Nolthando Mokoena was under the Cash Connect sponsorship for her YES programme. Her experience in the programme led her to realise her passion for helping and resolving issues, with and for others. During her period with IT Varsity under the YES programme, Nolthando worked as head of student services.
This awakened her calling to support others and especially empowering other young females. The YES zero-rated apps and modules were very resourceful in enhancing her skills and assisting her with making sound life and work decisions. A lot of her work now is centered around introducing female youth to technology.
Nolthando started her YES programme at an exceedingly difficult time, she had just given birth to her beautiful daughter, and a lot was going on in her life. Her grandfather, who was her only guardian, had recently passed away.
By the time that she finished her matric, she always knew that she wanted to study B. Com or anything specialising in business studies, but because there was little support, she could not achieve her dreams. Depression swept in and she started feeling overwhelmed by her sadness. It was when the YES opportunity was presented to her that a lot of things in her life took a positive turn, it was her version of a new beginning.
Nolthando had the following to say:
“I had given up on studying and fulfilling my dreams. South Africans need opportunities like these, and we need companies like YES to continue to drive this change in our lives
The YES programme was exceptional. Yes, there were challenges here and there but overall, I would say it was great. Through this programme, I learned how to code using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. I never imagined myself doing IT, but here I am today.
I want to motivate and empower other young women to join the information technology industry because it brings so much knowledge and skills to one. Amongst everyone that was part of the programme or under the same sponsorship as mine, I managed to secure a job at IT Varsity on the as head of student services. I got the role because I knew what I wanted when I started the programme. The YES apps contributed to my growth as well because I managed to open my EmpowHer organisation that motivates and supports young women; our goal is to create nation builders out of the girls. I learned a lot of skills but the most important one was being able to digitise my work and become computer literate because I did not know anything about computers.
I have managed to hire someone who helps run the initiative with me. YES contributed to my soft skills because I wanted to register this business as a NPO, but when my friends and I took the surveys and assessments, we had to think carefully about what we wanted and where we wanted to go in life, that is when I realised that I could assist girls that are not computer literate and benefit out of this so that I can provide the best education for my daughter as well.
That is when I decided to register the business as a for profit organisation. I also decided that I want to create educational apps that are like the ones from YES The apps help us understand how the world works and what decisions one can make.
I also want to create easy and accessible apps that tutor children about technology because we have started moving into 4IR.
Today I am empowering young girls in my community, for them to think beyond what they see around us. Introducing coding to them is something that is new and rare to find in a community like mine. One of our biggest missions is to close the gap between men and women in the IT industry. All of this was made possible because of the YES programme and IT Varsity.”