Cisco builds network to attract girls into ICT

By Fredrick Obura

NAIROBI, KENYA: Cisco played host to ‘Girls in ICT Day’ for a group aged between 14-18 to hear about the vital role that ICT plays in employability today and how the Internet of Everything stand to open opportunities in future.

The 26 girls came from various institutions and interacted with guest speaker from Global Peace Foundation, Safaricom and UNESCO.

The Girls in ICT Day is an annual day of activities organised by the International Telecommunications Union aimed at improving the understanding of careers in ICT among girls.

This year Cisco will be hosting 2,500 girls at almost 80 of their offices worldwide and across 37 countries in EMEAR giving them the opportunity to network with each other and role models to inspire them to consider an IT career.

During their visit to Cisco, students will be able to experience and engage with Cisco’s technologies for themselves, including collaboration platforms such as TelePresence and Jabber.

These platforms will enable interaction on the day and beyond with other Girls participating across the globe and of the leading women working within Cisco and its partners and customers.

Hital Muraj, Corporate Affairs Manager, East and Central Southern Africa, said,"At Cisco, we take our commitment to making ICT career opportunities open to all seriously,” she said adding that Cisco has been involved in ‘Girls in ICT Day’ since it started four years ago.  

“We understand the value of a diverse workforce, and believe that many more girls would pursue careers in ICT if they were better informed about the many different types of jobs available within the sector,” Muraj said.

The event comes at a backdrop of staggering statistics stating that by 2020 there will be approximately 50 billion objects connected to the Internet.

At its essence, the Internet of Everything is the networked connection of people, process, data and things…and is set to create an unprecedented level of disruption across industries, globally.