IT community from Central Asia: Women in Tech Uzbekistan

Anna Ambrozevich, city — Tashkent, director of Women in Tech Uzbekistan, personal brand consultant, expert in marketing technologies, Linkedin   

About the community

The official representation of the global Women in Tech community in Uzbekistan was opened on March 2, 2024. Since its founding by Ayumi Mura Aoki in 2018, the global Women in Tech community has been actively developing for six years. 

Founded as a volunteer movement, the community formulates its mission as supporting 5,000,000 women and girls in the STEAM field by 2030. To achieve this goal, we use four main tools: education, business, digital inclusion, and advocacy. 

To date, Women in Tech has representations in 56 countries worldwide, boasts over 300,000 members, and organizes annual international awards and summits.

Ayumi Mura Aoki personally attended the opening ceremony in Uzbekistan, underscoring the significance of this event, as we became the first country in Central Asia to open a Women in Tech representation.

More about Women in Tech Global: https://women-in-tech.org/ 

Alongside the community's global goals on the international level, we set local objectives in Uzbekistan:

— integration of Uzbek women and girls into the global community,

— development of Future skills and careers in this industry,

— emergence of new women leaders: in companies, universities, and regions.

©Arnaud CAILLOU - www.loeil-temoin.com

Community members

Our community is open to all women: from schoolgirls to professionals and executives who are interested in the STEAM field.

We aim to help girls become competitive international-level specialists, so we focus on promising areas such as cybersecurity, analytics, data science, and more.

Joining us is easy — all our activities are free; simply follow our social media pages or the WIT-Hub platform.

We are all volunteers. If you wish to participate more actively in the community's life, you can also become a volunteer, ambassador, track leader, mentor, or speaker.

Our social networks and forms for volunteer and ambassador applications are available at https://bento.me/womenintechuz.

Events for community members

Our events are always open to everyone. Participation is not limited to girls, except in cases where places are limited. Additionally, attendees can not only come to listen but also offer themselves as speakers.

We organize diverse events in both online and offline formats. Here are a few examples:

— meetings on promising career paths with expert speakers

— Women in Tech Talks with various companies, where we provide a platform for networking

— IAmRemarkable workshops, which help combat imposter syndrome

— various events in universities and regions.

Currently, the Women in Tech ambassador program in universities is also launching, with a regional launch planned for autumn.

We actively support global Women in Tech initiatives, including programs from the European Business University and international webinars.

In 2024, our delegation attended the annual Women in Tech summit in Paris for the first time. Speakers from Uzbekistan included Kamola Sobirova, Advisor to the Minister of Digital Technologies, and young ambassador Gulnoza Abdurashidova.

Another wonderful piece of news is that on October 20, 2024, Uzbekistan will host the Women in Tech CCA Awards for the first time, an award for the Caucasus and Central Asia region. Everyone can apply and compete in one of seven categories:

— Aspiring Teen Award

— Most Disruptive Award

— Best Ally Award

— Most Impactful Initiative Award

— Woman in Web3 Award

— Tech Diplomacy Award

— Greentech Start-Up Award

— Global Leadership Award

— Lifetime Achievement Award.

You can submit an application via the link.

How the community helps with development

We have several tools:

— a large number of various local and international events

— the WIT-Hub social network for communicating with like-minded people worldwide

— mentorship and ambassador programs for universities and regions

— educational programs in various formats, local and international from WIT

— promoting Uzbek women as IT experts and integrating them into the global community.

Successful projects

A major victory was our delegation's participation in the summit in Paris, as well as the selection of Tashkent to host the CCA Awards.

Nevertheless, we find the format of Women in Tech Talks, which we conduct together with companies, to be interesting and useful. During these events, we share the audience with the story, tasks, and opportunities of Women in Tech, and also provide an opportunity for girls working in the company to share their stories. These events are accessible to external visitors through our numerous collaborations and initiatives aimed at supporting and developing women in the IT sector. 

Recently, the launch of Women in Tech Talks at IT Park University took place, where female students spoke as speakers for the first time and shared their stories. This is a significant step for girls in developing their personal brands and public speaking skills.

Plans

There are many plans: specialized events, Women in Tech Talks, development of the ambassador program in regions and universities, launch of educational programs, and hosting the CCA Awards in Tashkent, to which we invite everyone. 

To implement these plans, we actively engage partners, sponsors, and volunteers.

For those who wish to join our community or propose cooperation, you can contact me on Telegram or via email uzbekistan@women-in-tech.org.