Cisco Drives Gender Inclusion in ICT through Tech Initiative
In an international effort to raise awareness around the need for girls to consider a career in ICT, Cisco is once again supporting Girls in ICT Day through its Girls Power Tech initiative. The UAE edition of the event will be held on May 12, 2016 at the Cisco's Dubai offices in Knowledge Village, where 60 female students from various schools will have the chance to experience the current technology first-hand, engage with industry specialists and learn about the education and profession experiences of Cisco's females executives.
A diverse labor force has actually never been more crucial to stay competitive in today's digital world and, more notably, in the future," said Mike Weston, Vice President, Cisco Middle East. "For nearly two years, Cisco has actually made it a leading concern to construct a diverse talent pool to fulfill these challenges.
Throughout the event, students will likewise be providing initial concepts they have actually developed with the objective of developing a positive impact and dealing with day to day challenges and inconveniences. The tasks sent will be based on the use of technological development around the Internet of Things and line up to Cisco's vision of 'Changing the way we work, live, play, and learn.Dubbed the Digital Rock Stars Challenge, the inter-school competition aims to ignite creativity and foster team work and entrepreneurial skills. The students innovative work be evaluated by a panel of judges based on originality, ingenuity and feasibility.
" Students attending the event will have an opportunity to meet women role models and males who are advocates for ladies in technology, learning about their career paths and the enjoyment of working in the fast-evolving field of innovation. The initiative's focus is on mentoring ladies and girls about career opportunities in ICT and encouraging them to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) to become the next generation of pioneers who will utilize technology to change the world," added Frida Kleimert, Head of Channel and Commercial Sales - Cisco UAE.
Cisco will be adding to the Girls Power Tech initiative by hosting girls from 50 countries in 90 places and providing them with career recommendations, individual career anecdotes and demonstrations in Cisco innovation. The UAE edition of the occasion will include a combination of office sees, presentations, technology demonstrations, fun activities and mentoring. 60 girls from different schools in the UAE consisting of Cisco's existing Networking Academies, an ICT skills and profession structure program for finding out organizations and individuals worldwide, are expected to participate in the event.
Speakers at the local edition of Girls Power Tech include Mike Weston, Voce President, Cisco Middle East; Frida Kleimert, Head of Channel and Commercial Sales - Cisco UAE; Den Sullivan, Cisco's EMEAR Leader Software Sales; Manal Al Ansari, Innovation Manager, Emirates NBD and Mohammed Khamis, Consulting Systems Engineer, Cisco. The individuals will be given the opportunity to get in touch with the other ladies across UAE, Oman and Kenya through Cisco's Telepresence collaboration options and female Cisco staff members will share their personal experiences in the ICT field.
Through its networking academies, Cisco has actually helped over 220,000 students in the Middle East graduate from the program since its inception. With almost 480 active academies in the Middle East across 14 countries, Cisco has more than 44,000 active students and over 1000 trainers with the average female student involvement standing at 37%. The variety of female students is in the Middle East is high, where females account for 55% of students in the UAE, 40% in Jordan, and 63% in Oman.
Women in ICT Day is a yearly day of activities backed by the International Telecommunications Union aimed at developing an environment that empowers and motivates girls and girls to think about careers in the growing field of ICT.
