​​​​​​​​​Photocopy & Office Machines Ltd​

Lusaka, Zambia, 2013, April 25

Tech Needs Girls campaign and Girls in ICT Day 2013

Photocopy & Office Machines Ltd. has been an established company in Zambia since 1972 and since over a decade has championed hiring of girls from local villages providing them with the necessary training to become experts in handling and selling of ICT equipment and services (office equipment and supplies).

POM Ltd. has a show-room and copy centre in the capital Lusaka which is entirely managed and run by female staff (more than 2/3 of the staff hired as girls leaving the villages to find work in the city) at:

Photocopy and Office Machines Ltd:

Office Equipment and Supplies.

Farmers House, Cairo Road

Postal: 30291

Lusaka, Zambia

The Executive Director, Mrs Afra Caldato-Perrin has supported the ITU/UN International Girls in ICT Day 2013 by producing a dedicated t-shirt and uniform for the staff to wear while providing hands-on demos all day during business hours (real life scenarios) to a small group of female students invited on 25 April 2013 and for a local Anglican pastor to make a speech in favour of ICT careers for girls during a luncheon which she offered to the students, staff and guests. Liaison had also been made with the local UN Lusaka representative to also be present for the Day.

Photographers and media were invited to publicise the dedicated day in the local newspapers of Zambia to encourage more girls (and women) to consider careers in ICT.

Gary Petrin, the Managing Director, championed the idea since over a decade of hiring girls from villages to give them a better start in life and as he says "frankly, because they are very dedicated staff and excellent".

Mrs Charity Kaluba Visagie is the Administration Manager of Lusaka Branch and focal point for Girls in ICT Day 2013.

Additional document: ict_girls zambia 2013.pdf