accommodated their curiosity and occasional mischief, but also encouraged and facilitated them. Their journey with computers and technology really kicked off under the watchful eye and gently guidance of Ms Mwebaza. Ms Mwebaza has over the years inspired and mentored many of the leading techies that you see today.
Nominate a lady who’s changing the face of technology in your community, organization or in your own life and celebrate their achievements. There are those that we read about in the papers regularly, and see them on our TV screens, then there are those that we don’t know about despite the immense contributions that they are making, we need your help finding them and celebrating them as well.
Julia Hartz, president and co-founder of Eventbrite said, “You have to realise how important it is to put yourself out there as there are so many women who are badass but they don’t want to deal with criticism and the downside of being in the public life and being a role model.”
So don’t be afraid to nominate yourself, we want to celebrate you.. Nominate yourself.[related-posts]
All you have to do is fill out this one-page form for less than 2 minutes, submit the name and some details of a brilliant woman or girl & we shall do the rest. We look forward to your contributions. You may submit anonymously, however we shall appreciate it if you give us your contact details in case we need to contact you about the nominee.
We shall run a series of articles in March featuring some of your nominees, look out for that!
Nomination form here: goo.gl/8Gi68I
