Cellphone plant embraces women’s empowerment in South Africa
A mobile assembly plant in Johannesburg which is occupied by women only has been heralded as an effort to embrace women’s empowerment in the country.
Minister for Communications and Digital Technologies Mondli Gungubele visited the women-operated state-ofthe-art Mobicel mobile assembly plant in Johannesburg last week.
The proudly South African technology brand has, since the inception of the plant in 2020, operated and managed the plant with an entirely female workforce who average 21 years of age, all of whom are first time job seekers.
GROUND-BREAKING
The assembly plant team stands at 153 women employees, while the rest of the company employs at least 427 women.
Gungubele said the factory is a “ground-breaking initiative” that the government is proud of.
“It is an opportunity that puts a male-dominated industry into the hands of young women through technology skills transfer,” said Gungubele, adding that this sets the women up for further participation in the mobile technology economy.
Gungubele’s visit was part of her assessment of the country’s mobile technology economy which marks a notable recognition of South African companies’ commitment to innovation, employment, women empowerment
Minister for Communications and Digital Technologies Mondli Gungubele (right) visited the state-of-the-art Mobicel mobile assembly plant in Johannesburg. and SMME development in the technology industry.
GOOGLE CLOUD
Meanwhile, tech giant Google Cloud announced the appointment of Noor Al-Sulaiti as head of security business development and government relations for the Middle East, Turkey, and Africa region (META).
Noor will be responsible for Google’s security expansion in the Middle East, Turkey and Africa underscoring the growing importance of cyber security for the company.
She will foster strategic partnerships with the public sector to leverage Google Cloud’s cutting-edge cyber-security solutions, including CyberSshield, a powerful cybersecurity solution tailored specifically for governments.
It is inspired by the concept that organisations inside a nation and around the world need to “lock shields” and stand united in their defence against shared attackers.