By Phiwa Sikhondze
Last week Saturday, the Data Science Eswatini Community hosted a landmark IT skills event at the Mbabane Library Exhibition Hall, drawing over 100 participants from various universities and industries to foster a future of data-driven innovation.
The event, which registered 136 individuals, focused on equipping emaSwati with the latest trends in data science and AI. The Community, founded by Munyaradzi Chigunyeni, changed its name from Pythonista and Data Science Group to Data Science Eswatini, reflecting its broader mission.
The primary objective of this initiative is to create a supportive community where members, ranging from beginners to enthusiasts. It aims to bring them together to embark on an exciting journey of skill development. The community mainly focuses on: Artificial intelligence (AI), Data Science, Software Development, and Cyber Security Awareness (conducted by eSwatini Royal Police cyber team).
With a mission to nurture a culture of data-driven decision-making, the community envisions data science and analytics as key drivers of informed strategies and technological advancements in eSwatini.
The community’s objectives include knowledge exchange, skill development, collaboration, community engagement, and research and innovation. The event covered critical topics such as: the importance of structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data, and Big Data characterized by the 5 V’s: volume, value, velocity, variety, and veracity.
The event also covered AI and machine learning branches, including supervised, unsupervised, semi-supervised, and deep learning, as well as the application of cloud computing platforms like AWS, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure in corporate decision-making.
A practical session on database development using Postgres and Python programming was a highlight, showcasing the community’s dedication to hands-on learning. The event also highlighted the growing demand for careers in AI and data science, emphasizing the need for skills in programming, database management, mathematics, statistics, and visualization tools.
The community received positive feedback from attendees, who expressed appreciation and interest in learning more about data science and AI. Data Science eSwatini plans to host more events to advance IT digital skills among EmaSwati.
For more information or to get involved, the community can be reached through their website: https://www.datascienceeswatini.online or via email: datascienceeswatini@gmail.com