This Friday, May 12 in Kigali, Rwanda, the 3rd edition of the Transform Africa summit ended. This African forum brought together over three days some 3000 participants – decision-makers, entrepreneurs, members of civil society – around the theme “Smart city. Accelerated Development “with the stated objective of accelerating and supporting the digital revolution on the continent. And for this revolution to be complete, women have their role to play. To encourage young African girls to embrace the fields of science and technology, the first edition of the “Miss Geek Africa” competition was held.
It’s a very special Miss contest that took place this week in Kigali. For two days, eight African enthusiasts for new technologies aged under 25 defended before judges their solutions to solve problems facing the continent, precisely thanks to new technologies.
And this Friday, the suspense ended. Ruth Waiganjo, a 22-year-old Kenyan, has been crowned “Miss Geek Africa”. This computer science student in Nairobi was awarded for her project which aims to fight road accidents by collecting and analyzing data to monitor the quality of driving behavior of bus drivers in Nairobi.
“I’m still emotional, I find it hard to realize what’s happening to me. I am happy. This is the opportunity for me to be a role model for other girls on the continent, ”she said.
To set an example, that is the objective of this competition, as explained Lucy Mbabazi, its organizer. “The aim is to inspire girls, to make them understand that they can embrace a career in science, engineering technology and mathematics because right now there is a big gap between men and women. I work in this industry and my female colleagues and I are surrounded by a majority of men. We want to change these statistics, ”she emphasizes.
As for Ruth, she returns to Nairobi with a reward of 3,600 dollars which she hopes will help her develop her project.
Leave a Reply