HerNovation Heroine Trampling Gender-Bias Gap

The IT industry is one of the fastest-growing industries in Kenya. Despite the phenomenal rise of the sector, there seems to be a well-noted divide that simply cannot be solved by a quick fix.

This divide is present in numerous Kenyan sectors. Despite a wealth of information confirming that companies are more profitable when they have more women in the C-suite, companies are still staring down the barrel of the gender gap.

The underrepresentation of women in tech is not a new topic, and even though progress has been made, it is moving at a snail’s pace. This issue has the potential to completely halt the progress of the sector, leading to further challenges in the already struggling economy.

Huawei are well on their way to creating a new narrative to the gender gap issue. They understand that superior innovation is achieved by having a diverse team where members can challenge each other and bring new perspectives.

By nature, interacting with a diverse team forces team members to put more effort into preparation, allowing them to anticipate alternative viewpoints. The presence of women makes individuals anticipate differences in opinion and perspective and makes them assume that they will need to work harder to come to a consensus. It is logical to think that every team member can benefit from that kind of pressure.

Another powerful trick that Huawei have employed to bridge the gender gap is understanding, and allowing men and women alike to bring their unique ideas to the table. This enables better problem solving, which can boost performance at the business unit level.

In order for a company to tap into its highest potential, gender diversity must be made into a business priority. Much like the perspective in which cybersecurity works, a company must attune itself into the culture of security, similarly, a company mist attune itself into the culture of gender diversity if it is gaining traction on the path to overall success.

Huawei also encompasses an initiative program called Women In Tech Huawei. Huawei looks towards supporting and motivating women in the workplace through charitable ICT skills training programs. The initiative seeks to eradicate the gender gap bias within a male-dominated IT industry and to give women a stepping stone into realising their greatest skills and infinite potential.

The program holds six strategies in a bid to assure this initiative bears fruit. The strategies are mainly management and communications, HR and administration and procurement, parters and customers, CSR and ICT academies.

The WITH program is headed by Maureen Mwaniki. She states, “We have made good strides but we have a lot more to do to, with this launch we have set clear goals and together with the partners we will achieve them.”

On a trail of revolutionising new paradigms, Huawei has taken the step to continue playing an instrumental role in bridging the gender equality gap- they have sponsored the fast approaching HerNovation forum. The forum will happen on 18 November, and will unfold virtually.

The invaluable session’s purpose is to tackle the latest trends in the evolving IT leadership space, opportunities for innovating your career, as well as providing unique virtual networking opportunities. The push for diversity in organisations is now more pronounced, and the HerNovation event seeks to fully align with assisting and ensuring women are fully assimilated into the tech space.