“I believe that if we love something, we can’t be hindered by our gender.”

As part of our Insta Live series earlier this year, we interviewed Sonia Rugwiro, System Administrator at MaraPhones Rwanda Limited and Information Systems alumnae (Class of 2017). Sonia is a passionate advocate for women’s empowerment and gender equity in the workplace. We are so inspired by the way she is breaking stereotypes in her industry and paving the way for other women who are passionate about technology to follow their dreams too.

If you missed it, catch up on the Davis College IGTV or read highlights from her conversation with fellow Akilah alum Allen Ingabire below.

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Allen: Describe your current role and the aspects you enjoy most

Sonia: I am currently working at MaraPhones Rwanda, which is the first smartphone manufacturing plant established in Africa. I am part of MaraPhones lab and my department focuses on finding solutions via technology and software that can be put into those smartphones for people to use.

I really enjoy my job because it helps me understand people’s problems and come up with software solutions to challenges that they are facing. Technology is growing and everything is going online, and that creates challenges for a lot of people, so it gives me joy to provide solutions for tech users.

Allen: What attracted you to the Information Systems (IS) Diploma at Akilah?

Sonia: Technology was my passion; it’s been one thing that I have loved since I was a child. When I heard about Akilah, I thought to myself that this is the best school for me because it was a great environment and I was going to be among a group of students who will challenge me, push me to be better, and encourage me to do what I love. Knowing that Akilah had an information systems program, I was sure I had to join and pursue my passion. Most of us had received scholarships to attend other universities but we chose Akilah because it had a unique way of teaching. We knew it was teaching students to work on themselves and become better leaders.

Allen: How did your IS Diploma prepare you for the workforce?

Sonia: The skills I learnt from Akilah helped me a lot in my current role; for instance, developing software from scratch, systems analysis, coding and networking, and coming up with solutions to challenges in the IS world. Because I covered all of that in my IS program at Akilah, I felt like I was ready to join the industry even before I graduated. And prior to graduating, I had four different job offers.

Allen: What soft skills did you learn at Akilah that equipped you for your career?

Sonia: The soft skills that have helped me to advance in my career relate to leadership. This has different aspects, like being confident, how you present yourself, and how you can take initiative. For example, when I started to work, I had to take initiative and show my abilities to prove myself; if you give me something to do, I would go above and beyond and not just deliver something that everybody can do. I challenged myself to yield a lot of results. So taking initiative and pushing myself to do more was important, because most of the time you are surrounded by really smart people who want you to become better. Other key soft skills I learned at Akilah are perseverance, and the ability to communicate what you want and be understood by people.

Audience: Most people think that IS is more of a man’s field; why did you (Sonia) choose to study it and what are some of the challenges you face currently at your workplace?

Sonia: The IT industry is dominated by men; I remember recently we were looking at how many IT companies are led by women in Rwanda and there are so few. I think we have to break that. First of all, I don’t believe that it’s a men’s industry because some women are in this industry too. What pushed me to pursue this career is my passion, as I mentioned earlier, but I didn’t have role models to learn from. I believe that if we love something, we can’t be hindered by our gender. I always wanted to be one of the women who are pursuing careers in technology.

At my first job, I was the only woman there and that made me push myself very hard because I had to go an extra mile and prove that even though I am the only woman on my team, I can do the same things that men in my group are doing. The challenges are there, and though it may sound as if you need to compete all the time, I think you just need to rise above that and show that this is something that you love doing. We need more women in IS so that they can support us who are already in the industry!

Audience: What strategies do you use to deal with gender stereotypes at your workplace?

Sonia: I work extra hard! If you have the same knowledge as the other person, just work hard and show passion towards what you are doing. If it means putting in more hours, you do that. Also, I stand up for myself and show what I am bringing to the table. So the world should be ready, because we (Women) are coming!

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