1. Girl Geeks in
Technol gy
#SoftwareWeek
#ggdcpt

2. hello I’m Suhaifa...
@Suhaifa

3. What do I do? oring
stuff
, I pr omis
e!
no b

4. Girl Geek Dinners ? Wh
at’s
t hat?
? ?
Huh
“To be geeky is to be intelligent, have passion for a subject and to know that
subject in depth.
It’s not about being better than others, or about gender, race or religion. Those things
just detract from the real fun stuff, the technology, the innovation and the spread of new
ideas.”

5. How it all began...
It started with one girl geek in 2005 who was frustrated about being one
of the only females attending tech events and being asked to justify why
she was there by her male counterparts.
She wanted this to change and to be treated the same as any other geek
out there, gender and age aside.
Founder, Sarah Blow

6. So then what?
Imp ressive!
So what did this geeky girl do to change the world of geeks and girl geeks everywhere…
well she got in touch with a few well known bloggers, posted online about her idea of
getting geeks to educate one another over dinner and then arranged the first girl geek
dinner event with a little help from her friends.
The first event had 35 people from London and the surrounding areas, shortly after
people started to hear about the events and companies started sponsoring them to cover
the food and drinks cost.

7. Growth and Expansion for our din
ner?
e to London
Can’t com r t your own.
t sta
Why no

8. Our long term vision
• Introduce Girl Geek Dinner events into schools, colleges and universities around the world to
encourage people to embrace their passion for something like technology.
• Be active in countries and areas where access to technology is scarce but valuable. Imagine
groups of children around a laptop learning about technology, getting all excited by it no
matter what country they are in.
http://www.fredhoogervorst.com/ http://www.experientia.com/

9. • Break down myths and stereotypes about geeks and technology through education bringing
about social change. We need to shift the paradigm!
• Supporting those currently in the industry and working together to figure out the issues and
the solutions.
• Create a safe environment for those in the industry to network and meet likeminded
individuals.
• To include men, women and children in this journey and not exclude men from the Girl Geek
Dinners events.
etter
We’re b
t...
t han tha

10. Why do we need more women
in tech?
’re
u se we uh!
Beca !D
awe some
• The impact a technical background can have on a woman’s career and the economic potential
that accompanies it is astounding!
• More women in senior tech positions will have a positive response encouraging and
mentoring younger girls and students who are interested in tech.
• Lack of innovation in certain industries that affects women all over the world but more
particularly in rural areas e.g breast pumps, pregnancy tests, ovulation tools etc.
• Women introduce a different dynamic in the workplace, we think, act and approach problems
differently.

11. Did you know?
60% of Zynga social The average social
gaming players are gamer is a 43
female. year-old woman.

12. Who are some of these
women?

13. Jess Lee, cofounder Polyvore
ve a
en ha anding
Wom derst
r un er
bette what oth .
of ant
en w
wom
• Polyvore.com allows women to create a fashion
layout that displays your personal style.
• Jess started taking computer science courses at Stanford and loved to
program. Her first job was at Google where she was hired by
Marissa Mayer.
• She is a firm believer that women have a better understanding of what
women want, women control most of the household purchases and should
be involved with products from beginning to end.

14. Hilary Mason, chief scientist Bitly
e
someon
Te aching is like
to program
hem a
giving t
wer.
superpo
• Bitly is an automatic URL shortener used by
everyone on social networks like Facebook and
Twitter.
• Hilary loves being a geek because its really fun and
challenging to build things that have never been built
before.
• Forget about flying or being invisible, she says that
teaching someone to program is like
giving them a superpower!

15. Kati London, executive producer
Zynga New York
• “It’s about creating something new…and blowing
someone’s mind.”
• Kati, a Game Developer, has built games that connect
people including CityVille on Facebook and Words With Friends.
Did you know?
Kati invented Botanicalls, a networked
sensor that enables houseplants to make
phone calls or tweet to request water,
then thank their owners.

16. Rashmi Sinha, Founder SlideShare
• Rashmi has a PhD in Cognitive Neuropsychology from Brown University
and conducted research on search engines and recommender systems at
UC Berkeley.
• She was recently named amongst the World’s Top 10
Women Influencers in Web 2.0.
• Rashmi is a fan of quick meetings and rapid software development,
and would rather make mistakes than overthink

17. Rapelang Rabana, Founder Yeigo
king
By ma d learning
an
ation obile
inform le on the m uld
o
availab any lives w
m h
phone
, throug
roved
be imp ucation
ed
• She started her own business at 23, and was named as one of
“200 Young South Africans You Must Take To Lunch” by the
Mail & Guardian.
• Yeigo was an early pioneer in mobile application
development for telecommunications enabling VoIP, IM and
SMS from mobile.
• She has been coined by CNN as one of Africa’s Marissa Mayers.
http://liveoutloud.co.za/

18. Your name, Your company! it here
!
Add

19. I am inspired! How do I
find out more?
show
t me
y! Le w.
It ’s eas ou ho
y

20. er e!
rywh
Coursera Ed ucati
on is eve
• www.coursera.org
• Coursera has partnered with over 33 universities to offer free world class education via online courses to
anyone, anywhere in the world!
• Multiple topics including Computer Science, Programming, Social Network Analysis, Game Theory etc

21. Find a mentor
• Identify why you want in a mentor and what you hope to gain from your mentor.
• List the type of skills you expect your mentor to posses. Use LinkedIn to search for the right person.
• Listen to the advice your mentor gives!
• www.citi.org.za MyMentor Project has been running since 2005 and in total 56 companies have
graduated from this program.
Why are
you
crying?
Because I’m
That’s no reason to
stupid! cry. One cries because
one is sad. For example,
I cry because others
are stupid, and it
makes me sad.

22. Silicon Cape Initiative
• www.siliconcape.com
• The Silicon Cape Initiative is a non profit, community owned & driven movement for entrepreneurs,
geeks, venture capitalists, angel investors, marketers and other professionals in the IT industry.

23. Thank You
Sta lk Me
@Suhaifa | @ggdcpt | @realmdigital | @snapplify
www.ggdcpt.wordpress.com | www.realmdigital.co.za | www.snapplify.com
snaidoo@realmdigital.co.za | ggdcpt@gmail.com
021 975 0959