Celebrating Women. Celebrating Progress.
At ESET, we believe that women should be celebrated every day—we are proud to have a team of talented women working together to create innovative solutions for our customers. This Women’s Month, we are shining even more light on the strong, successful, and powerful women at ESET and in the Tech Industry.
Yes, we’re celebrating some of our most inspiring female ESET employees, partners, and customers. We sat down to talk with influential, tech-driven women in the industry to hear the advice they would offer to other aspiring women wanting to take the lead in the tech industry.
Here’s what they had to say!
Lee Beier, EOH BU Account Manager at ICOCO
Lee first started her career in Sales at IBM and Dell in 1999. She left the tech industry for a short time to assist her partner with a venture in the plastic industry, where they invested with Maizey Plastics. She then got the opportunity to get back into the tech industry in early 2013 by working as a reseller at EMID and worked her way up to her current role as EOH BU Account Manager at IOCO. Lee comes from an IT Background and believes that a career in technology rewards her innovation and creativity. While she appreciates the attention to detail and accuracy required within the tech industry, her skills lie in Sales Management and Customer Experience, and she loves working with clients and vendors.
Lee’s Top Tech Tips:
“Believe in yourself and your abilities – be sure that you get the job done. Most importantly, you must understand the people you work with. This is the same for women and men in the tech industry. Earn your respect and know your stuff. Empower yourself with training from the Vendors – if you do the tech training, there is very little you will not be able to do.”
Daniela d’Hotman de Villiers, Founder and Owner of Savvy Social
Daniela is a mom to her 2-year-old son and a 3-and-a-half-year-old business. Her journey started at UCT, where she studied a BA in Media and English. During the 3 years of her degree, her interest in Marketing, Communication, and Human Behaviour grew, which led her to studying a Postgraduate Diploma in Marketing & Advertising Communications at the Red & Yellow School in Cape Town. After completion, she joined the TFG Graduate Programme, which was the start of the exciting career she’s had.
During her time at TFG, she realised the real power of social media and digital communications. Being entrepreneurial at heart, she always knew that one day she wanted to use the skills that she’d learned to help other businesses grow – “from small businesses to solopreneurs, to mompreneurs, I knew that being digitally savvy was one of the key ingredients needed to make a business successful and I knew that this is the value that I wanted to add.”
Newly married and with a few years of work experience under their belts, Daniela and her husband decided to travel for a year or two and save up some money while teaching English overseas. To get overseas, they needed to generate some form of income before they left so she started freelancing for anyone and everyone who was needing social media for their business. She googled “businesses in Durban”, picked up the phone, and went door to door asking people if they needed help with social media. From that point, the work picked up, she started getting referrals and her freelancing temporary solution started looking a lot more like a growing business! Two weeks later, she had a registered business, a logo, and Savvy Social was born.
Daniela’s Top Tech Tips:
“Take that next step. Be you. You are the only person like you in over seven billion people. You do have value to add, magic to bring, a voice to be heard. You just need to take that next step. And even if you feel you are taking two steps forward, and one step back, you have still taken one more step forward than you did yesterday. Dig deep when you need to. You’ve got this.”
Aaishah Akoojee, Acting Managing Director at Sisonke Software Solutions
Aaishah is a qualified accountant and is currently studying for a Professional Certificate in Business Taxation. She has worked in the corporate sector for over two decades. Her experience takes place in the medical aid administration sector as well as the online auctioneering industry.
She was introduced to the tech industry by her late husband in 2015 where she assisted on a part-time basis at Sisonke Software Solutions. Initially, she was only involved with the financial aspects of Sisonke Software Solutions but as time passed, she developed further interest in the tech industry. She was intrigued by the way in which technology systems could provide solutions in education and so many industries.
The devastation of the Covid 19 pandemic robbed her family of my husband, after which she was thrown into the deep end to keep the company afloat and sustain her family. She also felt a sense of responsibility to continue his legacy in the tech industry.
Aaishah’s Top Tech Tips:
“In a constantly changing industry, it is important to keep up with new technological trends and to be flexible and adaptable. There are various ways to gain entry into the tech industry. As an individual, you have to reflect on which of the specialised fields you would like to enter, then research the required qualifications and go for it.”
Samantha Hogg, Owner & Founder of GinjaNinja
Samantha has owned and operated GinjaNinja, for the past 19 years. GinjaNinja is a highly recommended and well-renowned tech PR agency for small to medium-sized ICT businesses, start-ups, and owner-managed and run businesses in South Africa. She has built up a team of creative and agile PR consultants with a solid track record of delivering results and making an impact.
After 30 years of working in PR, she decided in lockdown that it was time to share her life, lessons and how she does it. In March this year, she officially launched her new book Making Hotdogs: A Quirky Guide to Building a Career in PR and Making Life F'N Awesome.
Samantha’s Top Tech Tips:
“Be authentic, be honest. We have the responsibility to raise strong and independent women. If you’re aiming to start your own business, it’s all about having a good system and structure in place – you only have one chance to do it right. Consider getting a business coach – I’ve learned so much and have grown as a leader and business owner by doing so. I started to look externally. Be willing to listen and be coachable. Have a good finance person on your team. Have a decent corporate identity. Consider using PR from the start – it helps a lot when going into funding rounds when you have been seen in the media.”
ESET is delighted to work with a team of talented, intelligent, and simply wonderful women - be it partners, employees or customers - who are not only dedicated to their careers but who are paving the way for the next generation of female leaders with their inspiring work. We look forward to continuing to see them thrive and celebrate their achievements.