Successful female entrepreneurs, scientists and experts from technology companies from four Central Asian countries, Silicon Valley companies and the UK came to Uzbekistan to share their experiences and conduct master classes for students.

“We implement the TechWomen, which is an exchange program for professional women in STEM. Main aim of the program is to bring women professionals from 20 different countries to Silicon Valley every year to do professional mentorship at a tech company. Also we bring some of the mentors from Silicon Valley abroad to our program countries to conduct a delegation trip. So right now we are in Tashkent, where we have been for about a week. We have 16 women from 16 different companies, as well as 30 program alumni from a number of different countries around the world,”- commented Samera Edwards, Project Manager (Global Events), Institute of International Education.

On the first day of the program, March 27, master classes on professional development topics, including project management, design thinking, public speaking skills, and personal brand building were held at WIUT.

The second day of the program was filled with practical exercises within a workshop: participants learned the basic programming skills on the Arduino, MicroBlocks and Circuit Playground platforms. Practical applications of robotics skills were also demonstrated to the participants.

“We have been doing programming with girls, university students, and other professionals in the field during workshops and networking events. And today we are here with WIUT and Lyceum students and we have few of the TechWomen mentors who are teaching them basics of robotics through different platforms. In Uzbekistan we have 17 program alumni of TechWomen. All of those alumni are using the TechWomen delegation as an opportunity to connect with the students of WIUT. We hope that the students are inspired by the workshops that they experience here today,” – noted Samera Edwards.

“We are doing robotics session with young ladies here. I was really impressed by their knowledge of Arduino. Some of them had already experienced drag and drop programming languages. They had a lot of passion for robotics and I was really impressed by their interest. There was one team that was trying different programs and I was really impressed by their passion and enthusiasm. Really happy to be here,” – one of the mentors of the program - Rekha Pai-Kamath, Partner at Silicon Valley Social Venture Fund - SV2, shared her impressions.

It is expected that interactive seminars with the participation of international professionals will increase the interest of program participants in STEM disciplines and high technologies, which are an integral part of the modern world and are becoming increasingly popular skills at the global level.

TechWomen empowers, connects and supports the next generation of women leaders in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) from Africa, Central and South Asia, and the Middle East by providing them the access and opportunity needed to advance their careers, pursue their dreams, and inspire women and girls in their communities.

Through mentorship and exchange, TechWomen strengthens participants’ professional capacity, increases mutual understanding between key networks of professionals, and expands girls’ interest in STEM careers by exposing them to female role models.