Microsoft and Wentors, a women’s mentorship organization, have announced a partnership to mentor and train 1,000 women in tech in order to close the gender gap.
Microsoft will use the project to provide a forum for women working in Africa’s technology industry.
Wentors is a global group of women in technology who mentor and nurture one another through a forum where seasoned women in the industry can mentor newcomers to the industry and final-year students interested in pursuing a career in technology.
EduAbasi Chukwunweike, a Microsoft 4Afrika employee who holds a master’s degree in informatics and a bachelor’s degree in software engineering, spearheaded the project.
Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) fields write less and are paid less for their study, according to studies. In most cases, they do not go as far in their professions as men do.
As a result, her key goal is to close this gap and make a difference in the technology industry’s gender diversity.
“We agree that the women currently in technology are ideally positioned to cultivate these visions, so we’re redefining the mentorship roadmap by creating a global network of women in technology who nurture one another,” says Chukwunweike.
The organization runs Cohorts programs, will include:
- 8 to 12-week cycles during which each mentor meets with their mentee once a week for an hour.
- Mentors are provided with mentorship kits to direct them through the process on a weekly basis
- Personal branding, networking, collaboration, and imposter syndrome are all topics covered in soft skills training and webinars.
The programs are all delivered virtually, allowing a global audience to participate, and they use a platform that uses AI algorithms to match mentors and mentees, as well as a mentoring process that includes a fixed number of sessions, consistent interaction between mentors and mentees, and progress tracking.
The business uses Microsoft Office 365 and uses Teams to host all of its training and webinars.
The aim of this training, according to Microsoft, is to provide women entering the tech industry with the skills they need to succeed and maintain a career within the ecosystem.
The Wentors group gives its members access to information that can help them advance in their careers.
With a network of over 900 members, Wentors has facilitated mentorship for 240 women across four continents. Now, the initiative has set a lofty goal of promoting 1,000 mentorships all over the world.
The company is working with a number of societies and tech firms in order to achieve this lofty goal.
For more information visit the Wentors Website.
Read more on Tech Gist Africa: