• Cisco has announced a collaboration with WomHub, launching two EDGE Centres at spaces in Johannesburg and Cape Town.
• WomHub is a boutique incubator for female science, technology, engineering, mining, and manufacturing business founders in SA.
• The collaboration will focus on local SMEs, offering business mentoring, incubation, and training opportunities.

This week Cisco announced a new collaborative initiative with local incubator WomHub.

Described as a boutique incubator focused on female science, technology, engineering, mining, and manufacturing business founders in South Africa, the collaboration sees Cisco EDGE Centres being made available at two of WomHub’s spaces in the country, with one in Johannesburg and the other in Cape Town.

“The initiative aims to support Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs) in the country’s technology sector with business mentoring, incubation and training opportunities, to help advance their market access and exposure,” Cisco explained in a press release sent to Hypertext.

For those unfamiliar with EDGE Centres, the company notes that it stands for Experience, Design, GTM (Go-to-Market), and Earn. The Centres are aimed at providing access to Cisco connectivity and collaboration technologies, as well as tools and resources to local innovators and entrepreneurs.

“This new, powerful collaboration further demonstrates Cisco’s commitment to fostering innovation and supporting local businesses and entrepreneurs, focusing on women who are often underrepresented in the tech sector. With Cisco’s digital skills development training and cutting-edge technologies, and WomHub’s network of aspiring female entrepreneurs in South African STEM sectors, we believe we can make an important and tangible difference in the industry and help to drive the country’s digital economy,” enthused Francine Katsoudas, EVP and chief People, Policy & Purpose officer at Cisco.

“We’re excited to bring the power of WomHub and Cisco together to  create a lasting legacy in the South African tech ecosystem. Everything we do is about building the entire ecosystem to support women in STEM. With the help of a global tech leader like Cisco, we hope to give female business founders the skills, technology, and confidence they need to take their tech start-ups to the next level. We’re very excited to embark on what we know will be a prosperous journey,” added Anjani Harjeven, CEO at WomHub.

Those female founders of SMEs focused on STEM-related fields are urged to find out more about this new collaborative initiative by contacting WomHub here.

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