Ericsson is continuing to bolster its efforts in improving gender balance in the information and communications technology industry through its ninth annual participation in Girls in ICT across the Middle East and Africa. In line with the initiative, Ericsson engaged over 500 girls across the region through a number of events and activities aimed at inspiring and guiding them into careers in ICT. Ericsson volunteers together with the human resources team relayed interesting and helpful information about working in the telecom sector, the functionality of Mobile Network, as well as the exciting future world of 5G and the Internet of Things to the students aged 9 to 18 years. The teams reached 90 schools in Turkey, South Africa, Senegal, Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt. In addition to this, Ericsson launched and hosted the Girls Who Innovate Competition under the theme of ‘The Future of Education' globally, to support the Sustainable Development Goals set by the United Nations, focusing on goal number four; Quality Education and goal number five; Gender Equality. In the region, Ericsson received 63 enthusiastic entries, totaling 25 percent of global entries, from young innovators aged 9 to 18, who competed to win job shadow days, blog features and a 1,000 EUR prize for their ideas to use technology to change the future of education. Submissions from Nigeria, United Arab Emirates and Ghana have been shortlisted in different age categories representing the Middle East and Africa region as finalists. Girish Johar, Head of Human Resources within Market Area Middle East and Africa said: "At Ericsson, we believe that the more diverse and inclusive we are, the more innovative and visionary will we be as a company. Our vision is that our team reflects the world around us. To build the future talent pipeline, it is important for us to empower girls to look beyond stereotypes, gender norms, discrimination and consider a career in ICT. Our participation in Girls in ICT is just one way for us to realize this vision. Ericsson has a worldwide mandate for its workforce to be made up of at least 30 percent women by the year 2020. The company also supports the UN Sustainable Development Goals, two of which relate to diversity and inclusion. Girls in ICT day is supported by International Telecommunication Union – United Nations specialised agency for ICT.
