Guest Speaker Victoria Ngono is the Founder & Executive Director of Girls In STEM Trust since 2018. This is a non-profit organization with female future leaders and pioneers in STEM in mind. Through the organisation’s deliberate drive by exposure to all facets of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) as well as digital skills, in fun and exciting ways, Girls In STEM Trust advocates and paves the way for a vibrant generation of women leaders and entrepreneurs in STEM now and in future generations. The cornerstone and primary focus of The Girls in STEM Trust is summed up by the mission statement, “Her Digital Skills, Her Future!” which infuses the organisation’s key values of creativity, adaptability, diversity, versatility and integrity. 
 

The organisation is on a mission to get one million girls and young women in to STEM related studies, occupations and business enterprises by 2030. To date the lives of 1200 girls have been touched in various capacities through the organisation’s Mentorship and Digital and Workplace Training Programmes while 79 girls are currently benefitting from a monthly Digital Skills Training Programme and quarterly Job Shadowing Programme. In February 2020, Girls In STEM Trust was able to host the Ministry of Primary and Education Provincial Education Director for Bulawayo Province and officials from this Ministry, esteemed STEM Educationists, STEM Industry Partners and 120 girls from various institutions of learning, to commemorate the United Nations International Day For Women And Girls In Science and participate in a Women In Science Indaba in Bulawayo.
 

Victoria is an ICT Professional specialising in Systems Analysis, a certified ICT and Digital Skills Trainer, Speaker and Mentor passionate about Digital Transformation as well as Social and Business Entrepreneurship primarily in the field of Technology for women. She is also a member of the Computer Society of Zimbabwe Bulawayo Chapter, serving on the Chapter’s Executive as the Chapter Secretary and Executive Member in charge of the Education Portfolio since 2011. She has had the privilege of serving as part of the Tech Conference Convenors Committee for the Chapter having convened several Tech Conferences for the Computer Society of Zimbabwe’s members and ICT Practitioners from that time. 
 

She is one of the country ambassadors for Africa Code Week since 2017. This is an initiative supported by Google, SAP, UNESCO and YouthMobile in 37 African countries that exposes African Youth to their first line of code and promotes a wide array of digital literacy skills such as Computer Science and Robotics. Through the programme, 1276 youths in Bulawayo, Matabeleland North and South Provinces benefitted from learning how to code for the first time. 

 

As a Technovation International Challenge mentor and judge, she also mentored a team of 5 high school girls in Bulawayo to their success as Regional Champions of the competition in 2018 by imparting digital literacy as well as Programming and Coding skills.  Through all these co-ordinated efforts, Victoria aims to conscientise young female Africans on the benefits of learning Digital and Coding Skills in relation to STEM studies, STEM Careers and broaden the scope of the uptake of STEM Business Entrepreneurship as a whole towards the development of her country and the African continent. 
 

Her work cuts across all spheres of the community and enables corporate stakeholders to have a fuller share in imparting business entrepreneurship skills, digital skills training and empowering young girls and women through mentorship by means of the wide array of STEM initiatives that Girls In STEM Trust provides to ensure that they become 21st Century Workforce Ready and Fourth Industrial Revolution relevant.

Guest Speaker Victoria Ngono is the Founder & Executive Director of Girls In STEM Trust since 2018. This is a non-profit organization with female future leaders and pioneers in STEM in mind. Through the organisation’s deliberate drive by exposure to all facets of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) as well as digital skills, in fun and exciting ways, Girls In STEM Trust advocates and paves the way for a vibrant generation of women leaders and entrepreneurs i