Data Management Professionals South Africa (DMP SA) has placed five women who took part in its annual internship programme in permanent positions within the company.
The new employees are Cela Africa, Lopang Makwala, Nokukhanya Ndlovu, Faith Themba and Maremeke Mogotlane.
In a statement, DMP SA says the placement of the new female employees is in line with efforts to transform the traditionally male-dominated ICT sector.
Johan Venter, head of technical operations at DMP SA for global services, says the company created the internship to not only pass on knowledge and skills within the data management field, but also to drive integrated learning, equip interns with scarce skills and provide them with work experience.
According to DMP SA, the six-month internship programme requires beneficiaries to have an NQF5 or higher level of certification. This includes a range of IT qualifications, namely IT technical support, system administration and certificate in IT database administration.
Mohammed Sayed, head of technical operations at DMP SA for the SADC region, comments that to promote diversity, it was decided that 50%-60% of the internship intake must be female.
From this year’s group, all five young women scored well enough to be placed within the DMP SA, he adds. “The IT industry is very male-dominated across the globe, and we would like to see more female leaders coming through. It’s all about encouraging them to get their foot into IT by growing their skills in a safe space.”
Makwala says she is passionate about being a support engineer because it enables her to help organisations solve their problems.
“So many businesses fail because they do not realise how important it is to keep their data in safe hands. It really makes me happy to see companies that can recover from disasters that have hit their environments because they took the proper steps to keep their data safe,” she states.
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