Africa can contribute to a Data Era

Contributor Henrica Makulu - Styra Yacho

Passionate about data storytelling – as a data practitioner, providing insights that inform business decisions and in her community using data from life’s experiences, Henrica believes “stories are just data with a soul.” Using the notion that "data speaks", her desire is to transform lives. Henrica currently does this through her role as a Data Scientist for one of Africa's leading technology companies as well as through her work as Founder and Lead Trainer of HM Digital , a consulting practice offering training, mentorship and advisory in digital literacy and data analytics. Henrica has impacted over 3,000 people through technical training and mentorship both locally and internationally. She is a recognised thought leader in the Zimbabwean data science industry and was recently recognised as one of Africa’s leading women in data analytics by TECHBUILD.Africa . Henrica holds a BSc Honours in Applied Mathematics and is a Microsoft Certified Azure Data Scientist Associate.

Those moments started making me feel like maybe what I was doing had value.

The journey of a “fluke” Mathematician

I’ve always felt like a fluke when it comes to what I studied and I’ll tell you why.

I passed my arts subjects better in O’level but because I was a “Tom-boy”, I wanted to join the science class just to show how tough I am. So I got A’s in my arts subjects (History, Literature, French etc) and C’s in my sciences but ended up doing Mathematics, Physics, and Chemistry for A’level. Looking back, I think it was an unguided decision because I was honestly not strong in those subjects. As you can guess, I didn’t do well in my final exams. My highest scored subject though was in Mathematics.

When it was time for university applications, I applied for Sports Science because of my “Tom-boy” nature. However, the university denied me that specific course because I didn’t have A’Level Biology. I was advised to select my second best option and all I had was Mathematics. I just chose it because it was my next best option but it wasn’t really of interest to me then. Through-out my years at university I felt like I was a fluke, so to say. I failed all my Physics courses because the degree had some Mechanical Physics in it. I ended up repeating a full year of my degree due to the difficulty of the degree for me as well as financial constraints – I wasn’t always able to pay my fees on time. A standard 4-year degree took me 5 years to complete. One thing I realised was that every time people asked me what I was studying, answering “Applied Mathematics” always left them wowed. Those moments started making me feel like maybe what I was doing had value.

15 to 22 % of data science professionals are women

With the way jobs in Africa are hard to find, I could only find an administration job after graduating. I was working in the agricultural sector, filing and doing a little bit of data entry. My company then used to give out loans to communal farmers, and my job was to keep and update an Excel sheet that had all that information. As someone with a Mathematics degree, this job wasn’t challenging enough. While trying to figure out what I really wanted to do, a Zimbabwean friend in the USA mentioned the word “data analysis” during our conversations. I looked up the word on Google and decided to try learning what it was about. This friend had mentioned that it was an upcoming thing, and would be very lucrative. That’s how my journey started.

This realisation pushed me to try out real Data Analysis jobs. I redid my CV and put myself on recruiting portals. I came across a job advert for Data Scientist at Zimbabwe’s largest telco, I went for the interview but I wasn’t confident. Yes I had my Mathematics degree but no experience apart from my little Excel work. Though I had zero experience the hiring manager took me on as a Data Analyst instead and trained me. The next 3 years saw me working towards becoming that Data Scientist – a position I was eventually promoted to and currently hold.

Only 15 to 22 percent of data science professionals are women (Boston Consulting Group ). As one of only two females to graduate in my Applied Mathematics degree, I know first-hand the need for guidance to young women who want to venture into this field and those who do not even know data science exists in Africa or what it entails. Some of the challenges girls and women in Africa face when getting into STEM include a lack of career guidance, a lack of female technical mentors and role models to look up to, domestic responsibilities limiting the amount of time they can dedicate to career development, lack of confidence and few opportunities to gain practical experience in industry. With this in mind I set up a mentorship program to provide support in this area. To date I have been able to impact over 3,000 people through this initiative.?

So what does the future hold? Being one of the first female Data Scientists in Zimbabwe is an honour for me but I don't want it to end there. In the next 5 to 10 years I see myself leading other African youth into the Data Science industry so that data can be used to solve challenges that are unique to us as Africans.?As they say “without data you are just another person with an opinion” and that’s why I have made it my mission to harness the power of data to solve business & community problems – one person at a time!