Huawei Women in Tech Digital Skills Training Prog 2026 challenges women to build the businesses of tomorrow with AI

Photo caption: Participants from the 2026 Women in Tech Digital Skills Training Programme outside Henley Business School Africa.

Huawei South Africa completed the sixth edition of the Women in Tech Digital Skills Training Programme, giving a cohort of 50 women three days of practical exposure in AI, cloud computing, 5G-Advanced, and emerging technologies.

Held under the theme 'HERabytes: Small Business. Big Intelligence,' this year’s group included women business owners and government leaders from the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies (DCDT), the Department of Employment and Labour (DoEL), and the Department of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities (DWYPD). The programme focused on helping participants understand Artificial Intelligence and how it can be deployed to solve business challenges, improve productivity, and open up new opportunities.

The opening day began with an official welcome, followed by a session with Toby Shapshak from Stuff on the evolution of AI, how it is changing the way we work, and why change is unavoidable. "We have to remember that we are the human intelligence and that AI is a parrot," he said. "It may be impressive, game-changing technology, but we're the reason it exists, and we're still in the driving seat."

Brand builder Heidi Brauer of heidibeeee&co delivered a talk on "The Gift of Gut in the Age of Data", exploring the role of intuition alongside data in business and leadership decisions.

'What is it about a group of women in a room? There's an energy, a sense of possibility, a feeling of being connected and powerful, quite unlike any other group,' she said. 'I enjoyed sharing my thoughts on the importance of balancing facts with feels, and intuition with numbers, and tackling the challenges we face bringing this balance into a data-obsessed world.'

Technology for the real world

Nimrod Smit

Siphiwe Matore

George Okello

On the second day, participants learned about 5G-Advanced, cloud, and AI, and their practical applications for SMEs. Nimrod Smit, Huawei’s Principal Marketing Manager, used examples such as journalists broadcasting from a busy stadium and businesses delivering services in real time to demonstrate 5G applications.

'When we move on to 5.5G, there's actually new capabilities that will be unlocked withing the core and radio networks of your mobile service provider. Speeds will increase tenfold from a normal 5G network. 5.5G + AI for business will be about compressing decision-making from days to milliseconds, turning data into instant automated action, and giving your business a nervous system that thinks, adapts, and acts on its own.'

Siphiwe Matore, Senior Technical Business Development Manager at Huawei, showed attendees how small businesses can use cloud computing to increase capacity as demand grows and scale back when it falls. She also highlighted the importance of knowing where data is stored and urged businesses to ask questions about the technology they adopt. As she put it, 'Don’t think about, "Let me adopt cloud." Think, ‘What am I trying to achieve?"'

Participants also saw how AI can take on repetitive tasks and free up valuable time, with George Okello, Principal Training Engineer at Huawei, using recruitment as just one example to show how AI could shortlist CVs against a defined set of requirements. He said, 'AI doesn't do all the work, but it helps you do your real work faster.'

Learning to lead in an AI economy

The final day moved to Henley Business School Africa, where participants looked at what leaders can do with the technology available to them.

Framed as 'Women in Technology: Cloud and AI,' the session, led by Louise Claassen, Executive Fellow at Henley Business School Africa, combined hands-on exercises with interactive discussions about leadership.

Participants were introduced to blockchain, the Internet of Things (IoT), drones, geospatial mapping, satellite imagery, digital twins, extended reality (XR), and cloud. 'Businesses need to move quickly with AI while also putting the right guardrails in place to use it safely,' said Claassen. 'There are two sides to this: understanding what AI can make possible, and being clear about the risks and responsibilities that come with it, because to excuse yourself from the conversation is not going to help at all.'

Government’s call

On the last day of the programme, Dineo Mmako, responsible for monitoring and evaluation at the Department of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities, delivered the closing keynote on behalf of Acting Director-General Dr Pravina Shukla-Elay, reflecting on South Africa’s 'year of milestones,' with 70 years since the 1956 women’s march, 50 years since the 1976 youth uprising and 30 years since the adoption of the Constitution in 1996.

She urged participants to consider how they would use what they had learned and called on the women in attendance to think about inclusion in more practical terms. “Digital inclusion cannot mean that everybody has a smartphone while ownership of the digital economy remains concentrated elsewhere. Participation must eventually mean ownership. It must mean intellectual property, enterprises, procurement, investment, and it must mean that women occupy the positions where decisions about technology and capital are made.”

Taking it back to the business

The programme wrapped up with a certification ceremony, where attendees received their certificates and gathered for a final networking moment. Over the three days, the sessions gave attendees a chance to put what they learned into practice and consider how they could use the technology in their own businesses.

Simmi Pillay, a participant from the Department of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities, said the sessions gave her a better understanding of how AI improves data use. 'It’s quite amazing, the range, scope and depth of AI and how it articulates with our daily activities. I certainly have opened up my mind to the possibilities which are extremely important in terms of improving data and how it’s used for service delivery.'

Tarien Brown of Rich Rewards, a participant in the programme, saw AI in much the same way. 'AI could fundamentally change my business by helping me make more informed decisions, challenge assumptions and identify opportunities I might otherwise miss. But I don’t see it replacing human judgement. I see it strengthening it. My experience through the Huawei Women in Tech programme reinforced that the real opportunity lies in combining technology with creativity, leadership and human insight. That combination, to me, is the competitive advantage of the future.'

Zama-Africa Mkhize from House of Coco, a boutique media agency, said the training is vital for her small business. 'We are integrating AI into our systems, from proposal writing right up to implementation and streamlining our production lines. I also met a lot of like-minded women here, so I’m definitely taking that from today.'

'Our goal and vision are to reduce the digital gender divide and also encourage a digital-first mindset for entrepreneurs. As we close off this year’s Women’s Month, we are excited about what the future holds,' said Vanashree Govender, Senior PR Manager for Media and Communications at Huawei.