|
Rachel Sibande after receiving her award:Pic Courtesy Vibe.net
|
One of the most exciting things about being a writer is talking to people who inspire you. I recently spoke to Rachel Sibande, the founder of Malawi's innovation Hub, mHub, and this is how our chat went.
Q.1 ICT has traditionally not been a girl’s typical industry, but you have
changed the status quo, how did Rachel Sibande make it?
Growing up I was tasked to do pretty much same chores like my brothers. My
parents repeatedly emphasized that I could do “ANYTHING”, only if I put my heart to it, worked hard and had faith
in God. I still hear my Father’s words
echo in my head until today; well, you can imagine that he still gets to say
that to me even now that I am his big girl! As a result; it has never occurred
to me that a profession had a gender. It is people that set such social
constructions of certain professions being for females and some for males. I
decided to make my own social construction and decided technology, science,
engineering and mathematics were for both males and females. And then; the rest became pretty easy because
I just got to love and explore the fields such that, even when it gets tough,
it only gets as tough as a challenge and
not enough to quit!
Q2. You have revolutionized the nation’s
landscape technologically and have inspired hope of harnessing Malawi’s
innovative potential through mHub, tell us about that.
Malawi has a wealth of talent in their young person that is often untapped. Youth and children make up 60% of the
country’s population yet the rate of unemployment amongst the youth is very
high. Mhub identifies nurtures and mentors young technology enthusiasts with
skills to build sustainable technology solutions that solve local problems. Through the hub young people have built local
technology solutions that address key bottlenecks in Agriculture, Health,
Education, Trade and Culture among other thematic areas. These are such as; a
platform for smallholder farmers to access agricultural extension messages and
market prices; a local e-learning platform for students to access resources
from their tutors remotely and social messaging platform that works on basic
phones other than just smart phones.
Q2. Google recently awarded you, tell us about that award?
Every year Google recognizes female computer science students from Universities
across the world. This year; I was
privileged to be the only recipient from Southern Africa, of the Google Anita
Borg Award. The award was given in recognition of the research work in
developing a technology platform for itizen engagement as part of my Doctoral
studies at Rhodes University in South Africa.
Q.4 What kind of
help will a young innovator with nothing but ideas get when they walk into mHub?
They will be welcomed into a vibrant open working space by a strong and
enthusiastic tech community. We provide technical support and a wealth of developer
resources as they work on their technology projects. The hub is a platform that exposes talent and grooms
ideas into viable technology solutions. We facilitate mentorship and linkages
with the corporate world. mHub is an incubator space for innovators and technology
entrepreneurs.
Q5. Any thoughts about the future of Malawi as a nation that
is embracing ICT4D?
Countries like Rwanda and Kenya have made significant strides in ICT to the
extent that it has become a significant revenue stream for their country’s GDP.
Much of these formidable strides, have been attained through youth engagement
in technology. Malawi has a tonne of
resources in its youth that can be sculpted into technology expertise that
would stir the country’s development across sectors. Technology cuts across
Agriculture, Education, Health and other sectors of development. By harnessing
the skills that our youths have in technology; we could develop more efficient
and relevant homegrown technology solutions and export technology expertise
like India does.
No comments:
Post a Comment