EMPOWERING YOUNG WOMEN TO WRITE THEIR OWN TICKETS TO THE FUTURE
SOCIAL ENTREPRENEUR OF THE YEAR REDEFINES BEAUTY WITH A PURPOSE
While adult literacy in South Africa is fairly high, the digital gap is still prevalent and is a significant barrier to entry into the digital economy.
But all round super-star Thembi Magajana is on a mission to use digital literacy and technology tools such as coding, robotics and virtual reality (VR) to promote socio-economic inclusion among South African youth, helping them to leverage digital technology for a better future. Through her non-profit organisation, Social Coding SA, Magajana recruits, trains and hires unemployed youth in rural communities to run digital literacy and coding programmes in local high schools.
Recently been named the 2023 Santam Social Entrepreneur of the Year, she is dedicated to this goal, no matter what the obstacle.
“Even when the pandemic hit, we rapidly adapted to a remote learning model, ensuring that rural learners would have uninterrupted access to our coding courses,” she says. “In this way, we bridged the educational gap and provided vital opportunities to students regardless of their location.”
However, one of the biggest challenges in fulfilling this mission is access to resources – and that’s why she’s delighted to be partnering with Lancôme to deliver the leading beauty brand’s Write Your Future programme in South Africa.
“Write your Future is specifically designed to ensure that young women have the skills necessary to compete successfully in today’s world of work and to be both personally and financially independent,” she says. “It’s 100 percent aligned with our own vision.”
The programmes, which will focus on high-potential young women between the ages of 18 and 25, is being spearheaded by a pilot project that was launched in Limpopo in September and will be rolled out countrywide over the next few years.
“Lancôme has always stood for and with women by helping them to develop into the skilled, confident and happy individuals they want to become,” says Yumnaa Waja, General Manager of L’Oréal South Africa’s Luxury Products Division. “Now we will be working with Social Coding SA to identify the specific needs of young women in rural communities around the country and to provide them with the digital education and support they need to realise their full potential. And, as around 38% of households in South Africa are headed by women, there will be a very real knock-on effect for communities and society as a whole.”
On completion of the programme, participants will be equipped with an end-user, higher certificate in Information technology, have business communication skills and be fully trained in the use of Microsoft 360. They will then have the opportunity to participate in an eight-month internship, during which they will receive a monthly stipend.
“The programme has been hugely successful in other countries and we wanted to make it available here in South Africa,” says Waja. “With Social Coding SA, we want to empower every woman to be the author of her own destiny.”
