Tech Social Entrepreneur Baratang Miya Talks Women and Africa’s Economy

Baratang Miya is a South African visionary and award-winning tech social entrepreneur. She is the founder and CEO of the GirlHype coding academy for women and girls in underserved communities of South Africa. 

Using the principles of creativity and design, her emphasis is on developing an atmosphere that encourages women and girls to create technology-enabled solutions to solve some of the key critical issues in their communities. Her efforts, along with her team, have culminated in a variety of scalable global projects that have had a consistent effect on young people, educators and startups in technology.

Baratang has been honoured by the US State Department for her contribution to women and girls in STEM. She was invited to spend six weeks in Silicon Valley with other winners of the Tech Women award. She was also chosen for the 2017 ITS Global Policy Fellowship in Brazil, where she had the opportunity to work with key stakeholders and government officials.

Baratang is a seasoned technology expert, thanks to her years of industry exposure and understanding of technological ecosystems which saw her managing CiTi’s Khayelitsha Bandwidth Barn. She has also worked closely with BlackBerry’s AppsLab in Cape Town and directed the SmartCity content creation plan of the City of Cape Town.

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The Birth of Girl Hype

Having experienced the discrimination that girls face in Africa and the poor education that is prevalent in most rural areas of of the continent, Baratang Miya knew she had to do something to ensure that women and young girls from deprived backgrounds had the opportunity to pursue careers in the tech field. Motivated by her own experience with technology and a deep belief in women’s education, she founded GirlHype in 2003.

Focusing on empowering young women through training in coding and app design, Miya hopes to see more women and girls exploring the vast opportunities of the tech space. Through GirlHype, Baranang has created a variety of tech clubs in and around Cape town such as the Mozilla Clubs for Women and Girls, a club which partners with the UN to onboard allies and community leaders like Miya to promote web literacy and support the inclusion of women and girls in tech.

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