​GirlHype, Siliconcape, Dimension Data, Britehouse​

Cape Town, South Africa, 2016, April 30​​

Cape Town already boasts a number of organizations, both formal and informal, that promote the interests of Women in Technology and expose girls to technology in various ways.  Like many other places around the globe, girls and women are under-represented in the tech industry.

Girlhype in partnership with Siliconcape, Dimension Data and Britehouse are excited to be supporting the GirlHype Technovation Challenge as it aims to introduce high school girls to mobile app development and tech entrepreneurship.

The Technovation Challenge is a global competition, since 2010 over 3,000 girls from 28 countries have participated. The competition encourages high school girls to work in teams to develop mobile apps that aim to solve an issue in their communities. This helps the girls see how the skills translate to addressing real-world problems and finding the pathways available to real-world opportunities. As part of the program, they conduct market research, write business plans and create a 'pitch' for funding. Each team works with both a classroom teacher and a female mentor/role model from the technology industry. The goal of the program is to inspire girls to see themselves as not just users of technology, but as inventors, designers, builders and entrepreneurs.

There were eight teams that competed in Cape Town, most of which were from underserviced communities in Cape Town. Through a Regional Pitch event, sponsored by Dimension Data and Britehouse, teams had the opportunity to pitch their start-up to a panel of judges. The GirlHype Technovation Pitch Event took place on the 30th of April in line with the Girls in ICT Day celebrated in over 150 countries.

The winning team from the Regional Pitch Event was "Absolutely SMT2" from Parklands College, whose SafeLine App provides an easy-to-use platform that connects individuals, communities, the neighbourhood watch, and the police.