Girl Geek Dinners Cape Town

Invitation: Girl Geek Dinners 29th March 2012

suhaifa — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 09:03:33 +0000

You are kindly invited to the second Girl Geek Dinner Cape Town event of 2012 taking place on
Thursday 29th March 2012.

Event Details

Date and time: Thursday 29th March 2012 | 19h00 for 19h30.Venue: Knife Restaurant, Corner of Century Boulevard and Rialto Road, Cape Town

Guest Speaker: Lynette Anthony Hundermark, Head of Product Strategy for Prezence Digital

Cost: R165 for a 3 course dinner and a goodie bag. Welcome drinks sponsored by Prezence Digital. (Drinks for your own account)

Guest Speaker

Lynette Anthony Hundermark

Lynette is a gadget girl who lives and breathes the mobile and digital space. She has been in the I.T field for more years that she would like to admit but never enjoyed it as much as she does right at this very moment. She loves Mobile and often asks “How did life exist before it?”. After graduating with a double honours degree in Computer Science and Psychology (specializing in Human Computing Interaction and publishing her thesis in an international journal of computing “Computers in Human Behaviour”), Lynette has worked as an analyst/programmer in the Financial sector industry both locally and internationally with high profiled clients such as Standard Bank, Citibank, Deutche Bank and HSBC.

Venue

Knife is a sexy new American-style smokehouse. Restaurateur Ed Saunders and Chef Jonathan Japha (both also involved with the excellent restaurant,Fork) have created an eatery in which the ambiance and the food are cosy, home-from-home, as well as simply sophisticated; a bit like New York loft meets Deep South smokehouse.

RSVP

Please RSVP here. If you need to get in touch with the event organisers, please e-mail us.
Due to the limited number of seats available, we would like you to note that only proof of payment secures your seat.

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Event write-up: GGDCPT January 2012

suhaifa — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 08:55:40 +0000

The first Girl Geek Dinner for 2012 took place on the 26th January at the amazing Cape Royale Hotel. Following on from the success of last years dinner, 80 amazing women and men showed their support this year. With many familiar faces and tons of new ones, the standard for Girl Geek Dinners 2012 was definitely established.

Each dinner features a speaker who shares their story about being a women in the tech industry and about the role women are playing. The speaker for the January 2012 Girl Geek Dinner was Catherine Luckhoff. Catherine is the head of brand strategy for Bozza.mobi and also founded Mango-OMC, one of South Africa’s largest PR and communications agencies. She shared some useful tips about being a women in business. From making sure you have the right accountant to taking no nonsense, Catherine covered it all. She left the women feeling utterly inspired and ready to take on 2012 and make it their own.

The Girl Geek Dinners is a NPO and depends on the support of our sponsors. The primary sponsors for this dinner was Backsberg for the welcome drinks, Cape Royale for accommodating us and 2 Oceans Vibe for the goodie bags. Alongside our primary sponsors was Over Indulgence Cupcakes, Guerlain, Skin Jam, Lindt and Stuff Magazine. Thanks to these guys the attendees walked away with amazing bags.

The next dinner will be kicking off in March, so make sure you sign up to the mailing list for more information.

View all the GGCPT January 2012 pictures.

Invitation: Girl Geek Dinners 26 January 2012

suhaifa — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 08:23:01 +0000

You are kindly invited to the first Girl Geek Dinner Cape Town event of 2012 taking place on
Thursday 26 January 2012.

Event Details

Date and time: Thursday 26 January 2012 | 19h00 for 19h30.

Venue: Cape Royale Hotel, 47 Main Road, Green Point, Cape Town

Guest Speaker: Catherine Lückoff, Head of Brand Strategy for Bozza.mobi

Cost: R165 for a cocktail dinner and goodie bag. (Drinks for your own account).

Guest Speaker

Catherine Lückoff

Catherine Lückhoff is the Head of Brand Strategy for Bozza.mobi, a mobile App which offers artists, filmmakers and entrepreneurs a mobile platform through which to distribute their content. Before Catherine joined Bozza she was the founder and CEO of one of South Africa’s leading communications and PR agencies; Mango-OMC. Catherine just doesn’t see things the way others do. And she brings that ability to shift perspective to her work, where she continually marries tried and tested methods with radical new ideas, which is how she has built Mango-OMC into one of the country’s top PR agencies. She was also named as one of 38 emerging tech entrepreneurs to watch in the Old Mutual Do Great Things Guide.

Venue

Set against the iconic outline of Table Mountain, the Cape Royale Roof top Sky Bar has panoramic views over the city and Atlantic Ocean. This luxury Cape Town Hotel and Residence provides an enclave of luxury and refinement right in the heart of South Africa’s most beautiful metropolis.

RSVP

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Girl Geek Dinners Cape Town announces new chairperson for 2012

marketingengineer — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 08:10:20 +0000

At the last Girl Geek Dinners Cape Town (GGDCPT) event on Thursday, Suhaifa Naidoo, marketing manager for Realmdigital and SA Blog award nominee, was announced as the new chairperson for GGDCPT for 2012.

Suhaifa Naidoo, GGDCPT chairperson for 2012

Suhaifa will be taking over the reigns from marketing engineer, Mariska du Preez, who founded GGDCPT in December 2010.
Says Suhaifa: “I am very excited and feel incredibly honoured to be a part of such an amazing initiative. There are a large number of women who are passionate about technology in Cape Town and have supported the Girl Geek Dinners from the start and it’s because of them that GGDCPT has been so successful.”

Girl Geek Dinners Cape Town is the first South African chapter of the global Girl Geek Dinner movement and hosts networking events for “the fabulously geeky girls (and guys) from the Mother City”. High profile business people such as Mardia van der Walt-Korsten (CEO: T-Systems, South Africa), Johanna Kollar (Programme Manager leading Start Up Support programs across emerging markets for Google) and Rapelang Rabana (CEO of Yeigo Communications and Head of Research and Development of Telfree) were some of the guest speakers during 2011’s events.

Suhaifa will continue with the bi-monthly networking events and aims to encourage companies to sponsor young geek girls and guys to attend the events in future.

The global Girl Geek Dinners manifesto about geekdom:
“After all to be geeky is to be intelligent, have passion for a subject and to know that subject in depth. It’s not at all about being better than others, or about gender, race, religion or anything else. Those things just detract from the real fun stuff, the technology, the innovation and the spread of new ideas.”

For more information about Girl Geek Dinners Cape Town:
Website: http://ggdcpt.wordpress.com
Facebook: http://facebook.com/ggdcpt
Twitter: http://twitter.com/ggdcpt

Invitation: Girl Geek Dinners Cape Town November 2011 event

marketingengineer — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 14:46:11 +0000

You are kindly invited to our last Girl Geek Dinner Cape Town event for 2011 taking place on
Thursday 3 November 2011.

Event Details

Date and time: Thursday 3 November 2011 | 19h00 for 19h30.

Venue: L’Apero Restaurant, Grand Daddy Hotel, 38 Long Street, Cape Town.

Guest Speaker: Johanna Kollar, Industry Manager, Google (South Africa).
Cost: R150 for a three-course dinner and goodie bag. (Drinks for your own account).
Mandy Watson will be sharing her thoughts on some cool gadgets and a lucky draw
will take place on the night. Please note only 80 places available.

Guest Speaker

Johanna Kollar

Johanna is a Programme Manager leading Start Up Support programs across emerging markets for Google. One key pillar of Google Africa’s strategy is building a sustainable internet ecosystem; she focuses on facilitating the development of Tech Hubs across Africa and pilot program initiatives such as Umbono which showcase technology as a platform for entrepreneurship.
Prior to Google, Johanna was a technical consultant working on large energy development projects in West Africa, an MBA student at Tuck (Dartmouth), a strategy consultant inside private equity portfolio companies, and an investment associate at Marlow. She also spent 2 years on business development activities in the Google office operations in Johannesburg. She brings over a decade of Africa geographic experience and multi-disciplinary expertise to everything she does.

Venue

There is a new jewel in Cape Town and it is called L’Apero.
The dishes are inspired by the idyllic Mediterranean, where many novices have returned to learn more of this truly amazing culture and their relationship with good food. L’Apero is situated in the heart of Long Street and its host, the Grand Daddy Hotel , has shared a long history together. This beautiful colonial structure has changed with the times and is now part of the energy that embraces what is known as the urban beat.

RSVP

Event write-up: September GGDCPT

marketingengineer — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 11:39:53 +0000

On Wednesday 7 September we hosted our fourth Girl Geek Dinner Cape Town at the gorgeous Savoy Cabbage restaurant.

A huge thank you to everyone who contributed to make this an extra special event:
- Suhaifa Naidoo from Realm Digital for organising (once again) some amazing goodie bags
- Our gorgeous, smart and inspirational guest speaker, Rapelang Rabana
- Gadget reviewer, Mandy Watson
- Venue scout, Alexandra Fraser; photographer, Elodie Kleynhans; and sound engineer, Justin Alvey
- Our sponsors: Chef Sam Cakes, TEP, Ster Kinekor, New Holland Publishing and Van Wealth Portfolio Management

Event photos available here.
Please diarise Thursday 3 November 2011 for our next event.

Below is an event review by the gorgeous Robyn Hobson:

12 Sep 2011

Spring Girl Geek Dinner

I checked out the Spring Girl Geek Dinner in Cape Town last week. It was my first time at this increasingly popular event and yes, everyone dresses like they’re French Royalty, looks like Kirsten Dunst and has a fancy butler to hold their Macbook. The dinner is basically a meet up for all the fabulously geeky girls in Cape Town and this one was held at the Savoy Cabbage.

Hats off to Mariska for organising this. It was painfully obvious that a woman had organised this event. Sorry guys, but like pregnancy, you just can’t beat us on this one. The attention to detail, the planning, the execution and the pretty things we were given were all appreciated.

The goodie bags rocked my socks and the cupcakes from Chef Sam were amazing. They honestly tasted as good as they looked. In fact, a lot of convo was dedicated to how we could nick the extra ones.

We were stoked to see that Rapelang Rabana was the key speaker. I heard her speak at NetProphet and find her an incredibly inspirational woman. I was glad to get the chance to meet her. She’s down to earth and just awesome really. Girl Crush alert.

I took two key points away from her talk:

1. You can’t outsource your competitive advantage and expect it to work out

2. Don’t mess around. Make a decision.

It was really cool to meet up with old friends and meet some new ones. I know that sounds swiss-cheddar-cheesey, but it really is true.

So keep an eye out for the next one. I’d recommend GGDCPT to any geeky girl who wants to do a bit of networking, find a bit of inspiration and have a few laughs with some really awesome woman.

Plus you may even get a cupcake… or two.

*image sourced here

Invitation: Girl Geek Dinners 7 September 2011

marketingengineer — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 12:35:51 +0000

You are kindly invited to our Spring Girl Geek Dinner Cape Town event taking place on Wednesday 7 September 2011.

Event Details

Date and time: Wednesday 7 September 2011 | 19h00 for 19h30.

Venue: Savoy Cabbage, 101 Hout Street, Cape Town.

Guest Speaker: Rapelang Rabana, CEO of Yeigo Communications and Global Head of Research and Development of Telfree.
Cost: R165 for a three-course dinner and goodie bag. (Drinks for your own account).
Mandy Watson will be sharing her thoughts on some cool gadgets and a lucky draw will take place on the night. Please note only 75 places available.

Guest Speaker

Rapelang Rabana

Rapelang Rabana is CEO of Yeigo Communications and Head of Research and Development of Telfree.
She epitomises the new global generation of ingenious business intellectuals, who are able to influence how the future world works. Rapelang was selected as an Endeavour ‘high-impact’ Entrepreneur in 2007 and in 2010, Rapelang was the youngest Grand Juror selected among industry experts across the world, for the United Nations’ World Summit Awards for M-Content.

Venue

Enjoy creative contemporary cooking in a visually exciting venue. With its historic Table Mountain stone and old brick that dates back to the 18th Century.
The look of Savoy Cabbage Restaurant Cape Town would not be out of place in New York or London and neither would the quality of the whole dining experience. The menu alters daily, using the freshest local produce and combines unusual flavours to excite the palate of the discerning diner.

RSVP

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Save the date: 7 September

marketingengineer — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 09:49:55 +0000

Dear geeky girls and boys
Our next Girl Geek Dinners Cape Town event will be taking place on Wednesday 7 September 2011. Please diarise this date.

Please send us suggestions for goodies, speakers, ideas, networking here.
Looking forward to seeing you there!

Invitation: Girl Geek Dinner Cape Town 7 July 2011

RethaVS — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 15:46:06 +0000

It’s time for our bi-monthly get together in Cape Town, and this event promises to provide ample opportunity for geeky fun & networking!

Date & time: Thursday 7 July 2011, 18h30 for 19h00 – please arrive on time!

Venue: The Victoria & Alfred Hotel, Conference Centre, V&A Waterfront
View location map

Parking is for your own account. Underground parking is at ULUNDI across the road from the Forum.
2 – 3 Hours – R16.00
3 – 4 Hours – R21.00
4 – 5 Hours – R32.00

Cost: R150 per person, including welcome drink, dinner and table wine (& cool goodie bags!). There will be a cash bar if you want anything else to drink.

Important:
- We will take no cash at the door – EFT to be done immediately on booking. We will ONLY take 100 bookings, and your proof of payment will secure your seat.
- Please register your dietary requirements during the registration process – these cannot be changed later.

Speaker: The special guest speaker, Mardia van der Walt-Korsten, is the MD of T-Systems South Africa. She is flying in from Johannesburg especially to speak to us about:

“Being a women leading in a tech environment – the challenges, highlights and lessons learnt”

Mardia van der Walt-Korsten, born in 1963, completed her education with a Masters in Clinical Psychology at the end of 1987. Mardia began her career working as a Clinical Research Assistant for Hoechst UK in London.

Moving back to South Africa, Mardia helped develop the HR function for M-Net and Multichoice and was key in creating a Learning Centre at M-Net, developing an M-Net/Multichoice Nursery School. In 1998, Mardia joined T-Systems where she helped build the company from a staff count of 210 to a total of 934 employees at the end of 2001. Mardia was instrumental in implementing the necessary transformation processes, with specific emphasis on integration of new employees. In 2005 Mardia was appointed as the acting CEO for T-Systems in SA, the first woman to ever hold this position, and then officially as Managing Director for T-Systems a year later.

By the beginning of 2010, Mardia had lead T-Systems South Africa to be the biggest ICT Outsourcer in South Africa, with over 2700 employees and some of South Africa’s premium outsourcing contracts, the Old Mutual Group, Transnet, Eskom, Sasol, ACSA, Mercedes-Benz and DWAE being a few examples.

In 2008 Mardia was awarded both the Nedbank Businesswoman of the Year Award, as well as the IT Web ICT Personality of the Year Award, and in 2009 she was the awarded the SITA ICT Legend Award for her contribution to ICT Development.

Girl Geek Dinners: Another successful event

marketingengineer — Fri, 06 May 2011 06:38:26 +0000

This post was originally written by Suhaifa Naidoo and published in Realm Digital’s blog.

A bunch of fabulously geeky girls got together last night for the second Girl Geek Dinner. The dinner, which was held at La Mouette in Sea Point, was organised and hosted by Mariska Du Preez. We were treated to a 6-course tasting menu and everything was simply delicious!

Steve Vosloo and Mandy J Watson were the evening’s guest speakers and shared their knowledge with us. Steve’s talk was very “pro-women”, and spoke about the economic sense it made for a company to have women in senior positions. Of course this didn’t surprise us women. He also spoke about empowering women through mobile. In some Middle Eastern countries, women get better tariff rates, and 41% of women who own mobile phones find better job opportunities! That made my jaw drop…literally! Mandy, a true geek girl, spoke about the Nintendo 3DS and brought some along to show the crowd. I was never a big gamer, but after seeing this amazing toy, I might have to go out and get one.

It was also an awesome opportunity to spend time with Sue Levy, Christine da Silva, Naazneen Parkar, Stacey Rumble, Shawn Graaf and Alexandra Fraser!

An event is not an event without goodie bags! A big thank you to Chef Sam, IT Web, Liqui Fruit and Verlaque Foods for the goodie bag sponsorship. Check out the biscuits with the Girl Geek logo that Chef Sam made: