As the world marks International Women's Day on Monday, March 8, Vogue magazine honoured Kenyan women in the tech industry for their historic achievements.
The international magazine termed the Kenyan women as the future in the global tech industry for their amazing feats despite norms imposed by society.
"A group of Kenyan women are working to increase the visibility and influence of women in tech by providing the mentorship and skills that young women need to not only succeed in one of the most competitive tech markets in the developing world but have their contributions recognized as well," reads an excerpt from the website.
Among the women honoured are AkiraChix founder, Linda Kamau. The trailblazer launched a coding school for women.
Speaking to the international magazine, Kamau affirmed that her passion revolved around changing the narrative and empowering the girl child to compete in a male-dominated field.
"Since its inception in 2010, AkiraChix has trained hundreds of young women from across Kenya and, recently, in East Africa," she stated.
One of the women Kamau mentors is Fatima Mohamed Abdulkadir, a graduate from the AkiraChix programme. Kamau disclosed that Fatima joined the programme as a mother of three and without a degree.
"Today, she (Fatima) is a programmer at Infonet, partnering with the World Health Organization to build a health-management platform for the Ministry of Health in Kenya," Kamau stated.
Further, Vogue recognized the efforts by Chao Mbogho, dean of computer science at the Kenya Methodist University and founder of a coding mentorship programme dubbed KamiLimu.
“KamiLimu is more than just coding, we offer guidance and mentorship to young people interested in tech over eight months and also teach them things like public speaking, product development, project management- things that will make them employable," Mbogho stated.
She pointed out the many challenges faced by most youths who spend lots of money in pursuing a university degree that most don't get to use.
She advocated for soft skills whereby young women can become an expert in a particular field. Mbogho also revealed that the KamiLimu program has had an incredible success rate of placing various women in highly competitive roles.
