Building An Impact- Driven Organisation in Africa: Tinyiko Simbine - Co-Founder and COO of GirlCode

What does it take to build one of Africa's most impactful organisations empowering women in technology?

In Episode 8 of Africa Rising Leadership Conversations, Nomazibulo Tshanga sits down with Tinyiko Simbine, Co-Founder & COO of GirlCode, to explore the leadership journey behind one of Africa's most influential women-in-tech movements.

This conversation goes beyond technology. It is about purpose, resilience, courage, and the responsibility of building organisations that create lasting impact across the continent.

In this episode we discuss:

✅ The woman behind the vision of GirlCode
 ✅ Building an impact-driven organisation in Africa
 ✅ Leading confidently in male-dominated industries
 ✅ Navigating setbacks, resilience and reinvention
 ✅ The future of women in STEM and digital leadership
 ✅ Advice for aspiring entrepreneurs and future African leaders

Whether you're an entrepreneur, executive, student, founder, or simply passionate about Africa's future, this conversation offers practical leadership lessons and inspiration for anyone committed to creating meaningful impact.

If you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to:
 👍 Like
 💬 Share your biggest takeaway in the comments
 🔔 Subscribe to Africa Rising Leadership Conversations for more inspiring conversations with Africa's most influential leaders.

About Africa Rising Leadership Conversations

Africa Rising Leadership Conversations is a platform dedicated to showcasing authentic leadership stories that inspire, challenge, and equip current and future leaders across Africa.

Every conversation is rooted in one belief:
 Africa's greatest resource is its leadership.

#AfricaRisingLeadershipConversations #TinyikoSimbine #GirlCode #WomenInTech #Leadership #AfricanLeadership #STEM #Innovation #Entrepreneurship #DigitalTransformation #WomenInLeadership #PurposeDrivenLeadership #Africa

https://www.instagram.com/leaders_conversation

www.africarisingleadership.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

So after attending a couple of hackathons, we realized that there were no girls coming to build technology. And again, it didn't make sense. We then decided, oh, you know what, let's just host our own all-female um hackathon. So we then go out into the communities and you know encourage these girls to take a chance on themselves. And this hackathon basically the purpose of it was to ensure that our girls. I then started to think about Silicon Valley. What is Silicon Valley? How about we build our own Silicon Valley in Africa? Once you find your purpose, it'll always, you know, it's always full of burning. It's burning, it's a burning desire, yeah. You know, um, and we just couldn't stop thinking about it. I couldn't stop thinking about it, and I had to do something about it. And as you get older, I mean your dreams change as well, right? Especially after doing more charity work. Then I realized that okay, as much as I'm here and I need this, um, do I really need to do the full journey? Not all your mentors will serve, you know, the same purpose, and not all of them will give you, you know, the same amount of skills or experience or knowledge, right? But the biggest thing, it all starts with people. People will naturally gravitate towards you as well as your leadership style. Because personally, um, I believe, you know, as a leader, you're the best leader when you are breeding other leaders.

SPEAKER_03 1:40

Africa Rise Today. Hello, welcome back to another episode of Africa Rising Leadership Conversations. Today I am not alone. Uh, but first let me introduce myself. My name is Noma Zimbulochanga. I am your host for Africa Rising Leadership Conversations. Um, I am not alone. I am with Tiny Ko Simbine, and she is the co-founder as well as the COO of Girl Code South Africa. Um, she's here to unpack her leadership journey and the realities um of building impact-driven business um in Africa and really what it takes to build as a woman in terms of shaping the digital um the digital future. So she's gonna talk about um her journey, the business that she's built, and and and this conversation could not have come at the right time where you know industries are focused on digitization, AI, and just the influence and how um, you know, digital literacy and AI is shaping the future, how we do things, how we think about things, and creating efficiencies in our operations. So it's such a well-thought um idea that we came up with. I'm interested to learn um where is where where where this all began. But before this, we need to talk about the woman behind the vision. Um, who is Dineko and um where are you from? Like just tell us about you.

SPEAKER_02 3:11

Absolutely. Um, first of all, thank you so much for this opportunity. So, who is Dineko? Um, finance graduate um with a passion for helping others. And after working in corporate, then decided to push my purpose towards the tech sector, especially after realizing the gender gap in the industry, which didn't make sense because when we were in varsity, there were girls who studied computer sciences, so why were they not in the workplace, right? And essentially, then we and my co-founder decided to do something about it.

SPEAKER_03 3:46

Yeah, yeah. So, where did the idea spark? I mean, besides the fact that there's um, you know, there's a gender gap that you had identified. I mean, the love and the passion, because there must be an element of love, or is it coming from the fact that you saw a gap in a market, like a typical entrepreneur would do? You find a gap in the market and you see how best you can then contribute to the market.

SPEAKER_02 4:08

I think the spark came after attending a couple of hackathons. So hackathon is an event where a group of either young people um come together to build towards a specific idea to solve a real life problem. So after attending a couple of hackathons, we realized that there were no girls coming to build technology. And again, it didn't make sense. We then decided, oh, you know what, let's just host our own all-female um hackathon. And we just hosted it, invited a couple of girls. It, you know, we didn't expect anything of it. And then the next year, the girls who had attended were then calling us and asking us, hey, when is the girl, you know, the next girl code hackathon? We're like, oh wow, so people are actually open to attending this. And then, yeah, I mean, then fast forward a couple of years later, we decided to not just um host um hackathons, especially after hosting the largest all-female um in South Africa. Wow. Um, so after that success, then we decided to basically become accredited and start, you know, training women and finding more opportunities for females in you know the STEM space because you always have this burning desire. Yeah, you know, um, once you find your purpose, it'll always, you know, it's always full of burning. It's burning, it's a burning desire, yeah. You know, um, and we just couldn't stop thinking about it. I couldn't stop thinking about it, and I had to do something about it, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 5:40

Okay, but before we get, you know, or dwell deeper into the conversation about STEM and and the AI and and how you pivoted, right? Because I believe your business is doing amazing, amazing work, which is what we're gonna get into. Tell me about Tiniko as a young girl. Like what did that look like? What shaped you as a person and as a leader?

SPEAKER_02 6:01

Yes, I mean Tiniko as a young person, always been super brave, um, always willing um, you know, to challenge the unknown, take risks, and not follow, you know, the norms. Um, I've always um pushed myself to do better. I've always had a passion for numbers as well, hence why the finance background and did a lot of charity work um from a young age. Um, hence why um I still help people in what I do.

SPEAKER_03 6:27

Who influenced, what influenced or who influenced you in terms of charity work? Because I mean, let's be honest, um, you know, back then they were not called uh uh corporate social responsibility, and sometimes we didn't even have the language for it in terms of charity work. All you knew is that you are helping a community or whatever the case may be, but there must have been an influence or someone that that that you saw this from. Where did that love for giving back come from?

SPEAKER_02 6:53

Absolutely. So it actually came about when um my co-founder actually started something when we were in Varsity where we were tutoring students in underprivileged backgrounds, um, in maths and science. So it all sparked with me having a conversation with one of the students at the time. Um so I'd always start my classes and ask them, what do you want to be when you grow up? You know, and the response was quite shocking, um, just to show that they were not thinking much of themselves and the type of future that they could have, right? I then um saw this as an opportunity to educate them in terms of what is out there, what is possible. And at that moment, then I realized that you know what my passion actually lies in helping others, you know, because you can help in so many ways. In so many ways, definitely. And with what you have, right? Yes, definitely with what you have, with where you are.

SPEAKER_03 7:44

Yeah. Then you you you study finance. Why finance?

SPEAKER_02 7:49

You know, like I said, I've always had a passion um for numbers. Yeah and I've I had this big dream to be a chartered accountant. Everyone did. Yeah, I also had that dream at some point. Yes, a very crazy dream. Um, and then Varsity quickly showed me that um to get to that dream, there's a lot that needs to happen, you know, and as you get older, I mean your dreams change as well, right? Especially after doing more charity work. Then I realized that okay, as much as I I'm here and I need this, um, do I really need to do the full journey? You know, how can I pivot?

SPEAKER_03 8:25

Um, then graduated and then, you know, got into the tech space and worked for a tech company in five in their finance department, and that's where then the whole STEM exposure then allows that because because what you did is as much as you were a finance graduate, but you were not um sort of um you you did not have sort of blinkers in terms of this is what I'm gonna focus on, and also map out a career trajectory that is in the finance line. When you got exposure into the tech, you also saw it, like I mean you've got a a a third eye, if I can call it that, you know, a forecast forecasting and and seeing things uh before they come to reality um to say that I'm in the tech space, the future of tech is is the dar is this direction. Maybe how can I then um you know align myself with my skills in order for me to reshape my career trajectory? So that well done to you on that. Now you're in this tech space. How does corporate look like for you?

SPEAKER_02 9:23

Corporate is looking very stressful at that point in time, um, hence why I then had to resign from my um full-time position and actually pursue um Go Code on a full-time basis, you know, and actually think of ways of growing um the entity and then tapping into my other skills, you know, um, which um stem from you know being super organized, um finding gaps, and being able to fill those gaps. And that's what you know has helped me pivot in my career, and then obviously then getting exposed to technology, getting to learn about the tech space, getting to learn what software development is about and where the world is going.

SPEAKER_03 10:06

Yeah, yeah. So I love that because they say as an entrepreneur, one of the character characters of an entrepreneur is curiosity. Absolutely. If you don't have curiosity and you are not able to explore um, you know, those ideas that look far-fetched, you know, um you're not yet there. We we have to think outside of the box and think how we can contribute better in terms of where the industry um um is shaping or going to. Now, you leave corporate after how many years?

SPEAKER_02 10:33

I'd been in corporate for about five years. Yeah. Yeah. At the time um when I left it. And I think I left it at the perfect time. Um, and that was when, you know, I then started to think about Silicon Valley. What is Silicon Valley? How about we build our own Silicon Valley in Africa? It would be lovely, you know, for us. Why do we have to go overseas to experience all of these things? Why can't we then build our own? And like you said, start where you are, right? Hence why we then decided to start training these young girls to contribute towards the economy and build technology for South Africans, and you need women as well, um, you know, to build technology in order for other women to consume it.

SPEAKER_03 11:22

To cause you you are so right. Um, so five years, what skills would you say you have learned in corporate that has shaped your journey today or how you show up as an entrepreneur?

SPEAKER_02 11:33

That anything is possible and that you need to always have a learning spirit. You need to also always be willing to pivot and there'll always be challenges. And you can be anything you want to be. Corporate definitely um taught me that, and it also taught me that you can learn. Any skill, nothing is impossible as long as you're willing to learn. As long as you've got the willingness to learn.

SPEAKER_03 11:57

Now you're starting GoGir, um, Girl Code, sorry. Girl Code, um, which is a platform that teaches young women um on how to code AI, digitization, streamlining of processes, efficiencies, and all of that. So tell me now, you are in this dream with your co-founder, you're starting this. What does that look like at the beginning?

SPEAKER_02 12:19

At the beginning, we just wanted to simply host an event and find out whether girls would be interested in attending our event. Then fast forward a couple of years later, we're like, what more can we do? Especially as an entrepreneur, you know, you always want to do more. Um, when you especially when you spot another gap, right? Because after hosting the hackathons, then we realized, okay, there's actually another gap. These uh young girls, you know, are not getting into the careers that they need to be getting into. They're not even aware of what is there. So, what can we do to pivot them into um these careers and get them exposed to what is out there? So that was us then trying to figure out what we can do. Hence, then we decided to be, you know, formalize and be an educational institution, get our accreditation. Then came the part of figuring out now the relevant, you know, um skills, the different tech stakes, especially because in software development things are developing at such a fast rate. Rapid rate. Yes, what you learned last month may be relevant, literally this month, you know. Um, so that's where we were at, and we're like, okay, no, we'll start, you know, here and then let's then find them job opportunities as well. That was another gap that we then realized that oh, very high youth unemployment rate in the country. You know, we don't want to be an institution that's known for just training these young girls and then just leaving them um to the market. Exactly, which is a reality in this country with a lot of training institutions, unfortunately. So we then partnered with different corporates to then be our employer partners to then absorb the goals that we have then um, you know, upskilled, just to ensure that we don't leave them skilled and just you know unemployed.

SPEAKER_03 14:05

Unemployed, yeah. I think that's a very good strategy of and and the way of looking at it, um, you know, is to say as much as I can equip you, give you the skill, and I'm assuming these are girls from previously disadvantaged backgrounds, right? And but then how do I then contribute to the sustainability of what we've started? So you've kind of built a value chain, um, a full value chain of employability into a a person coming from those backgrounds. So now you are in this, you are pushing the vision. What are some of the challenges that we are experiencing while you are running now your own business? And and and how did that shape you and and and and make you see things maybe differently from how you saw them while you were employed?

SPEAKER_02 14:47

Yes, I think um one of the first challenges was being so young, you know, in a male-dominated space. Um, so it was the whole having to learn so many things, learn how to pivot very quickly. Because as you're aware, um with entrepreneurship, you're constantly learning, it never stops. So that as well as um basically coming into a space and fighting imposter syndrome and also constantly having to push yourself and believe that you actually can do this. You know, I came into the IT background or STEM background without having a STEM background myself. You know, I mean studied finance, coming into a whole new um environment. Um, so I found it um quite challenging, but it was a challenge that I was willing to accept because I'm as a person um I don't give up easily and I always believe in always leveling up in everything that you do and always giving your all to things that you um get into. And how it has shaped me as a leader is that number one, always remember your why. You know, always remember your why and always lead with purpose because then people will naturally gravitate towards you as well as your leadership style because personally um I believe you know, as a leader, you you're the best leader when you are breeding other leaders. Of course. You know, I love that. So ensuring that your team are leaders in their own right and understand and own the roles that they contribute towards um our organization and understand that there's a bigger picture to what we do. We're here to change lives, essentially.

SPEAKER_03 16:28

Yeah. So I I often get um uh when I'm mentoring um, you know, young and aspiring entrepreneurs, especially in my field, whether it's training or human resources, um, etc. So people that are interested to get into the training space, right? Um, what are some of the challenges that you had encountered as you were transitioning and getting accreditations? I know sometimes working with the sitters can be quite a challenge in terms of material development, uh getting the facilitators, assessors. How do you pull everything so that it can connect and be a fully functional? Because oftentimes it looks easy on the eye, but once you actually get onto it, I mean the QMSs and and all of that that we have to curate, um, yeah, that reflects the the direction that you want to take. And also working with the you know a certain number of seaters or a CTA, which is different. It you know, so how did you navigate that space? Because that's a a question that I get all the time.

SPEAKER_02 17:22

Yes, yeah. So that was a very, very tough um space to navigate. Number one is finding the right qualification. Yeah, it's actually applying for the accreditation, and then it's the process, and then understanding that the timelines don't necessarily match your timelines. Then you've got the pressure from sponsors because you've now gotten funding and sponsors, you've given them a specific timeline. Accreditation is taking much longer. You cannot run a training program without your accreditation. So, first time around, you know, that was something that we had to navigate. But we can we quickly learned that you know it it helps getting help. So, you know, we were able to get a consultant to then help expedite, you know, help navigate. There's so it's so so much, yeah, there's so much documentation as well. So what was important was um to get an expert in to basically let us know that this is these are the steps and this is how we can get to where we need to get to sooner than later. And I'm very big um on you know asking for help, especially from those who know. Um, because I mean you don't know what you don't know, right? And it's important to, you know, leverage off others' experience, knowledge, as well as skills. So yeah, um that one was a very uh tricky one, um, but the important thing was just read, research, and again get the help from the experts.

SPEAKER_03 18:52

And I love the fact that you're emphasizing on reading and researching because oftentimes, I mean, the people that I would meet with and then they would want to engage with me, you would find that um as much as they've got an idea of what they want, but um you know they lacked the research behind it. And I think it's very important so that even when you do ask for help, you steer the help in the direction because you already know what it is that you want to get out of it. How important is stakeholder engagement in that process and generally as an entrepreneur?

SPEAKER_02 19:21

It is extremely vital, um, especially because everything is so time-intensive and everybody is super busy. You need to show up prepared with all of your or for all of your stakeholders, be it your mentees, you know, be it your mentor as well, you know, um, be it your clients, your sponsors. The biggest thing is understanding how to navigate each stakeholder accordingly, and understanding how you can give value to each stakeholder and how you can also gain value from um your stakeholders. Um, because if you don't do that, it can stifle your growth, you know, just wasting time, even with mentorship. Um hence why you have some people who have issues with mentorship and say, no, mentorship didn't work for me, purely because they didn't navigate mentorship properly and efficiently.

SPEAKER_03 20:12

What does that look like, navigating mentorship properly and and and effectively? And you are right, I mean I've had engagements where people are saying, no, it this thing doesn't work for me. Or others are like, I prefer a structured uh mentorship program. Others, no, no, no, I'm cool with an unstructured one. And so how does that how does that work um within your own experience?

SPEAKER_02 20:33

So personally, I believe in show understanding oneself. So understand where are your gaps, why do you want to be mentored in the first place, and which areas of your life do you want to be mentored in? Because then it also allows you to approach the right mentor, right? And understand that this is the gap that they can fill in your career and build you up. So the first thing is know thyself, know where you want to go, whether it's the next six months, year, or five years, and understand how your mentor can get you to your next point. Because not all your mentors will serve, you know, the same purpose, and not all of them will give you uh, you know, the same amount of skills or experience or knowledge, right? But the biggest thing, it all starts with you. You need to understand where you're going, what you need, what you lack.

SPEAKER_03 21:29

And which areas? I think that's important. Like which areas do you want to be mentored on? Um, and also putting a time frame on those areas because mentorship it does not have to be never-ending mentorship because mentorship can be seasonal for a particular area, for a particular skill, for a particular expertise. So I think those are uh are critical. So now tell me, how does a young girl, right, from the village or from um, you know, an underprivileged um community? Community, engage with your institution. Um Girl Code.

SPEAKER_02 22:05

Yeah, so how we um have found some of our girls um who come from villages is by going out into the villages, especially because unfortunately as a country, we know that infrastructure is still, you know, a problem as much as technology has advanced so much, but they don't have access to social media to be able to like contact us via website or uh call us, I mean, sorry, contact us on LinkedIn or Instagram or engage with us there. So we then go out into the communities and you know encourage these girls to take a chance on themselves. And I just like to speak about one of um the ladies who actually came from a village in Limpopo. She is now um working in the UK.

SPEAKER_03 22:48

Wow, wow as a software. So that's your story.

SPEAKER_02 22:52

Absolutely. Wow, how do you think?

SPEAKER_03 22:53

You know who did that genitake?

SPEAKER_02 22:55

Yeah, so she actually attended um one of our uh hackathons. Yes, she actually attended one of our hackathons and decided to take a chance on herself, right? And this hackathon basically the purpose of it was to ensure that our girls get employment opportunities um abroad from this hackathon. And she was one of the girls who showed up, and you know, it was such a quick and last-minute thing. So it was so amazing for her to shop from another province and shop for herself and you know, land a job in the UK, um, and in a first-world country, um as well, and not only change her life, but the life of her family. You know, it's that generational change as well. But the biggest thing is for us as Go Code as well to get into these communities and let these girls, these young ladies and girls know of what is possible and what is out there, and that's why also it's important for us to get these girls who were in the villages, get them back to share their journeys and their stories and bring the next girl up.

SPEAKER_03 23:58

I think it's important, and I love your approach because you're not uh more on reactive, but you're also proactive. I mean, you go out and target the areas that you want to attract the girls that you want to attract. Because I believe that the institution has to be demographically um represented, like in all spheres in terms of communities, areas, etc. So well done on that, and well done on your on your on your girl um that has gone to the UK. So tell me, um, leadership in a male-dominated tech space. I mean, already you've touched on the challenges that we had encountered, that we had to learn, we had to research. I mean, I'm imagining a new industry altogether with a finance background. You have no experience. Number one, like what a brave thing you did and and well done on yourself and your and your founder and your co-founder. But number one, I want to ask about um what does leadership look like in that tech space? Number two, why is it important for young girls and boys to really bat on themselves?

SPEAKER_02 24:58

I think the first thing is to believe that you belong in that space. It all starts with your self-confidence and showing up and being as assertive as possible without changing who you are. You know, as much as it was or is rather a male-dominated industry, you still show up in your femininity, you know, because we showed up and we're here to disrupt the space and also, you know, take over, you know, and level the playing field for those girls who are coming after us, right? You know, create an environment that young black girls can thrive and be successful in. So the first thing is to bet on yourself. Um, and also um, I think the biggest thing also is understand what it takes to be there. As much as obviously when you're starting out, you know, you can't really. Um, but again, it speaks to the research. Research the pot, researching and then showing up prepared. You know, and also don't listen to the little voices of imposter syndrome of oh, you're so young, oh you don't know anything about technology, you know. Um, you need to understand and remember your purpose. I think for me that was the biggest thing. Remember why you're here and remember everyone that is counting on you to show up in those rooms, you know, and get what you need out of those rooms.

SPEAKER_03 26:20

Would you say there are the the um, you know, individuals, um, whether male or female, that it played a critical part um in walking the journey with you um in a form of mentoring, um, you support, any form of support or sponsoring even. Um, would you say that there are people that did that to you and what did that look like?

SPEAKER_02 26:41

Yes, so we um had a very great um mentor, um Shamain Huve, um, you know, who always pushed us and led us in the right um rooms and led us to basically, you know, evolve as humans, you know, show up for ourselves, you know, um let us learn on the ground, right there, you know, because there's nothing better than learning, you know, while on the go, right? And then in terms of sponsorships, um believe it or not, most of our sponsors were actually um males. Wow. Um, we've had a lot of allyship from males, um, which is great. Which is great. We do need that allyship in all of them.

SPEAKER_03 27:22

And I and I think it's important when we talk about um gender representation, right? We're talking about how do men create space for women to thrive and for women to and men to create um uh tables, right, and seats for women to sit in so that women can then uh come in and pull other women as they're coming in. So I think it's very important. It's it's not a gender thing, but I think with what we're driving um with transformation in South Africa and globally, by the way, um when it comes to the gender gap, men has to create the space for us because they're already there. Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 27:54

And allow us to also show up in our femininity and not necessarily change and you know try be a man as well. For me, that's the biggest thing, right? Because a lot of women get that wrong once they get into leadership roles. They feel like they need to change themselves and construct soft, can't be emotional, you know. But that male allyship really um, you know, it's it's done so much for us um as an organization um to have you know people who are the opposite gender gender and actually see the gap and also say, you know what, we want to fight this with you. We want to make the change with you.

SPEAKER_03 28:32

Yeah, yeah. Thank you so much for that. Failure, resilience, and I guess impact. What does that look like for you now? You've been running the business for how long? For over 10 years. For over 10 years, I mean. Like, wow, girl. Congratulations on that. Um, so over 10 years, you are now in the tech space, in the STEM space, and your you your your your business has a high level of social impact um because I mean you're training young um um young young people. Um, what does failure look like? And where do you now start to realize that I am now running a business? I I am now in the thing, in the thick of it. Um, and how do you then come out of that? What are some of the failures um that you had to encounter along the way? And how do you then become resilient or how did you become resilient?

SPEAKER_02 29:25

I think some of the failures um would include getting into the training space and wanting to do that at scale before even, you know, getting your feet wet and you know, starting to pilot with reasonable numbers. I think that was one of um our biggest um failures. The second one also was not doing a proper audit of funders, right? Um, especially in a situation where you've got one funder who's funding like over 60% of your revenue. That is super risky. Obviously, I know that now, years later, that because as soon as that one funder pulls out, then the whole business collapses. Collapses, right? Um, so that was the second um biggest um learning. And then I'd say the third one is learning to pivot uh uh early when you see the red flags quickly. Don't try to fight the system, and it's okay also, right? To pivot and adapt to how the industry is moving and how funders are moving and how the needs of those that you serve are changing as well. So the biggest thing is pivot sooner than later.

SPEAKER_03 30:44

Love that, love that. Um, what is the future of African leadership, especially African woman leadership in the STEM space?

SPEAKER_02 30:54

What does that look like? That's a good question. Yeah, I think for me it it looks like having you know young black female leaders opening up opportunities for the younger generation. You know, for me it's always always been about giving back and be the change that you want to see. And that's the beauty of being a woman, right? We're we're nurturers, we naturally take care of others and naturally also bring up um others with us. So we're quite intentional with you know putting that out to our girls and into the universe. Um personally, um for me, I just feel like African female African leaders need to breed other leaders um by bringing them um forward and also showing young black girls that anything is possible. You can literally be anything you want to be. It doesn't matter where you come from, yeah, what you know and what you don't know. You can always learn, especially because knowledge now is available pretty much everywhere. Um, it's just about how you decide to use it and how you decide to, you know, take up these opportunities that are available.

SPEAKER_03 32:08

Yeah, yeah, I love that. So tell me, what does the future for um Girl Code look like? Yes. In the next five, ten years, what are you what what's exciting? What are you working on? What are the big projects? Or maybe let's talk about the big projects that you've worked with so that people can understand. Because I understand the scale of your business, but I don't think others can understand the scale of your business. What have you worked on and what does the future look like um in the next five to ten years?

SPEAKER_02 32:33

Absolutely. Um so we've got a very big audacious goal to reach 10 million uh women across Africa by 2013. Love. Um, so how that looks like so far. So after the success of hosting the largest all-female hackathon in South Africa, which is what started, you know, go quote and sparked everything, we then um, as of last year, branched out to other um African countries. Ah, which one are those? Share with us, please. Kenya, Tanzania, Ghana, um forgetting, I'm forgetting one. Um Botswana um as well. So we hosted um a pan-African um, you know, hackathon um with having the winners come out of Tanzania. So now the change is not just within a South African context, but across Africa as well. And what does that look like or how does that feed into the future of Girl Code? Well, essentially having Africa competing on an international um level with your USAs, your European um countries, and have you know young um black African girl coders um building technology for the use of the world and not just Africa, but also bringing the technology, building the technology to make Africa a better place and for us to essentially build our own um Silicon Valley to have other people come to our Silicon Valley, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 34:03

Yes, yes, and that will have an African context. Exactly, definitely with African resources, African expertise. Yes, that would be great. I am so looking at solving African problems. I love that. That would be great. Um, where can people find you? I think we are nearing the end of the conversation. Where can people find you? Um, I think this is also an opportunity to call out for investors that may want to invest in your business or funders. Where can how does that happen? Just talk us through that.

SPEAKER_02 34:30

Yes. Um, so on LinkedIn, um, it's my name, Diniko Simbine on LinkedIn. And then in terms of our company for investors, um, it's you can visit our website on www.girlcode.co.z a and then we across all social media at girlcode um underscore z A.

SPEAKER_03 34:48

Girlcode underscore Z A. And um I think the last one for me is um what legacy do you want to leave behind? I mean, I'm assuming that you eventually you'll pivot to other things, get exposed to other things, but what legacy do you want to leave behind, especially when it comes to girl code um institution?

SPEAKER_02 35:09

Yes, I think the legacy that I would like to leave behind is basically having um leaving behind a group of young leaders who are ensuring that you know technology is being built in order to make Africa a better place.

SPEAKER_03 35:25

Wow, wow. Technology is being built in order to make Africa a better place. I love that. So thank you so much. We are at the end of our conversation, and thank you to everyone that has tuned in. Such an insightful um conversation with um Tiny Ko Simbene, who is the co-founder of um Girl Code Institution, founded with, I guess, a dear friend of yours from Varsity. Um, so well done, ladies, and you are doing exceptionally well. I do watch your work, I see the work that you are doing and never stop. I mean, it touches my heart all the time when I see you in a classroom with young women, right, that are aspiring to be um, you know, uh tech um gurus one day. So please keep up the work and um never stop, even if sometimes it's challenging, but you have to keep on keeping on. So thank you so much for tuning in, and that's the end of the conversation. Until I meet you again in our next episode. Thank you for watching. Africa Rives Today. Thank you for listening and thank you for tuning in. So, we are available on the podcast, Apple Podcasts, or any other streaming podcast. Please do comment and subscribe on both the podcast as well as our YouTube channel, which is Africa Rising Leadership. Until we see you again next time. Thank you.