International Women’s Day   |08 March 2023

Local women doing their part to promote technological advancement

Seychelles joins the rest of the world today to commemorate International Women’s Day, a day celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. The day also raises awareness about discrimination and takes action to drive gender parity.

This year's theme is 'DigitALL:- Innovation and Technology for Gender Equality', which recognises and celebrates the women and girls who are championing the advancement of transformative technology and digital education. These are women and girls who are driving digital innovation & technological advancement. This year’s theme also calls for a safer, more inclusive, and more equitable digital future. Seychelles NATION showcases local women who are doing their part in their respective field to promote technological advancement.

Daniella Marie

Daniella Marie is a Senior Education Officer at the Ministry of Education and also responsible for the section Educational Multimedia Technology.

“My section oversees different aspects in the integration of technology in our Ministry – education, research and strategy. But currently we are focusing more on the integration of technology in education. In the strategic plan of the MoE, it is to integrate technology in teaching and learning to enable the Ministry to become a technology enabled Ministry. During the pandemic, our efforts and actions were more visible although lots of work have been done behind the scene. Different projects such as distance learning for students and teachers, developing digital courses for students and teachers, Britannica Digital learning are ongoing.”

Ms Marie shared that they have also done projects with Commonwealth of Learning and will continue to do so this year. A platform is being developed so that the teachers can share their experiences and even download the lesson plans.

“Now we are working on a pilot project on Information Management System to be implemented in the schools.”

Ms Marie started her career as a teacher and during the years, she realised the necessity to have modern ways in learning.

“I started to put into practice what was available at that time and slowly was promoted after completing my studies for a Bachelor of Science in Multimedia Technology in Malaysia. I came back to keep working in the MoE.”

Are more women interested in Digital technology? Ms Marie affirms that there has been a change among girls/women. “Even though it is not comparable to the number of male in this sector, I have noticed an increase in the female population. We have more female teachers and the driving force is coming from them.”

For the International Women’s Day, Ms Marie congratulates all women for their work and continuous efforts for the betterment of society. “I would encourage girls/women to pursue their dreams and further their career in technology and be ready to learn from others. In this field, there is progress everyday so keep on reading and keep on learning.”

Farah-Rose Jean-Louis

Farah-Rose Jean-Louis is a young aspiring architect with a keen interest in the latest technologies, especially those which are revolutionising the architecture world.

Farah-Rose. who is currently in her last year at the Beau Vallon secondary school, is not new to the tech world, having been part of Team Seychelles for the sixth FIRST Global Challenge 2022, in Switzerland in October 2022 as well as the 2023 First Global Robocco Challenge. She was initially selected by her teacher to be a part of the team, based on her consistently good performance in Information Technology (IT).

“I have always had an interest in technology as I want to be an architect once I am done with my studies and I want to be able to incorporate different technologies in my architectural designs. I am particularly interested in smart housing and green housing solutions that are more energy-efficient and more sustainable”.

“The whole world revolves around technology and through the use of technology architecture becomes much more interesting than simply designing and drawing something on paper. Drawings can be limited but technologies enable you to go much further,” Farah-Rose states.

The budding talent hopes to be able to further her studies at the Seychelles Institute of Technology (SIT) to specialise in architecture, once she completes her IGCSEs. Thus far, she has maintained high grades in the subject and is confident that she will be sitting for her IT IGCSE by the end of the year.

Despite the challenges faced by women in the world of architecture around the globe, Farah-Rose is confident that she has what it takes to achieve her dreams and to be successful in the industry. 

Irene Jean-Baptiste

Irene decided to become a graphic designer when she was in secondary five and chose College of the Arts as her first option for post-secondary, where she did three years. It was there that she developed an interest for media, leading her to become a television graphic designer.

Ms Jean-Baptiste enjoys all aspects of her work, which includes doing ‘habillage’ for television programmes, adding graphics to live events such as National Day ceremony, sports competition and musical shows as well as produce TV adverts or design posters for social media pages. One of her biggest achievements was being chosen to be part of a national committee set up by the Central Bank of Seychelles, to design the country’s bank notes.

“I was appointed to guide them on how to incorporate Seychelles’ flora and fauna onto the notes such as in the colours and how to place the designs. The theme was ‘Seychelles unique biodiversity - the backbone of our Economy’, she explains.

Through her work, Irene has also been exposed to the international arena, and one of her special moments, was the chance to visit one of South-Africa’s top television stations, South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), to get first-hand experience on how to set up a studio for a morning show.

“For my every day work I get my inspiration from social media platforms such as pinterest, behance or Instagram, where I can choose visual treats, colour scheme, as well as through magazines. I also follow a lot of international programmes to see how they do their ‘habillage’. There are days, when I am not inspired regardless how much I try, so when I get stuck I step away from the computer for a while to take a breather. I will eventually come up with something,” she says.

Irene, who is in a male-dominated profession, does not mind working alongside men, whom she say have always been supportive and understanding.

“When I worked in the graphics section at the Seychelles Broadcasting Corporation, I was the only female staff alongside three men, who were more experienced and willing to share their knowledge. I grasped a lot from them. As a graphic designer, I have the freedom to express myself, my imagination and creativity. I learn something new every day and there is a huge demand for graphic designers, making it a competitive and interesting market,” she says.

She advises other young girls to venture into this field, which has huge potentials

“Go for it, graphic design has evolved. There are new software being introduced every day and there are various job opportunities not only in television but you can also become a freelancer, providing services to many businesses seeking business cards, posters, banners for example. There a lot of opportunities but just keep abreast of new design softwares,” she concludes.

Malika Jivan

Malika Jivan is a Digital entrepreneur, who uses technology to make training fun.

“The world is evolving.  Technology is both an enabler and a disabler.  It will be the backbone of every business.  I use technology to make mandatory training fun - turning training into gaming,” she explains.

Malika and her team have done various training through games in areas such as anti-money laundering, cyber security, leadership and corporate inductions, conservation and taxes. She says like any new business, it took time to develop and “takes grit, passion and resilience”. Her biggest achievements were making her passion for training cost effective and fun and taking her business global.

Although she is passionate about her profession, Malika says the sector comes with its challenges and for her, being a mom of three and an entrepreneur remains as the major challenge. 

“It is a balancing act that requires a lot of sacrifice and one has to stay focused on the goals,” she says. Her advice to young girls is “to believe in yourself and make it happen.  Don’t give up!”   

Nancy Onginjo (Mrs)

Nancy Onginjo is the chairperson of the Seychelles Fishers and Boat Owners Association (SFBOA) and a local partner to South-African-based non-profit organisation, ABALOBI, which has developed an application, Fisher Logbook Seychelles, in an effort to give artisanal fishers tools to be champions of their own data. The app is a fisheries traceability technology which effectively tracks seafood from its landing site to its final consumer through a traceability system.

“I believe in the era we are, technology and its innovation present great opportunities in marine protection, maintaining healthy fish populations/stocks, new ways to feeding the population and protect the livelihoods of millions and also helps us adapt to impacts of climate change,” says Mrs Onginjo.

She adds that although technology itself cannot solve the current global fishing crisis, it can nevertheless be a catalytic element for major transformation of fisheries practices and policies under the right sustainable approaches. 

“Under the right approach it can pave way for great opportunities in improving fisheries management practices making the industry more efficient and sustainable, while empowering us fishers and consumers at the same time.”

She adds however that one of the biggest challenges remains access to funds for technology as fishing communities across the globe are mostly from the poorer communities, and Seychelles is no exception.