DUT student selected as Google’s Women Techmakers ambassador

A third-year information technology (IT) student at the Durban University of Technology (DUT), Nombuso Msweli, has made DUT proud after being recently selected as an ambassador for Google’s Women Techmakers (WTM) programme.

Msweli, a software developer from Mtubatuba, in northern KwaZulu-Natal, has joined the team of women leaders from around the world who were selected by Google to excel in technology.

Speaking about her achievement, Msweli stated that this year, she is celebrating Women’s Month walking tall, after being appointed to be part of a team of females aiming to build a world where all women can strive to excel in technology.

“I am really excited because I’ve been praying hard for an opportunity like this. A lot of women apply to be WTM’s and it makes me really happy to be one of the selected to represent Google Developer Groups (GDG) Cloud Durban and my university.

“I will now accomplish one of my biggest goals and that is to work with women and host events to inspire and uplift females in my field of study,” said Msweli.

Explaining how she was exposed to this opportunity, Msweli shared that she is a project manager at Varsity Genie, an educational organisation aiming to make education fashionable among the youth.

Their team hosted a lot of tech-based events on campus, which resulted in her being selected to participate in the 2020 Peace Summit for emerging leaders in Thailand.

“I have been working with Fanie Ndlovu at Varsity Genie since 2018. Fanie, being a GDG Cloud Durban Organiser, appointed me as one of the organisers that was responsible for leading women-based events in the GDG Cloud Durban.

“GDG Cloud Durban wanted a woman organiser to represent them as a WTM, which required me to go through the selection process.

“The selection is based on your involvement in projects that promote gender equality in the tech spaces,” she added.

This coming Saturday, she will be hosting her first webinar titled Reframe Your Mind for a Career in Technology in commemoration of Women’s Day on Google Meet.

Furthermore, she noted that the event is for female Information and Communication Technology (ICT) students and graduates. Saturday’s event is aimed at inspiring the group’s current students and alumni to change the narrative around women in tech spaces.

“I will be in a conversation with other amazing ladies, who are pushing to be successful leaders in this field.

“We all have one thing in common we are young and ambitious and we are pushing for a space where women are able to lead and grow within the ICT field. The event is in celebration of Women’s Day.

“We will be talking about leadership and entrepreneurship for ladies in tech, the world for female programmers, volunteer work and learning extra skills, struggles faced by us females during studying and after graduating,” she said.

Her biggest goal is to have innovation youth centres, to bring technology to the rural areas that will teach people new skills.

She also plans to work with women based organisations to uplift women in leadership and entrepreneurship.

This article first appeared on Overport Rising Sun and was republished with permission.

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