Q1. Why are you nominating this person? What contribution(s) and achievement(s) qualify the nominee for this award? Was their contribution(s)/achievement(s) for their organization, business, or client?
Vinoliah is a transformational leader and role model to many in the technology industry. She loves empowering people and building and nurturing the talent pipeline of girls and women to drive digital transformation into the future. She is passionate about technology advancement to improve economic progress and social change and enjoy being at the forefront of digital transformation efforts for enterprise businesses and helping enterprises innovate and digitally transform their business models. Her impact expands across girls in schools where she often does motivational talks and exert role modelling to young people, universities where she mentors girls globally to help them excel at completing their degree and getting ready for the workplace so that they are empowered to drive digitalisation for organisations whether in a technical or aspirational leadership perspective and helping them find employment (truly taking girls and women on the journey with her), in the workplace where she drives various initiatives for women empowerment and gender equity, helping women have a voice in the tech industry and encouraging men to become allies, she actively creates a safe space for women, calls out non-inclusive behaviour and encourage other leaders to set positive examples. In her role as a board member for women in tech, global movement, she is actively on a mission to empower 5 MILLION WOMEN AND GIRLS by 2030 and meet 5 Sustainable Development Goals.
Q2. What metrics, if any, coincide with this nomination (e.g., financial, business growth, or client satisfaction impact)?
Resulting in a significant number of girls taking on careers in STEM from high school. Number of girls graduating from university and finding a job in the tech industry and progressing their careers. Sigificant progress to empower 5 million girls and women by 2030, progress todate is superb. Change and improvement in the workplace, women progressing their careers in the technical and leadership sphere. Helping women and men drive digital transformation in organisations, allowing for significant competitive advantage and sustainable business growth. Business growth have been 5x.
Q3. Please describe their influence. Is it internal via leadership roles, chairing groups, etc. or external via social media, speaking engagements, thought leadership, etc.?
Vinoliah’s strives to improve economic progress and social change in the digital era, her impact and influence continues to be through:
- Motivational talks at schools and being a role model to many young people
- Mentoring university students and interns and helping them build their network, be ready for the industry and help them grow and develop and continuously empower them to drive positive change
- In the workplace through leadership and allyship and creating initiatives for women to get together and share experiences and learnings
- At conferences speaking on topics of women empowerment, leadership, digital transformation, workforce competencies to drive change
- Thought leadership as she is a regular contributor on ITWeb CIO views
- Social media via LinkedIn
- Through her board roles where she is a Non-executive director at Mowgli mentoring and board member for women in tech, Africa
- Through her research as she is a PhD student focusing on digital competencies to digitally transform organisations
Q4. What personal qualities have they demonstrated that would qualify them for this nomination (e.g., promotes collaboration, great communicator, supports other women, leads by example)?
Leads by example and is a true role model to so many. She continuous to creates a platform for girls and women to get together to collaborate, share learnings and experiences, be mentored and grow networks across the industry.
Q5. Is there any other information you would like us to consider?
Vinoliah is a Client Executive at Microsoft SA, part-time Non-Executive Director at Mowgli Mentoring, Board member for Women in Tech, Africa global movement, ITWeb CIO coloumn contributor. She is also a frequent conference speaker, visionary and seasoned professional with over 14 years’ experience in strategy development and execution, project leadership and technology. Holding a deep understanding of the South African market, industry knowledge and expertise in emerging technologies, her experience extends across financial services and the technology industry and NGO’s.
Martin, love empowering people, building and nurturing the talent pipeline of girls and women to drive digital transformation into the future. She is passionate about technology advancement to improve economic progress and social change and enjoy being at the forefront of digital transformation efforts to help enterprises innovate and digitally transform their business.
Martin, holds several qualifications and currently embarking on her PhD journey at UCT, focusing on the workforce competencies to aid organizations to digitally transform now and into the future.
‘Let's empower all nations to leverage technology capabilities for the greater good of society and effective economic growth’ - Vinoliah Martin
In which of the following years did the nominee demonstrate these qualities/achieve these results? Select all that apply.
2021, 2022, 2023