A career in ICT is not one that the typical Malawian girl
rushes to pursue. For many years,
science, engineering and mathematics
have been branded “hard” by many of our girls. Well, not Rachel Sibande. She is
the girl that is demystifying innovation in ICT
for many of Malawi’s young ; boys and girls, techies and non techies
alike.
Notably, Malawi’s centre of new ideas in ICTs for commercial
and non-profit purposes, MHub is her brain child. “The hub is a platform that
exposes talent and grooms ideas into viable technology solutions. We facilitate
mentorship and linkages with the corporate world,” says Rachel in our
interview.
No wonder Google, the search engine, could not help but notice this innovator. Rachel scooped the
highly-prized Google Anita Borg Award for 2015.
“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 citizen engagement as
part of my Doctoral studies at Rhodes University in South Africa.”
She gives credit to God and her father for raising the innovator in her early in life.
“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.
Rachel's dreams are really big. She believes that Malawi has a lot of untapped innovation in its young
people which if nurtured could contribute to the advancements in the health,
education and agricultural sectors as well as provide foreign exchange for
Malawi through exporting of technological expertise
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