Takealot.com introduces girls to the power of coding
by Emma Dicks

In an effort to encourage young people to consider careers in technology fields, Code for Cape Town has partnered with takealot.com, South Africa’s largest online store, who opened its doors
this week to host 40 aspiring female coders for a 3 hour introductory coding workshop.
The workshop highlighted career opportunities for coders, developed learners’ computational thinking ability and even had them coding their first project. Learners came from several Cape Town schools including Westerford, Claremont High and Cape Academy for Maths, Science and Technology.
“I find coding fascinating after today” said Lilitha Ayabonga Zosiwe, a Grade 10 learner from Cape Academy for Maths, Science and Technology. Fatima Floris from Claremont High School added, “As someone who doesn't really know what I want to do, coding is definitely now an option.”
As one of South Africa’s leading ecommerce companies and an innovative technology-led business, Takealot has an ever-increasing number of roles that require ambitious engineers with strong coding skills.
"We're excited to see more and more girls participating in Code 4 Cape Town and love the initiative as it really speaks to our business values", said Julie-Anne Walsh, Chief Marketing Office at Takealot, "We encourage all young people to develop their coding skills as early as
possible, along with a passion for maths. There are so many exciting career opportunities ahead for them - especially at Takealot where we face interesting technical challenges every day that need smart, ambitious engineers to solve complex problems."
During February and March up to 600 girls will be able to attend Code for Cape Town’s Power of Coding workshop. Girls can register on Quicket for workshops at Cape Town Science Centre, American Corner and Bandwidth Barn.

photo by: Ivan Blazic

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