Ugandan lady ICT professionals get Africa applaud

Two Ugandan ICT experts have this morning been recognised among the 35 Most Influential Women In Tech, Africa.

Vivian Ddambya and Rowena Turinawe are the two Ugandan ladies that have been recognized as being among the 35 Most Influential Women In Tech, Africa.

In what is a proud moment for the ICT sector, the two Ugandan ladies have stood tall and held the flag high. The Ugandan ICT sector continues to grow, among the fastest sectors of the economy, therefore the recognition when compared among other countries is testimony that indeed technology in Uganda is on the right trajectory.

Its important to recall that the Covid19 pandemic accelerated the adoption and implementation of many technologies that would have taken years, if not decades, to become mainstream. Ugandans switched from high-touch, highly analog daily interactions at work, school and entertainment avenues to the exact opposite in a span of few weeks. Therefore, the pandemic accelerated the dominance of technology in our lives and made us more digital creatures. Vivian and Rowena have been at the heart, among other ICT experts from both the private & public sectors, in driving this transformation.

Among the first to congratulate the 2 Ugandan ICT experts, Uganda’s Permanent Secretary for ICT and National Guidance, Dr. Aminah Zawedde, said ‘Congratulations to our very own Vivian Ddambya and Rowena Turinawe for holding the Women in Tech, Africa Flag high. Uganda is proud of you!’ -

https://twitter.com/azawedde/status/1463945380962443267?s=20

Below is a profile of Vivian and Rowena

Vivian Dambya, Director Technical Services, NITA-U 

Driven by a passion to explore what technology can do to transform lives and its practical application to solving everyday problems, Vivian provides technical support and guidance on all matters related to ICT infrastructure, systems and services within Government.

She manages the country’s, largest and most stable optical fiber cable Network, National Data Transmission Backbone Infrastructure (NBI) that spans over 4,000km across the country connecting more than 600 Government offices.

With over a decade's experience in taking Government services online, Vivian, among other responsibilities manages the Uganda Government Tier 3 Cloud Data center. With an up time of 99.98%, the Data Center is a key driver of efficiency and effectiveness for all Government applications thus improving service delivery across Government.

Vivian is a Certified Information Security Systems Professional (CISSP), Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA), Cisco Certified Design Associate (CCDA), Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert- Private Cloud (MCSE) and ISO Certified Lead Implementer. She holds a Bachelor of Computer Applications and a Masters in Management of Information Systems.

Rowena Turinawe, Business Transformation Manager, NITA-U 

Rowena has over 9 years of national and regional IT service management experience (spanning 5 countries) at mid-management and senior management level in the following fields; e-Governence, business transformation. Strategic planning & implementation, IT service management, delivery of complex projects, stakeholder management, event monitoring and technical support management, process and policy design as well as service delivery.

Rowena is charged with the overall responsibility of ensuring the use of ICT to transform public service delivery as well as the lives of ordinary Ugandans.  This is extended to the supervision of all ICT Chief Information Officers (CIOs) and the development and use of electronic services across Ministries, Departments & Agencies and Local Governments.

Ms. Turinawe holds the following certifications; COBIT 5, Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL®), Project Management Professional (PMP®), Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) and PROSCI Change Management Practitioner.

An ICT evangelist, Rowena also believes that, ‘When digital transformation is done right, it’s like a caterpillar turning into a butterfly, but when done wrong, all you have is a really fast caterpillar.’