This Women’s Month, Sakhikamva Foundation founder Fatima Jakoet is celebrating the role education, technology and opportunity play in the lives of young South Africans.
For more than a decade, the Sakhikamva Foundation and Prescient Foundation have worked together to expose learners to coding, robotics, digital learning and career opportunities.
Bridging the Opportunity Gap
Jakoet established the Sakhikamva Foundation in 2010 to support young people with limited access to technology, educational resources and career opportunities.
“I founded the Sakhikamva Foundation to help bridge that opportunity gap. I wanted young people to see possibilities beyond what they encountered in their immediate environment and to understand that careers as pilots, engineers, scientists, programmers and innovators were within their reach,” she says.
Based in Constantia, Cape Town, the Foundation has extended its educational outreach to communities including Tokai and Ruyterwacht.
Its programmes support learners, teachers and schools through skills development and STEM education.
Building Confidence Through Technology
Jakoet’s career has taken her through traditionally male-dominated environments. She has worked to establish her credibility, make her voice heard and develop as a leader.
Those experiences strengthened her commitment to creating opportunities for young people.
Her greatest motivation comes from watching learners gain confidence and begin to picture themselves in careers they had not considered before.
“A learner may arrive at a programme believing that robotics, coding or aviation is not for them, but leave saying, ‘I can see myself doing this.’ That shift in confidence and possibility makes every challenge worthwhile.”
Encouraging Young Women to Enter STEM
For Jakoet, Women’s Month celebrates women’s resilience and achievements. It also highlights the need for wider access to education, leadership positions and economic opportunities.
Her message to young women is to dream beyond the limits others place on them.
“Be curious, ask questions, seek out mentors and never be afraid to enter spaces where people like you have historically been under-represented.”
She believes women have an important place in STEM and technology.
“STEM needs your ideas, your creativity and your perspective. You belong in the laboratory, in the cockpit, in the engineering workshop, in the technology company and at the leadership table.”
Partnership Expands Access to Digital Learning
The partnership between the Sakhikamva Foundation and Prescient Foundation supports coding and robotics programmes, digital learning projects and school partnerships.
The programmes bring technology opportunities to schools where resources are limited.
Prescient Foundation CEO Nicole Pinto says the collaboration builds confidence, encourages curiosity and creates access to future possibilities.
Astrovo Team Reaches the International Stage
The Astrovo robotics team is one of the partnership’s success stories.
The team progressed from having limited exposure to robotics to becoming national champions and international competitors.
Jakoet says their progress shows what sustained access to opportunity produces.
Plans to Expand STREAM Programmes
Jakoet plans to expand the Foundation’s STREAM programmes, covering science, technology, robotics, engineering, aerospace and mathematics.
She also wants to strengthen teacher development, mentorship, workplace exposure and sustainable learning hubs.
Her long-term goal is to see today’s learners become future leaders, professionals and mentors.
“I want the young people we support today to become scientists, pilots, engineers, educators, entrepreneurs and mentors who will open doors for the generation that follows them.”
For Jakoet, giving young people wings means providing the confidence and opportunity to soar.
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