Vodafone Ghana Foundation has stepped up its leadership in STEM education by partnering the KNUST College of Engineering to deliver its annual Cygnus Girls boot camp.

The four-day Cygnus camp, a brainchild of the College of Engineering, empowers girls in STEM across second-cycle schools in the country with new trends in technology, new thinking, innovation and creativity. Vodafone’s support was mainly in the area digital skills including coding, online education, mentoring and entrepreneurship. A total of 300 participants, made up of 90% females, attended the session.

In his address, Provost of the College of Engineering, KNUST, Prof. Mark Adom-Asamoah, charged the participants to embrace technology as a vital platform for success.

“This boot camp is one of the many avenues we are adopting to immerse prospective students in the theory and practise of technology and engineering ahead of their enrolment as first year students of the college. Harnessing talent and creativity must be done at an early stage and we are happy to be contributing to the empowerment of these participants.”

In a keynote address, delivered on behalf of the Chairperson of the Vodafone Foundation, Corporate Relations Manager, Ebenezer Amankwah said:

“There’s nothing impossible if you set your mind to be successful against all odds. Be sure to know yourself and what you want. Believe in yourself and know that a mastery of technology is critical for future success. Don’t be perturbed by the seeming uncertainty; take the skills being dished out at the camp seriously - Coding, mentoring, advisory and innovation - and become a critical mass for the future.”

Vodafone’s contribution to digital empowerment has been consistent over the years, with their Instant Schools and National Coding programmes, serving as avenues to digitally leave no one behind. The coding programme is looking to impact a total of 5,000 youth with basic and advanced skills in the next five years whilst its digital education platform – Instant Schools – has received over 7-million visits on its website since its introduction in 2017.