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Nqobile Bhebhe, Online Reporter

OLD Mutual, through its innovation hub – Eight2Five is set to conduct computer coding training for women geared at imparting cyber skills and igniting interest in digital and innovation careers.

The coding boot camp  draws inspiration from this year’s theme for International Women’s Day, ‘DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality.’

The boot camp will be held on Friday.

“Old Mutual innovation hub – Eight2Five – will this Friday 17 March, host a computer coding training for women in a bid to hone computer programming skills in females as well as to rouse interest in more digital and innovation careers for women,” Old Mutual said in a statement.

“With Old Mutual keen to develop more tech-focused skills in women to break the gender divide, the coding boot camp seeks to empower women that are interested in understanding the basics of coding and ignite interest in more digital and innovation careers.”

Eight2Five innovation hub seeks to partner with Zimbabwean entrepreneurs and start-ups to achieve a shared vision of solving real-world and business problems through technology.

The coding boot camp is opened to all women pursuing coding skills that unlock digital and innovation ideas and careers,

” By the end of the training, the ladies will be able to build their basic websites and develop UX design skills.”

Last year, Eight2Five innovation hub commenced its cloud computing upskilling programme for local technology and information communication technology (ICT) entrepreneurs.

The programme sought to upskill local entrepreneurs and start-ups in solving real-world problems through technology.

Kickstarting the program, Eight2Five powered by Old Mutual last year hosted the first hybrid Amazon Web Services (AWS) Cloud Computing onboarding in Harare.

The cloud computing session drew over 65 developers and tech enthusiasts that attended the event in person while others joined virtually.

“Ensuring that female entrepreneurs get a globally competitive advantage is of great importance to us, this is why we took the initiative to put this together and continue the journey of empowerment,” Old Mutual Women’s Network leader Kudakwashe Mswaka, said.