Mlambo-Ngcuka, at the ninth anniversary of Technology Women in Business
(TWIB).Sandton Convention Centre
25 August 2006
Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs, Lulu Xingwana
Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, Elizabeth Thabethe
Deputy Minister of Science and Technology, Derek Hanekom
Deputy Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, Rejoice Mabudafhasi
MTN Foundation General Manager, Dr Meshack Khoza
Chief Executive of Double Ring, Auto Mosiwane
CEO of Raiz Corporation, Allon Raiz
CSIR Group Executive Member, Dr Khunjeka Njobe
Distinguished businesswomen
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen
Good evening and a very warm welcome to the 2006 TWIB Awards and Ceremony.
This is a very special occasion, as we celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the
historic Womenâs March to Pretoria and the ninth anniversary since the idea of
Technology Women Business was launched. The women who liberated us and the
women who must take us through the 21st century have a special place in our
lives.
Womenâs Month 50th anniversary
It is therefore appropriate to celebrate the gains that have been made by
women since that historic march. Women, as mothers, have always been very
conscious of the importance of gaining the political and economic freedom.
Womenâs dual roles in society, the reproductive role and productive role can
only be balanced if women focus on their own empowerment. The old adage that
âwhen you educate a woman, you educate a nationâ is also true and an essential
process for womenâs economic empowerment.
Fifty years later we salute the brave women who opened the doors for all of
us, who opened a path for us, a stream that has never stopped, a stream that
became river, a river that sustains all of us today. We honour them, for
charting and paving new ground for women.
The women we celebrate today shattered stereotypes around women and
technology, women and finance, women and leadership as well as women and
business; and are living proof that excellence knows no racial or gender
boundaries. That when you have intellect, talent and potential you must never
allow anyone to take it away or deny you its full usage.
Importance of technology
At a recent World Economic Forum held in Cape Town, respected international
and national leaders acknowledged that technology was the only mechanism that
could leapfrog Africa from poverty to prosperity, indeed TWIB, since its
formation has always known that technology was a major weapon for women to
compete successfully in business, and in the building of sustainable
businesses. To relieve women of slave-like working conditions and hard work
that is not smart.
Once women are technologically literate they can transact, educate
themselves and their children, as well as trade globally, without leaving the
comfort of their homes and villages.
As a second economy intervention, technology has the power to link the
second economy to the first economy and mainstream women. Countries like India,
have already demonstrated, that it is possible for poor rural women in
co-operatives to supply top retailers in the first world and thus emerge from
poverty.
Our own techno-girls in the Eastern Cape have proven that it is possible to
get the best technical training, qualifying with internationally recognised
certificates. These ladies now have a highly demanded commodity within the
economy without leaving the village of Tombo. Thanks to Cisco, these girls are
breaking new ground.
These interventions need to be amplified. Not just for business but for
literacy, community development as well as in the combating of diseases.
Imagine a rural doctor or nurse, being able to email some of the worldâs top
specialists, and get advice that can heal a dying rural woman, and thus save
her life. On the other hand, imagine one excellent mathematics teacher,
teaching thousands of rural kids, and ensuring that they get top quality
education, thus breaking the chain of poverty.
The origins of TWIB
Eight years ago, during the year of Science and Technology, as the Deputy
Minister of Trade and Industry, I together with other ministers shared a vision
of a programme that would target women in business skilling them in the use of
technology and scientific approaches to their businesses. This would maximise
the potential of their businesses, as well as facilitate the growth of their
businesses, and to challenge women to graduate from spaza shop owners to medium
size businesswomen who run businesses with a competitive edge.
When this vision was conceived it was felt that technology could play a
crucial role in many areas and would also enable women to enter the
manufacturing sector, increase their productivity.
They would also offer higher value services rather than concentrating on low
value services and goods. We wanted women to balance their productive roles and
reproductive roles and annually recognised those who:
1. Succeeded to invent technology
2. Could show how technology impacted on the business
3. Could show how technology made a difference in their jobs
4. Understood and explained the technology
Winners became role models and ambassadors that helped us to promote and
expose others to technology all year through. So the awards were highlights
drawn from nominees and women we assisted during the year.
Key sectors supported by TWIB
That was how the initiative called the Technology for Women in Business
(TWIB) was born. Now in its ninth year TWIB was also started as an initiative
during the Science and Technology Year, something that had to continue beyond
1996.
TWIB has supported womenâs enterprises irrespective of size and location.
These enterprises have mainly been in the following sectors:
* information and communication technology
* textile, clothing and crafts
* agriculture, food and agro-processing
* construction and infrastructure
* mining
Successes of TWIB
Over the past few years, TWIB has successfully:
* arranged annual awards, recognising and celebrating achievements made by
womenâs enterprises through the use of business technological solutions,
throughout the country
* organised technology demonstration workshops, showcasing business-women,
technology available for their enterprises and educating them on how to access
and apply technology
* facilitated business linkages between women in business and technology
service providers
* institutionalised technology transfer programmes, assisting women in
acquiring new technologies
* exposed South African women to the latest international trends in Science and
Technology.
* exposed, and encouraged young girls to enter and pursue careers in the fields
of science and technology.
The Techno girlsâ initiative was one of the highlights in TWIB where during
Minister Hendricks time she lifted up girl childrenâs role in techno
frenzy.
In my view, TWIB's most important contribution is to continue to
successfully demystify technology for women and demonstrate that the women do
not need to be rocket scientists to successfully use technology.
All that is required is the existence of an entrepreneurial spirit, and a
drive to succeed despite all odds. To open the world of appropriate
technological response to womenâs needs.
The past winners have come from all walks of life and from all provinces,
representing an admirable urban and a rural spread. But we could have done even
greater systematic technological input especially to choose evaluate winners.
The TWIB awards are not just about women in business, Technology must be a
defining feature. It must teach women from basic levels, for example, how to
optimally use cellular phones, computers, to cutting edge applied technology
and innovation. The Science Councils such as the Council for Scientific and
Industrial Research (CSIR) must support these kinds of initiatives. Right at
the start and, in particular during Dr Namane Magau's time, the CSIR invested a
lot in TWIB.
Technology is crucial for poverty alleviation and growth that is shared with
women.
Appropriate technology invented for womenâs needs is in short supply and
that has to be a niche for women. Most technological inventions are invented by
men and are sometimes impractical for women to use effectively. The invention
of women friendly technologies will not only improve the lives of millions of
women but will also make excellent economic sense, just from a demographic
point of view i.e. there are more women than men in the world and women in and
out of the home.
Technology is needed for balancing the productive and reproductive roles of
women and can lighten their daily burden. It is important for women to balance
their production and reproductive roles. A lot of women perform crucial
reproductive duties that are not only ignored and unrecognised but that are not
even compensated and affirmed. For instance, a woman who cooks for her family
will be classified and only doing wifely or motherly chores, yet a man who
cooks is called a chef and would even be paid for his cooking.
In the same way, a woman sewing a shirt or a dress, will only be recognised
as being thrifty and doing a womenâs job, will not be compensated and her
efforts not even counted as a contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
of a country. Yet a man sewing, even if he worked from home, would be called a
tailor and his work would be acknowledged as a contribution towards the economy
of the country. Women have been dressmakers and seamstresses but Pierre Cardin
became a designer.
Womenâs untapped human capital and implication for society
It is important that women become a strong and visible component of both
Small Medium Micro Enterprise (SMME) and big business sectors. The report
titled "South African Women Entrepreneurs - A burgeoning force in our economy"
indicated that women comprise 83% of the informal economy, of which 61% of are
African women.
In general, as South Africans, we have to move from thinking about seeking
jobs and employment and work to create jobs. That is a value to inculcate
amongst our young people, especially young women.
The challenge for TWIB is to amplify and reach every woman entrepreneur, as
well as every aspiring techno girl in South Africa, and indeed become the
catalyst for bridging the digital divide. We need technology evangelists and we
need good mathematics, science and technology education in public
education.
As we celebrate TWIB in 2006 I, as one of the Techno-Gogos, I would like to
pay a special tribute to all the people who have been a critical part of TWIB
and urge them to do much more to accelerate growth and to share it.
All those who have played a central role in seeing the seed germinate into a
plant, and nurturing it to a fully grown tree, which continues to mature even
further. Indeed, technology is one way of profoundly engendering Accelerate and
Shared Growth Initiative (AsgiSA).
Central to AsgiSA, lays a challenge on how to ensure that our women are
assisted to become active participants in the mainstream of our economy, there
is no way women can become part of the mainstream economy without
technology.
Womenâs legacy in technology
Autumn Stanley, in her book âMothers and Daughters of Invention, says that
in the field of agriculture as well as clothing and textile there has been
excellent invention of technological methods invented by women in the field of
agriculture mainly in food processing, Surprise, Surprise!
These include technological models used in the development of preserving,
softening, bleaching, dyeing as well as the most popular one, and the invention
of weaving.
A good example is that Sarah Mather was the first women to patent a
submarine telescope in 1864, whilst Henrietta Vansittart invented and patented
an improved screw propeller for ships in 1868.
These inventions and many not properly recorded and celebrated in history as
major achievements; indicate the capacity and intelligence possessed by women
in the fields that are now dominated by men.
Women scientists
Charlotte Maxeke, the first black South African women to graduate with a BSC
degree. She pioneered in social work and the provision of quality education
under extremely difficult and challenging conditions in the earlier 1900s.
We also celebrate women scientists such as Prof Valerie Mizrahi, an
outstanding and internationally recognised scientist who undertook
groundbreaking research into the molecular biology of the bacterium that causes
tuberculosis. Prof Mizrahi was the first woman to head a unit of the Medical
Research Council when she was appointed director of the Molecular
Mycobacteriology Research Unit, a joint project between the National health
Laboratory Service, the University of the Witwatersrand and the Medical
Research Council.
When Ann Moore was a Peace Corps volunteer, she observed mothers in French
West Africa carrying their babies securely on their backs. She admired the
bonding between the African mother and child, and wanted the same closeness
when she returned home and had her own baby. Moore and her mother designed a
carrier for Mooreâs daughter similar to those she saw in Togo. Ann Moore and
her husband formed a company to make and market the carrier, called the Snugli
(patented in 1969). Today, babies all over the world are being carried close to
their mothers and fathers.
Patricia-Ann Truter invented the production of microcapsule beads. The
microcapsule is suspended in acid aqueous drinks to boost active and functional
ingredients intake by the gastro-intestinal tract of consumers. Thabisa
Mbungwana patented the home water treatment plant (popularly called Amadrum),
whose focus is mainly rural homes, where potable water is not available.
The treatment plant can treat 50 litres of dirty water in about 45 minutes
and uses the conventional water treatment processes flocculation, coagulation,
sedimentation, filtration and disinfection. Managing Director of Kiroyera
Tours, Mary Kalikawe was awarded a trophy as one of the top ten inventors and
innovators in Africa in the Pan-African Women Inventors and Innovators
Conference that was held in Ghana in the first week of this month.
Nella Kamafo has developed an innovative technique for recycling building
products and jewellery. Ms Kamafo was the overall winner of the Women Inventors
and Innovators in Africa award is from Ghana.
Posthumous award
The late Dr (Mrs) Ester Afua Ocloo. She started the first food processing
and preservation factory in Ghana called Nkulenu Industries Limited (1942). The
founder and first president of the Federation of Ghana Industries now know as
Association of Ghana Industries. (1958-1961).
Founding member and the first Chairman of the Board of Directors, Women
World Banking International, in New York (1979 to 1985). National President of
Federation of Ghana Business and Professional women (1979-1985). Founder of Aid
to Artisans Association, Ghana (1988)
Merryl Fordâs video-on-demand system can be used for any multimedia content
such as video, music, games, educational content and software. The system is
based on user preference and rating model and can predict which other
multimedia content users are likely to want. The content, once downloaded into
a system, is stored on the userâs device and is available for access when the
user wants to use it.
The download and store algorithm eliminates the need for large bandwidth and
therefore makes it easy to deliver bandwidth-intensive multimedia files over
satellite. A potential use would be to cost-effectively provide educational
material to schools.
Our own placing initiative highlights women with scientific training
especially in infrastructure. We have now placed women in India, Sasol and the
United Arab Emirates (UAE) where they are currently getting hands-on training.
The latest group of 17 women left this week to Qatar and Germany, with
undergraduates mostly in scientific degrees.
Through Joint Initiative on Priority Skills Acquisition (JIPSA), government
has created a mechanism to contribute to the proper skilling of all South
Africans. TWIB also has to take a leading role in assisting women acquire the
scarce and priority skills, utilising the JIPSA and other initiatives, so let
us pay attention especially to techno girls. It is through the acquisition of
these skills that women can also be mainstreamed into the first economy they
can invest and use technology much better. To create a reliable pool of these
priority skills, we need teachers in mathematics and science.
These skills will strategically position women to enter in the so-called
male dominated industries. Women are hungry for it and they are needed there.
If women invented the first desktop, it would have been much better and looked
more beautiful too.
In 1999, the United State (US) government reported an increase of fifteen
percent of women in engineering; it should be possible for South Africa to
achieve the same.
A good basis for us would be to start as early as we can to introduce young
girls to focus more on subjects that will enable them to acquire technical
skills. To ensure this, TWIB through the âtechno girlsâ initiative can assist
us to make the required breakthrough.
We must also develop networks with like-minded organisations especially
those on the Africa continent such as the Pan-African Women Inventors and
Innovators. The inaugural Pan-African Women Inventors and Innovators,
Exhibition, Conference and Awards 2005 concluded with 14 fascinating women
receiving special recognition awards at the International Conference Centre,
Accra, Ghana on the 9 September 2005.
In conclusion, I wish to congratulate all the nominees and the overall
winner of TWIB 2006. It is through your brave actions that TWIB will always be
celebrated by us, as women, in business.
With the rest of tremendous support that we are receiving as women today, we
can only be the best that we can be. Enjoy the rest of South Africaâs Womenâs
Month, may the rest of your evening be pleasurable.
I thank you.
Issued by: The Presidency
25 August 2006
