The Root Of The Science Podcast
*Disclaimer: The views expressed by the guests in the podcast episodes do not reflect my own*
The Root Of The Science Podcast
EP 160: Future Women Innovators, meet the Dream STEM Technovation Summit Winners
When 50 girls from underprivileged communities gathered at the Dream Women in STEM Technovation Summit in Durban, something big happened.
In just three days, these young innovators became creators, inventors and problem-solvers who dared to reimagine their worlds and their futures.
The summit challenged participants to develop solutions addressing real community problems through science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
The result was innovations that showcased technical brilliance and deep compassion for social issues.
Ready to learn how the next generation of female innovators is already building solutions for tomorrow's challenges? Click the listen button!
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So the idea of Spark speaking was so that people would be able to be free or able to engage with Spark.
Speaker 1:Since we all know that robots speak in very robotic voice like ah, and we didn't want that, since it's a toy for children. So during our presentation we wanted to show that Spark is very friendly to anybody, besides the fact that Spark was designed for children. So, if I remember properly, during the presentation we also had Spark make a few jokes, humor there, and there even a British accent was involved. So how did we do it? We actually made an audio and then we used a speaker and we searched it at the back of Spock's head and then we made Spock speak.
Speaker 3:Hi everyone. I'm so excited to share more about our recent Dream Women in STEM Technovation Summit, which took place in Durban in April. My name is Takalani Nishibale and I am part of the organizing team. My name is Takalane Nishibale and I am part of the organizing team. I am coming from SAICI, as well as Dream Best Stay Humble, who are the two organizers that made sure that this event was a success? What was the summit?
Speaker 4:all about.
Speaker 3:This was a three-day summit which focused on helping 50 girls from underprivileged communities to be able to be in touch with STEM and be encouraged to pursue careers in STEM. We ensured that they stayed in touch with science, technology, engineering and mathematics by having some amazing experiments, activities and talks from representatives in the industry. In addition to that, we made sure that they were able to incorporate all that they learned about STEM into what we call the Technovation Challenge. This challenge seeked them to actually develop solutions that can address some of the problems that we encounter in our communities. They had to develop a model, they had to prepare a presentation and they had to work together as girls to be able to come up with some exciting ideas. Over and above that, we made sure that they were aware that they stood a chance to win amazing prizes, including being featured on the Root of Science podcast, and I'm really hoping that you will be excited to learn more about what they did and how they were able to stay in tune.
Speaker 5:Hello everyone and welcome to the show. I am so excited today that I'm joined by three amazing young ladies, part of the winners of the Technovation Summit. Hello girls, and welcome to the show. Hi Hi, love you. I'm so excited to have this conversation With the three of you. But first things first, let's go around. Can you kindly introduce yourself, nosise? Please start us off.
Speaker 6:Greetings guys. I'm Nosise Mazibu from Adams Mission. I'm attending Zamate High School. I'm Masise Mazigogo from Adams Mission. I'm attending Zamate High School. I'm doing grade 12. Yeah, my favorite subject is physics and I'm kidding and I hate meds.
Speaker 8:All right, greetings to you all. My name is Ayabonga Yonela Zaza, doing grade 11, sbcc, comprehensive Technical High School Nomfundo please go ahead.
Speaker 7:Okay, my name is Nomfundo Shungane. I live in Mgababa, I attend Adams College and I'm doing great thing. My favorite subject is tourism Okay, yeah.
Speaker 5:Nice.
Speaker 9:Hi everyone. My name is Vongelambete, a grade 11 learner at Pusisiwe Comprehensive Technical High School, yabong Geka. Over to you.
Speaker 1:Hi, my name is Yabong Yeramanana. I live in a rural area called Mfume. I'm in grade 11 and I attend Adams College, and my favorite subject is life sciences. What grade are you?
Speaker 5:in. I'm in grade 11. Oh lovely.
Speaker 10:Hi everyone. My name is Jessy Pankese and I'm currently doing grade 11 at Sposesewe Comprehensive Technical High School.
Speaker 5:Thank you so much, girls, so it seems like you all three come from the same school, right?
Speaker 1:No, only two of us come from the same school, oh okay, I'm from Semagasi.
Speaker 5:Oh, all right, did you guys know each other? Did you plan to go together?
Speaker 7:We knew each other, but we didn't plan to go.
Speaker 5:Oh, okay, no, it's great that you're able to meet. All right, so you are part of the winning team of the Technovation Summit. You created that really amazing invention called Spark. So, nsise, can you tell us about how you and your team got that idea and what Spark actually does?
Speaker 6:The inspiration behind everything. We looked at the existing robots and their applications. We observed how robots can solve problems or enhance efficiency could have sparked the idea to create our own robot named Spark.
Speaker 8:Our Technovation team name is AAI-NNN, also known as Spark. How did you come up with the idea? We saw teenagers struggling in their academic excellence, so we decided to step in and invent a robot that's going to be their personal study assistant to help them in their schooling life.
Speaker 6:All right, we were inspired by the other robots. What's the robot's name? Megan? Yeah, megan, it was Megan.
Speaker 5:Oh, who's Megangan, who's megan?
Speaker 6:tell us what megan is for someone who doesn't know. I think it's from a movie. I wasn't familiar with megan, but he introduced it to us um.
Speaker 5:Can you tell us what Megan was or what Megan is?
Speaker 1:Megan the movie or Megan the toy, was a robot toy that was built to help children and like everything with cognitive learning and growing up, just for the child to have someone to play with okay. They'll be able to assist the child even when it's sick, when it's not okay. You know, just like a toy, but that's like built so instead of the movie where Megan goes like bad, something like that. But the initial idea was for there to be a robot toy that will help children in all and every sort of way.
Speaker 9:Interesting, and the name of our Technovation team was AAI Triple NS, aka the Spark Group. So how did we come up with Spark? Well, we were presented with a list of goals that the country needed to achieve before 2030, and the one that stood out to me was the one about equality and inclusivity. As a teenager a lot of teenagers can relate that it is very hard to make friends, especially the ones that support your academic goals and complement your future. So SPARC was the solution for that, and I presented the idea to the group. It was inspired by a horror movie named Megan, but Spark was the better version of Megan.
Speaker 5:So Nomfundo over to you. What were some of the challenges, you know, putting together this robot spark that you guys created um that you might want to tell us about.
Speaker 7:So the challenge is is how his body structure will be, so how he has been built, also, making him stand. He didn't want to stand. Shame. He didn't want to stand, shane, he didn't want to stand, so we had to make some to make him stand. And having him to speak how he's going to speak introduces himself towards the crowd. Yeah, those are some of the challenges we faced.
Speaker 10:Challenges that we faced as a team was the difficulties in time management, and we were able to overcome them by finishing our projects in a space of three hours.
Speaker 8:The challenges that we faced was getting to finish on time and we struggled to make the robot stand on its own, but we all conquered those things or those challenges, through teamwork.
Speaker 9:One of the challenges we faced when creating Spark was the time constraint. We were given very little time, but we conquered and prevailed.
Speaker 6:Miss, can I add on to some of the challenges we had? No, Pundo was one of the challenges because she had questioned every idea we had. But that made us, but her fresh perspective brought us to new ideas on the table. But she was such a challenge because every idea we came up with a question how?
Speaker 5:but I think you need people like that, right, you need someone like to question, because if there is no one to question, then um, then it wouldn't have gone in. Um, and that's how inventions are brought. Somebody questions like is this how we're meant to do it? No, and that's how innovation so non-fundo was was not the weapon formed against you, but I think she was the one that helped push you guys forward. All right, um, I want us to talk about you. You said spark is able to speak, or is it my bad? Spark was able to speak. Who wants to answer? Because that was the best part of your thing. Who's gonna tell us more about how that worked? How was spark able to speak? Because when I remember, when we were judging and spark started talking, everyone in the crowd was like oh my goodness, so tell us how. How did how did that come about?
Speaker 1:so the idea of Spark speaking was so that people would be able to be free or able to engage with Spark since we all know that robots speak in very robotic voice like ah, and we didn't want that, since it's a toy for children.
Speaker 1:So during our presentation we wanted to show that Spark is very friendly to anybody, besides the fact that Spark was designed for children. So, if I remember properly, during the presentation we also had Spark make a few jokes, humor there, and there Even a British accent was involved. So how did we do it? We actually made an audio and then we used a speaker, we inserted it at the back of Spock's head and then we made Spock speak.
Speaker 5:Okay, that's so cool. That's very cool, and one of the things that I know the judges asked you was that if you want this to be a toy for children, want this to be a toy for children, um, you, you, you mentioned that it would be able to. Well, when you upscale, the idea is that it would be able to speak in various different languages. Right, yes, yes, okay, fantastic, that was really really great, okay. Yeah, we've heard so much about this really cool invention that you guys did tell me about some of the key takeaways or things that you learned during the summit.
Speaker 1:Well, one of the biggest takeaways from attending the Technovation Summit was gaining a deeper appreciation of how innovation in STEM is driven by not just by technological skill, by collaboration and curiosity and real-world problems, as we had made spark via the GDP problems. So over the three days I had the opportunity to hear from industry leaders and participate in working together, where we explored emerging technologies, as to how we came up with stock, and it also really opened my eyes to how the field intersects and how important it is to stay adapted and forward thinking. And what stood out most to me was how even complex challenges can become manageable and approachable from multiple perspectives.
Speaker 8:My key takeaways from the whole innovation is that nothing is impossible and that your background doesn't define your future.
Speaker 9:My takeaway from this whole thing is it is very hard, very, very hard, but it is very much possible to achieve your dreams.
Speaker 10:The key takeaway includes the importance of collaboration, mentorship and also the potential of technological innovation.
Speaker 5:Absolutely, absolutely. What a wonderful opportunity for you both. So this was a three-day summit. Like Yabonga has already mentioned, that you had the opportunity to speak to various different stakeholders. It wasn't just you guys building your innovation. So, apart overall the whole experience, I want you each to tell me what was your most favorite part, and would you recommend this to somebody else to attend?
Speaker 9:My favorite part about the whole experience was getting to meet new role models and getting to express myself without any judgment, especially when we met the math professor. I don't remember his name, but his words of wisdom and encouragement will forever be embedded in my mind for years to come. I will recommend this Technovation experience to anyone that I meet because it highly improved my confidence and self-esteem. It gave me a new view on the science stream science professions. I thank you, Nosti, please stream science professions.
Speaker 6:I think my favorite part was when we had the cancer dance. I like this. I would highly recommend it to everyone because from the summit we learned a lot like learning from industry experts and showcase to different projects. We even got a chance to meet other people we never knew we'd meet. It's just such a great opportunity.
Speaker 10:The favourite part of the CYGNOVATION experience was the collaborative teamwork and the opportunity to develop technological solutions. I know Supermkizer will recommend a technovation experience for its value of developing technical skills, teamwork and also confidence. Thank you, lovely, namfundo.
Speaker 7:My favorite part was when we were building the actual project and I got to meet this amazing lady, our facilitator, who was patient with us and didn't. She was patient and was able to communicate with us well and she appreciated every idea we came up with with, even though some were a little bit out of. But yeah, I would recommend it because it's an awesome thing and you get to be on a podcast, like I am today.
Speaker 8:My favorite part of the whole innovation experience is that I was able to socialize with other people and also I experienced a very lot of new things, and also they gave us a lot of food. Would I recommend this to others? Yes, I would, because you are able to learn. We were able to learn new things and also we have to change the way we view things. And we also learned. We also found new role models.
Speaker 5:Lovely Iabuangeka. Tell us about your favorite parts.
Speaker 1:My favorite part was being able to ask questions directly to industry professionals and sharing their real experiences, challenges and advice and advice that helped them better understand what it's really like is to work in the field and how I can also prepare myself to work in the STEM environment, and I would absolutely recommend the Technovation Summits to anyone interested in STEM, because it is a unique chance to learn, engage and get inspired by people who are actively shaping the future.
Speaker 5:Awesome. Thank you all for coming and talking with me today. I had such a wonderful time engaging with you, the three of you. They say that the future is female. I hope one day I can have each of you individually back on the show and we can look back at this moment and say remember the Technovation Summit? Now I'm doing, I don't know, I'm this big-time engineer or I don't know. Or maybe let me ask you, you, where do you see yourself, um, when you come on to my show? We are speaking this into existence. So when you come on, wait, what is the dream? What is the dream where you see um yourself? No, see, you are. You're about to finish school yeah, miss, uh.
Speaker 6:Honestly speaking, I had never had an idea of being an engineer. I was interested in the medical field. But from when I attended the summit I had a change of mind. I see myself as a chemical engineer now.
Speaker 5:Oh lovely, I'm excited. Okay, Nafundo, where do you see yourself?
Speaker 7:Well, also, when I came to the summit, I didn't know anything about engineering. I saw myself as an accountant or an x-ray. But now I have options of which I didn't think I would in the future. So I don't know right now, but I know I'll be in the field of STEM.
Speaker 5:Awesome. I can't wait More of you in it.
Speaker 1:Iyabong Ega what about you? Quite honestly, I didn't see myself anyway, since it's a revolving world trying to find a career, but one thing that I wanted to do when attending the STEM was right was to widen my options and, like you know, see if I do see myself becoming a chemical engineer oh, nice, okay, no, ladies, uh, I, I, I think you know your dreams are so valid and I hope you take these opportunities, even if it doesn't work out in the most straight way.
Speaker 5:But the fact that this is just a starting point. You are going to do so many exciting things and I hope and pray that you believe in yourself and you look at this moment as like step one of so many. So congratulations again and thank you for coming onto the show, and you look at this moment as like step one of so many. So congratulations again and thank you for coming onto the show. I had such a wonderful time chatting to the three of you.
Speaker 2:Hi everyone, my name is Sihya Jagavula and I'm a civil and structural engineer from Johannesburg. At this year's Dream Big Stay Humble Technovation Challenge, it was all about bold ideas and excellent teamwork, but one award in particular stood out the Power of Pitch Award. This award went to the team who showcased their ideas with the most creativity, clarity and confidence. So let's meet our winners.
Speaker 11:Hi, my name is Minelita Joyo. I'm a grade 11 learner and I'm 17 years old. I come from Nwendenisa Secondary School. And Lena, and I'm 17 years old, I come from Nondonisa Secondary School. I'm part of the team that built the Waste Waste Recycling Centre. So how did my team come up with the idea of waste recycling? We brainstormed ways to tackle waste management and decided to focus on recycling to promote sustainability. What was my favourite part of the Technovation experience? It was seeing our idea come to life and knowing it could make a difference in our community. The challenges we faced we faced challenges like limited resources and lack of awareness about recycling, but we found creative solutions. So what am I keeping from the summit, or my takeaways? Valuable lessons about teamwork, problem solving and sustainability, as well as new connections and friendships. Yes, I would indeed recommend the experience to others. It's a great opportunity to develop new skills, build confidence and create something new.
Speaker 5:Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of the Roots of the Science podcast. Today, I am joined by our winners from the Technovation Summit. I'm joined by Owami and Ketelo from the group. So, owami, may you please introduce yourself to our listeners today.
Speaker 4:Hi everyone, my name is Owami Dimba. I'm doing grade 10 at Zamagati High School and my favourite subject is physical sciences. Nice, nice.
Speaker 5:Ketelo.
Speaker 12:Hello everyone. My name is Ketelo Koele, Currently doing grade 10, schooling at Adams College, and my favorite subjects is maths and physics.
Speaker 5:Okay, great, great. So, owami, can you please tell us about your Technovation that your group designed, what was it called and what does it do?
Speaker 4:So our project was about a resection centre. We were taking resection things that we can use to make other things, like we're doing clothes, we have fashion store and so forth.
Speaker 5:Lovely, Katelo. How did your group come up with this idea? Why did you think that this is something that you needed to build?
Speaker 12:I think what motivated our group is that most communities don't have recycling centers and most of the garbage go to dumps, where pollution happens and everything. So I think that's what motivated our group to create a recycling center that also gives back to the community.
Speaker 5:Nice, nice. So what are some of your favorite parts, because this Technovation Summit took place over three days, right? So what are some of the things that you enjoyed during this summit that happened?
Speaker 13:Greetings to you all. My name is Tivola Angelisi and I'm doing free school for Samaritans. In high school, our team brainstormed ideas by identifying the problem, and that's where we are passionate about solving Our program that we solved was reducing poverty in our communities and provide job opportunities and also reduce alien pollution, and that was by building a recycling center. The name of our of our recycling center was Waste Wise Recycling Centre. Our recycling centre provided job opportunities to the communities and we encouraged the community to bring their waste so that it can be manufactured to more useful products.
Speaker 13:My favourite part of this experience was collaborating with my team and mentors, learning from their experiences and seeing our ideas coming to life. But there were challenges that we faced. We faced challenges like time management we didn't know that our projects would make it and we will succeed in our projects in time and also the competition pleasure. Without our projects. We were not confident enough to think that we can make it even in the second place. My takeaways about this experience was teamwork and collaboration, problem solving, resilience and adaptability. I will highly recommend this experience to others. It provides opportunities like skills development, personal growth, and it can be beneficial to anyone who is interested in innovative technology and problem solving.
Speaker 4:What I enjoy is that in three days we got more information about anything we don't know and we get new information about anything that's willing to like working like engineering and so forth.
Speaker 5:Nice and you, Ketelo, what was your experience? What are some of the things that you enjoyed? Ketelo, what was your experience? What are some of the things that you enjoyed?
Speaker 12:I enjoyed that I got to make new friends at the summit, because I believe people should make their circle bigger and get to interact with more people, and I also enjoyed that I got more motivated about being a civil engineer and woman in STEM.
Speaker 5:Lovely, so would you recommend this to someone? Let's say, there's some next year or for the next summit? If somebody said this is the opportunity, would you say, hey, yes, come and attend the summit. Yes, definitely, definitely. Okay, girls, I want to know, let's say, when I have you back onto the show, we are speaking it into existence. Right, 10 years from now, 15 years from now, do you want to do something in STEM? Or, if so, what is that thing that you want to do? What is, what is your dream career?
Speaker 4:because I had new. I had new information so I realized that I want to be a civil engineering okay, did you?
Speaker 5:did you go in there? Maybe you had another idea of what you wanted to do before you attended the summit.
Speaker 4:Yes, psychologist.
Speaker 5:Oh, okay, so now you've been switched over to the other side. All right, ketelo, what about you? Did you already know what you wanted to do before you attended the summit?
Speaker 12:I was indecisive between civil engineering or aerospace engineering because I've always wondered how those tall buildings were built, how they were designed and everything. So I've always wanted to be an engineer. But when I got to ninth grade I also got interested into aerospace engineering.
Speaker 5:So now you still undecided, you still not sure which one.
Speaker 14:Yes, okay, no, that's perfectly fine, hi guys my name is Azita Makanya, doing grade 11 at Wususuiwakomtec High. How did you come up with the idea for our researching sensor? My name is Isishe Makanya, doing grade 11 at Wususie Komitek High. How did you come up with the idea for our recycling center? The idea for our recycling center was born during a simple conversation about trash yes, trash. We realized how much waste goes unnoticed every day, and that sparked our mission to turn it into something useful. That's how we ended up creating shows from plastic, stationery, from newspaper and even an eco-friendly garden that gives new love to all things.
Speaker 14:My favorite part of the Technovation experience was seeing our ideas come to life and working together as a team to make a real impact. Of course, the road wasn't always smooth. We struggled with limited resources, time crunches and learning how to pitch our project confidently, but those challenges only made us stronger. At the summit, I learned that creativity and purpose can go hand in hand and that young people truly have the power to lead change. Would I recommend this experience? Absolutely. It's more than a competition. It's a journey that opens your minds, builds your skills and proves that even small ideas can make a big difference. Thank you for your time.
Speaker 5:Thank you so much, girls, for coming on and talking with me. I had such a wonderful time learning about you and the project that you developed. And again, congratulations for being part of this summit. I'm really, really excited for what you guys are going to do. Thank you.
Speaker 6:Okay.
