DIGITAL GIRL X SUPERBALIST

Words: Refiloe Legoale | Images: Supplied

In a saturated industry like digital, one has to be innovative enough to stand out from the rest. That is what Digital Girl Africa did by identifying a gap in the digital space and owning it to become future leaders. Founder of Digital Girl Africa Ian Mangenga lets us in on some of the ground-breaking projects they’re working on.

What is Digital Girl Africa?

Digital Girl Africa is a women-focused digital hub that is bridging the gap between women in Africa and technology through critical digital skills training. Our mission is to eliminate the digital gender gap so that women and girls across the continent can participate in the future economy. The digital economy.

What inspires the work you do?

We believe that everyone stands to gain something when women are empowered. Seeing how access to the internet has been able to change many women’s lives is what keeps us going. Access to the internet is a basic human right, and we want to make sure that the right can secure a more just future for women and girls.

What inspired the t-shirt designs and messaging on your collaboration with Superbalist?

The t-shirt designs were inspired by our community of creative women, the SLOW tribe. It was our first time putting out a call to recruit other digital girls to join us in creating our little corner on the internet. What we ended up with was a group of women from all walks of life all gathered under the same mission, using technology to change our lives and other women’s lives.

How did the idea of the SLOW Fest come about?

A Digital Girl Africa festival has always been one of my dreams, but during the lockdown, I started thinking more about what the future of digital girls all overlooked like. I have always participated in 16 days of activism in one way or another through the work I do but had reached a new level of frustration with the little change I saw year after year. So, I decided that maybe instead of doing what we normally do, why don’t we curate a space that would inspire women during the 16 days and have us answer some of the questions we all have right now about the state of our future. And so the journey began.

What did you hope to achieve with hosting the digital festival?

The SLOW Fest was our first step in starting the process of generating our own research that deals with women online. We wanted to test the waters and see if some of the conversations we have been having within our tribe resonate with everyone. The feedback has been really great. We plan to develop this approach and gather insights that we can share with future partners.

Are there any plans on hosting the festival annually?

Yes, yes, yes! We are making the SLOW Fest an annual event and have learnt so much from the first one. We hope this year we will be able to include real-life events by the time it comes, so we can have a real hybrid-festival.

Any plans on expanding your work outside Africa?

Absolutely! The more the merrier. For now, we are still working on expanding within all the four spheres of the continent. But we are coming for the world.

Follow Digital Girl Africa on Instagram.