BCX CEO appointed to iamtheCODE board

11th January 2018 By: Anine Kilian - Contributing Editor Online

Information and communication technology company BCX CEO Ian Russell has been appointed to the board of Africa-led global female coding movement iamtheCODE.

iamtheCODE is designed to mobilise governments, businesses and investors to support young women in science, technology, engineering, arts, mathematics and design through learning how to code, creative learning and problem solving. 

“At BCX, we believe that coding effectively needs to become South Africa’s twelfth official language. I am passionate about developing digital skills for our country and for Africa. The private sector has an immense role to play in building this vital sector on the continent and I’m proud that, as an organisation, we are doing this,” Russell said in a statement.

Over the past year, BCX has invested more than R100-million in skills development programmes such as WeThinkCode and the Explore Data Science Academy to drive access to affordable education in the coding and data science fields.

In November 2017, BCX launched BCXLearn.com, a digital learning platform designed to propel South African education into the digital future by providing free access to online educational content.

iamtheCODE is on a drive to ensure that 1-million women and girls have equal access to affordable and quality technical, vocational and tertiary education, linked to employability, by 2030.

“We are excited to have Russell join us as an advisory board member, as he is a leader in the technology world and has expertise in the private sector,” iamtheCODE founder Mariéme Jamme stated.