ALX Joins Forces With Mastercard to Unveil Initiative to Bridge Tech Gender gap in Africa

ALX, a technology training company with a focus on Africa that provides young Africans with technical and professional skills, has collaborated with Mastercard to introduce a fully sponsored Software Engineering training program with a target audience of 50 000 women worldwide.

The United Nations International Women’s Day (IWD) theme, “DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality,” served as the inspiration for the project, which was dubbed WomXn and Tech. Women will be able to advance their careers in one of the most interesting and in-demand industries in the world thanks to the WomXn and Tech program.

“ALX is aware that having a female viewpoint, a female voice, and a female intellect will be essential to developing solutions for the world of tomorrow. Via “WomXn and Tech,” we are passionately announcing our call to action for women all over the continent and the rest of the world to remodel the table rather than merely take a seat at it. We are bringing a cohort of software engineers that is 100% female to help with this, says Fred Swaniker, founder and CEO of ALI.

Worldwide, just 5% of software engineers are women. Even using the global average, there is a large gender gap that has to be addressed given that there are an estimated 690 000 software engineers in Africa.

By providing sponsored positions to thousands of young women who match the program’s eligibility conditions, the collaboration seeks to lessen this significant discrepancy.

The program comes in the wake of ALI’s recent purchase of Holberton Inc., a prestigious Silicon Valley institution. The aim of the organization, to develop Africa’s human capital at scale and empower women with best-in-class digital skills and excellence, is aligned with ALX’s status as one of the largest software engineering educators in the world.

The cohort has been created to support women from the beginning of their education to the end of their professional careers as they join The ROOM, ALI’s global network of top technology professionals.

“We want to inspire young African women to view technology as a route to a successful career. In order to help them succeed and either pursue a career in technology or start their own technology businesses, we are investing in young women, says Sharon O’Donnell, Chief Experience Officer at ALI.

“The quality of a girl’s future is determined by the quality of the possibilities she has to acquire and develop work-relevant skills,” continues Reeta Roy, President and CEO of the Mastercard Foundation. The Mastercard Foundation is dedicated to removing structural obstacles that prevent young women from getting relevant education and respectable employment prospects. Through our collaboration with ALI, we are attempting to provide women with the tools they need to become change agents and champions in their neighborhoods, opening doors for younger girls and the economy as a whole.

The digital training firm claims to have over 100,000 students enrolled throughout 54 African nations, with South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, Rwanda, Egypt, Ethiopia, and Morocco being its eight key markets.

Applications for the ALX Software Engineering intake for women close on 15 March. The programme will start on 27 March.