Name: Fazlyn Petersen Peterse
Designation: Senior Lecturer
Company: University of the Western Cape
What do you do every day?
I am a Senior Lecturer in the Information Systems (IS) Department at the University of Western Cape.
How did you get into the tech space?
I joined academia to train the next generation of IS professionals. I teach Information Systems Strategy and Enterprise Architecture. The rising levels of youth unemployment has made me focus on including entrepreneurship into my courses so that students have an alternative to finding employment in the formal sector. Students need to formulate a business idea using Design Thinking then create a Business Model Canvas as the first step towards their business plan. We need more female IS professionals and entrepreneurs to make a difference to the South African economy.
I honestly didn’t want to become an Accountant, Economist or Statistician so this major was chosen by order of elimination lol I’ve heard a saying, “Sometimes a dog chases the wrong squirrel up the right tree”. IS was my right tree even though I didn’t realise it at the beginning. It works to my strengths of problem solving and creative thinking.
What was the best advice anyone ever gave you?
Nothing is impossible, even the word says I’m possible 🙂
What advice would you given someone wanting to get into the tech sector?
When I started a degree in IS I wasn’t even computer literate and I didn’t own a computer. I had never used the internet before starting university. Now I have a PhD in Information Systems. I’m proof that with hard work you can achieve anything. Challenges help you grow and what doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger 🙂
What motivates you to get out of bed every day?
I can make a difference using technology to help make a difference. I can design for the inclusion of the marginalised.
Who do you want to be when you grow up?
I wanted to be a doctor and now I am but without the needles, blood and Covid.
About The Author: Samantha
Samantha Perry is the owner and founder of SJ Perry PR, a small, independent agency that specialises in providing public relations and media relations services to small to medium-sized businesses. She recently served as the JHB Agency Lead for Irvine Partners, an integrated public relations and marketing agency. She has over 20 years' of experience writing for a range of media - print and online - mainly in the ICT sector including Computing SA (editor), ComputerWeek, and Brainstorm magazine (editor). In her capacity as a PR professional and consultant, she has and does work with a variety of companies including Google (South Africa & Nigeria), Salesforce, CLEVVA, Euphoria Telecom, Paymenow and Tiger Content (UK). She also has a Masters degree in ICT Policy & Regulation. She served on the IAB SA Marketing Council as the PR rep, has worked as an independent telecoms researcher for some of the analyst houses in that field and was regularly called upon to comment on telecoms issues in the press. Nowadays she can be found commenting on women in tech issues in the press and speaking at conferences on the subject and the issues women in the sector face.
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