“Growing up as a woman in Kenya, there was a lack of female role models within STEM for me to engage with and learn from” says Wanjira Kamwere, program lead of WISE4Afrika. An initiative by Microsoft to inspire women to take up careers in technology. Microsoft through its 4Afrika engine is partnering with Strathmore University, Kenya to extend the WISE Mentoring Program into Africa.
WISE4Afrika, Wanjira Kamwere says is a manifestation of Mentors across Borders. An initiative pioneered by women tech leaders at the Microsoft India Development Centre and Microsoft Kenya.
“Diversity fuels better innovation and better business, which is why we [Microsoft] are actively focused on promoting diversity in today’s workforce”
WISE Mentoring Program
Women in Software Engineering (WISE), is an idea by women engineers working at Microsoft India. These software engineers wanted to help women engineering students shape out successful careers in technology. After a successful program in India, Microsoft decided to scale the program up by taking it global. As empowering women in technology is a global issue.
Microsoft shares that 30 female students are receiving coaching from fellow female engineers and executives. Over nine months the students will recieve in-person and virtual training and coaching. Taking them through trainings on how to leverage AI and Machine Learning to build solutions. As well as learn to contribute to open source projects, participate in hackathons and submit proposals for papers and posters at conferences.
Wanjira Kamwere says that WISE4Afrika is currently running in only Strathmore University. However Microsoft hopes to follow an approach of starting small, learning, improving and then scaling the program to other African countries.
WISE Mentoring Program is one of the several initiatives by Microsoft in the region to encourage diversity and inclusion. Some others include the LEAP Hackathon program and Codess Kenya. “We are collectively supporting a culture where more women are attracted to careers in technology” she says.
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Microsoft hosts 32 women in technology in a hackathon event in Nairobi.
9th July 2019, Nairobi: Kenya
Furthering its commitment to diversity and inclusivity in the engineering and technology space, Microsoft hosted the LEAP Hackathon. The event, which strives to increase technology skills, facilitate learning through challenges as well as strengthen the place of women in the technology sector, focused on solutions in the agricultural and health sectors.
“Research shows that the average productivity of major crops in Kenya has only increased by 17% over the last 10 years.
The lack of digitally enabled agripreneurs, inputs and quality data are sited as the reasons for this slow growth.
Microsoft endeavors to close the gap that exists in this sector by training ‘women hackers’ from non-traditional ICT backgrounds in the LEAP Hackathon programme who competed for the top spot in the hackathon”
Amrote Abdella, Regional Director for Microsoft 4Afrika.
The LEAP Engineering Acceleration Program is a 16-week program – launched to increase diversity within Microsoft. The program provides real world experience through development and project management apprenticeships and combines traditional classroom learning with hands-on projects.
32 Female hackers were identified to participate in the hackathon using a strict recruitment process which helped gauge the abilities of the applicants through 2 rounds of evaluation of the applications.
Participants of the hackathon received Azure credits while the overall winning group was awarded prizes.
The hackathon was a success, many novel solutions
were brought forth by the participants, but the group called The BugSlayers took
centre stage with their innovative AgRight presentation. AgRight is a
web application that uses Microsoft AI (Azure Custom Vision) for pest and
disease prediction. The app can also predict harvest time, connects farmers to
buyers and monitors farm activities. The bright minds behind this invention are
Clara Nashipai, Sylvia Achach, Rosianah Musyoka and Bethany Jepchumba.
Post hackathon, Microsoft will work with the
winning group on an ongoing internship program where they will be mentored and
helped to further build and develop their solution and skills.
“We are thrilled at the outcome of this year’s LEAP hackathon! As we continue to work to upskill and educate women across the continent – the endless opportunities and unprecedented innovations this brings is something we are excited to be a part of” Amrote Abdella.
Women innovators and technology entrepreneurs in Kenya, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates will soon get the opportunity to join the Women in Cloud Business Accelerator. Gretchen O’Hara, Microsoft VP Marketing, One Commercial Partner made this announcement at the 2019 GeekWire Cloud Summit.
Women innovators will recieve access to the cloud, mentorship, networking communities and resources to bring their innovations to market in the Microsoft Cloud Accelerator Program.
Gretchen shared that the program is going global, to
ultimately help drive sustainable economic growth across the globe. Businesses
from the first cohort were able to generate 3 million in new business just from
the connection of technology access and business connectivity she noted.
Gretchen O'Hara (@GretchenOHara), VP/Go-to-Market for the One Commercial Partner Organization at @Microsoft with a special announcement about a major expansion of a Women In Cloud accelator.
“Through our partnership with Ideagen and Women in Cloud, we’re extending the Cloud Accelerator Program to 8 additional countries to empower more Women in Tech around the world!”
Microsoft
The eight additional countries include Canada, France,
Germany, India, Kenya, South Africa, the UAE and the UK. Selected women
innovators from these countries will have unique programs planned for them in
the second cohort.
Women in Cloud, Microsoft Cloud Accelerator Program
Women in Cloud is a women community-led initiative built to
empower women-led technology businesses to drive growth through cloud solutions
and services. With the Microsoft Cloud Accelerator Program being one of its
initiative.
The Women in Cloud Microsoft Cloud Accelerator Program is an
immersive 6-month program designed to help female-led tech companies start and
build their businesses through Microsoft and its cloud distribution channels.
Selected entrepreneurs will learn to develop their cloud business model, cloud
solution, source target customers, get access to subject-matter experts and
executives.
Microsoft hopes the expansion of the program will see it generate $1B in cloud opportunity by providing accessible cloud technology to more than 1,000 women-led tech companies.
There hasn’t been a specified date for when the global initiative will start. We will bring you updates when this happens.
Codess a Microsoft Women event is headed to Kenya with the first event taking place Tuesday, April 16, 2019. From 10 am at the Strathmore University campus in Nairobi, Kenya.
The event invitation reads;
Codess is coming to Kenya! You’re invited to network and hear from an inspiring panel of senior technical women. The event will be a great chance to meet new people, learn from one another and empower each other to think big every day!
Codess is an initiative by women at Microsoft. A community dedicated to sharing the stories of women in technology to promote gender diversity in the engineering field.
It aims to inspire female coders and help them achieve their professional goals. That is through networking events, mentoring, and sharing advice and experiences.
Women at Microsoft programs focus on sparking girls’ interest in technology careers and supporting women-focused initiatives and organizations.
