SA women in SMME tech sector honoured with awards

The Innovator Trust was created to support the growth of small black-owned ICT businesses in South Africa.

CAPE TOWN, November 12 (ANA) – Women in South Africa’s technology sector were recently honoured at the Innovator Trust 2021 Women In Tech Appreciation Experience awards in Johannesburg.

The hybrid event, which took place on November 4 in Midrand, Johannesburg, is an annual recognition on the Innovator Trust calendar which seeks to recognise and award the outstanding achievements of female small-business owners within the technology sector.

Award recipients included female small-business owners who are beneficiaries of the Innovator Trust Enterprise Development, Supplier Development and Young Entrepreneurs (YEP) incubation programmes. Coupled with the award was a cash injection for each recipient to be utilised towards their businesses, Innovator Trust said in a statement on Thursday.

The Innovator Trust was created to support the growth of small black-owned information and communications technology (ICT) businesses in South Africa. It supports and nurtures the growth of SMMEs by facilitating training that develops their skills as business owners, and provides resources and mentorship, ensuring they become sustainable businesses contributing meaningfully to the ICT sector and the country’s economy.

The theme for this year’s event was “Dare to Dream”.

“The theme finds its impetus in the reality of the tumultuous period of hardship and loss experienced since the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic,” Innovator Trust said.

“The WIT Appreciation Experience is encouraging women of South Africa to keep going and to dream a new dream for the future. ’Dare to Dream’ is a call to action, a proclamation to every woman and young girl, every female business owner, every aspiring female innovator and entrepreneur, to acknowledge that their journey has not been easy, but that despite every hardship they’ve had to endure, that the future of our families, our communities and our land lies in the hearts, minds and hands of a woman,” said Innovator Trust.

– African News Agency (ANA); Editing by Yaron Blecher