For the women in Egypt, Microsoft is on a mission to strengthen their inputs in the growth of the country via skill acquisition empowerment.
A women’s empowerment campaign was organized by Microsoft Egypt under the hashtag #MakeWhatsNext, with a goal to transform the mindset of women about various professions in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields, by influencing these women to develop their skills and discover professions in those fields.
The empowerment forum was packaged in different forms including series of events and training programmes across the country, targeting young women between the ages of 12 and 35 to empower them with the skills and confidence needed to work in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
In efforts to achieve its aim, Microsoft Egypt entered into partnerships with several governmental and non-governmental organisations around the world to facilitate the realization of the programme.
Speaking of the event, the general manager at Microsoft Egypt, Khaled Abdel Kader, said “We believe that it is our duty to inspire young women to take advantage of the enormous potential offered by science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.”
Therefore, the MakeWhatsNext campaign was designed to teach young women that these fields are not limited to men only and that they can also take up careers in those areas.
“We are pleased to cooperate with the Ministry of Youth and Sports, the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) and international NGOs to instill these beliefs in a tangible way for Egyptian women throughout the country,” he assured.
Ministry of Youth and Sports was one of the partners of the programme, who organized a special event to encourage young women to enter these fields, where five-day training sessions were held at 43 youth centres across 26 governorates.
Over 1,000 young women who partook of those sessions, left with so much to show for it. The five-day training sessions involved practical professional training to perform basic job tasks using the latest Microsoft technologies, such as e-mail, reporting, negotiation, and financial management principles.
The MakeWhatsNext campaign was launched in 17 countries across the Middle East and Africa and was targeted at developing the skills of more than 100,000 young girls and reaching up to 10 million young women and their parents and tackling stereotypes and misconceptions that often frustrate young women and prevent them from pursuing careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
It kicked off on 8 March, International Women’s Day, and concluded on International Girls in ICT Day on 26 April successfully.
