WITSI celebrates International Girls in ICT Day virtually

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Despite the COVID19 pandemic leaving the country declaring a state of emergency which disrupted our planned program for the day with Primary and Secondary school students, Women in IT Solomon Islands (WITSI) organised and commemorated Girls in ICT Day on the 23^rd of April 2020, by participating in a virtual meeting on the topic "Women in ICT Entrepreneurship: Opportunities and Challenges."

Women who are already in the ICT industry have always been encouraged and empowered to excel in their ICT careers as well as taking up the challenge to venture into ICT entrepreneurship as it has been noticed that young women in ICT fields tend to change career along the way.

 The virtual meeting allowed WITSI members to be able to share their experiences on their entrepreneurship journey if any, learn from others, encourage each other to push their boundaries as well as discuss some of the challenges and opportunities that COVID19 has created for Women in ICT Entrepreneurship in the Solomon Islands.

The sharing of experiences and how technology can be used to leverage and create innovation with opportunities in the digital world is also an act to spark women entrepreneur mindsets within members of WITSI; encouraging each other to venture down this pathway in the near future. We believe that women’s greater participation in business will empower them into business leadership roles, promotes gender equality in a competitive business society, “change attitudes and expand horizons.”

WITSI also acknowledges UNCTAD for publishing “Empowering Women Entrepreneurs through Information and Communications Technologies, A Practical Guide, (2014);” a document that was circulated to WITSI members to read and digest while exploring the enterpreneur space.

It is WITSI’s endeavour to motivate and empower its members to venture into ICT entrepreneurship, contributing to the social, security and economic development in the country.

We had WITSI members participating from Geneva, Switzerland; Melbourne, Victoria, Australia and around Honiara, Solomon Islands. Hope everyone out there had a Happy International Girls in ICT Day, we surely had a memorable one