Matlali gets top recognition for her contribution to SA’s tech industry
Teen Geeks wins over ‘Inspiring 50’
It’s official: Lindiwe Matlali, 38, is an inspiration.
The founder of Africa Teen Geeks, a non-profit organisation that provides computer science training in underserved communities, has been selected as one of South Africa’s “Inspiring 50”.
Inspiring 50 is an international organisation that recognises women who are making a noteworthy contribution to the tech industry. The project has to date only held European editions. This is the first one of its kind in South Africa.
She and the other 49 women will be recognised in Cape Town on September 5.
But while Johannesburgbased Matlali was honoured by the award, her attention was still firmly fixed on the youngsters who make up her teen geek programme.
Africa Teen Geeks may have only been around for four years but Matlali has seen her students involved in a number of hackathons, including #Hack4Justice, where 35 children came together under the auspices of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime and the Education for Justice initiative to build software solutions to educate their peers on crime.
The hackathon at the end of last month at the Unisa Florida campus was the first of its kind worldwide.
Even more astounding, most of the participants had not set eyes on a computer until they joined the Africa Teen Geeks. Almost all came from resource-poor communities, while three of the participants reside in orphanages.
Matlali, who has a Master’s degree of science in technology from Columbia University, said: “These are mostly kids whose parents are domestic workers or security guards; we have kids through child welfare who have nothing to do on weekends.
“These kids need to know they don’t have to come from a beautiful environment, but they need someone to tell them that everything is possible. Every school holiday we host a computer week.”
She started the organisation in 2014. Teen Geeks teaches the children to code but also to summarise, research and present. “I couldn’t do any of this until my first term at university,” she said.
Unisa donates the use of its facilities – computers, labs and internet access – to Africa Teen Geek. Ronell van der Merwe, lecturer at Unisa Florida’s School of Computing, said it was a two-way street. “For us, the benefit is that we will be getting graduates who are already empowered in coding before they get to university – it is not happening at school level at this stage.”