Celebrating Tech2Empower Rwanda Tech & Career Day for Girls

Yesterday, we were thrilled to host the San Francisco-based organization, WAKE International, for the Tech2Empower Rwanda Tech and Career Day for Girls.

We welcomed nearly 100 young women and girls, including Akilah students, plus girls from FAWE and Agahozo Shalom youth village, with experts and mentors from companies like Google, Salesforce, and Symantec who are committed to girls’ and women’s education at the highest levels.

Featuring a highly interactive program, students joined inspiring sessions like Google’s #IamRemarkable, mentoring circles on technology careers hosted by international women in tech, plus breakout workshops on tech tools and resources.

Tech2Empower is the flagship initiative of WAKE and supports leaders in the NGO sector, social entrepreneurs, as well as teachers and students at schools providing quality education and leadership training for girls. Tech2Empower’s advisors volunteer and devote their expertise, time, and resources to serve as coaches, mentors, and trainers.

The Tech2Empower Tech & Career Day was part of a week-long event (May 25-June 1) in Kigali, focusing on Advancing Girls’ Rights Through Education and Supporting Women Social Entrepreneurs.

Girls aged 14–17 from nearby FAWE and Agahozo Shalom (left) were invited as special guests to the Akilah campus to learn alongside Akilah’s students (right)

WAKE #Tech2Empower mentors and instructors

What we did

• Goal setting. Individually and in groups, we took time to pause and lay the groundwork for our futures. (Are you interested in doing this for yourself? WAKE provided this handy worksheet to get you started.)

• Break-out sessions to help us improve our soft skills, hard skills, and everything in between! Session titles included: Artificial Intelligence in Today’s World; Engineering a Career Path; Networking and Perfecting your Elevator Pitch; Self-Compassion and Courage…

• …And, a hands-on Sphero coding session! Sphero is a tiny, spherical robot! By “training” it to follow directions, you can begin learning the principles of coding. Learn more about Sphero, here.

Sphero coding session with Emily Dellit of Salesforce

Words that inspired us

Here are some quotes that we hope to take with us into the next phase of reaching our goals and dreams.

Honorable Minister of ICT and Information, Ingabire Paula

“Stem is not only for boys. Girls can do this as well. I am glad that all girls in this room are excited to be part of these tech career sessions. It shows that the future of Tech is great.” — Honorable Minister Ingabire Paula, Rwandan technology enthusiast and politician, who serves as the Minister of Information and communications technology and innovation

Kanika Raney of Google had words of wisdom about self-promotion:

“You need to be responsible for your own story. Part of you creating a story is you practicing self promotion.”

Kanika Raney of Google

At the Career Lessons roundtable, Amber Ibarra of Google talked about giving back, and also accepting our own failures:

“Giving back is one way of giving your best. This means putting yourself out there and go for what you want. You will never get it right if you don’t accept your mistakes. This will help you to turn around and fix it and that’s important for you if you want to go forward.”

Kara Harrison of ONDOT Media, on finding your own path:

“The willingness to self educate helps you to understand what you want to do in life. Be open to learning and every opportunity will definitely find you.”

Kara Harrison, ONDOT Media

The event ended with mentoring groups to discuss the next steps in making achievable career plans. Although graduation from secondary and post-secondary education is a big goal for many of the girls, it’s what happens after graduation that starts to have exponential effects in our society at large.

Karen Sherman, Akilah President (left) and Aline Kabanda, Akilah Executive Director (right)

Karen Sherman discussed this:

“Seventy percent of Akilah graduates are the first in their families to attend college, so graduation means something very special. The way we measure success is truly by looking at the what our graduates are doing once they graduate. What type of job do they do? What type of income? Are they being promoted? And so we are looking at the success of our program through this lens.”

A huge thanks to everyone who took part in this impactful day. Here are some additional pictures of our WAKE mentors in action:

Angelina Darrisaw of Google gives advice about perfecting your elevator pitch (left) and Emily Dellit of Salesforce leads girls in Sphero robot programming (right)

About WAKE International:

WAKE International is a nonprofit based out of San Francisco, California in the US. Tech2Empower is the flagship initiative of WAKE and supports leaders in the NGO sector, social entrepreneurs, as well as teachers and students at schools providing quality education and leadership training for girls. Tech2Empower’s advisors are from companies like Google, Symantec, and Salesforce, who volunteer and devote their expertise, time, and resources to serve as coaches, mentors, and trainers.