In a country where we pride ourselves on innovation, digital growth, and inclusivity, Black women in technology are still being shut out of spaces they helped create. We, Gugu and Yamandosi Cele, are not only sisters but business partners, technologists, and visionaries born in the small town of Port Shepstone, KwaZulu-Natal. We are part of a generation of self-taught Black women who dared to step into tech and AI and then got pushed aside.
Our story is not about what we’re missing. It’s about what we’ve already built, and how the very government that should be empowering women like us continues to undermine and ignore our voices.
When we first started this journey, we created the Ovico Super App an all-in-one digital platform that allows users to book services, buy products, report municipal issues, access deliveries, manage businesses, and connect with government and local SMMEs. It was our answer to the broken systems we saw daily systems that made life harder for people in rural and township communities.
But we quickly realized something deeper: people in rural areas ,semi-rural ,small towns and townships didn’t just lack access to services they lacked the tools and infrastructure to engage with technology at all. Many had no smartphones, no internet, no digital literacy. So, we asked: Why are smart cities only imagined in big metros like Johannesburg or Cape Town? What about rural, semi-rural, and township areas?
That question birthed our second innovation the Digital Economy Innovation Project.
A New Vision: Smart Communities, Not Just Smart Cities
The Digital Economy Innovation Project is more than a vision. It’s a 2025–2030 national rollout aimed at turning overlooked communities into connected, smart ecosystems.
We’re talking about:
- Eco-friendly, solar-powered digital hubs installed in rural and township areas
- Free WiFi and public interactive displays with Ovico App software
- A place where people can report potholes, GBV, or water leaks directly to
municipalities - Access to virtual clinics, government services, and delivery platforms
- A hub for shopping from virtual stores without needing smartphones or data
- Creating thousands of jobs in delivery, construction, and tech operations
Imagine uGogo in a rural village telling her granddaughter to go to the smart hub and order her pills, or a single mom in the township reporting a leaking pipe to the municipality without spending money on transport or airtime.
This isn’t the future. This is now. And yet, despite our proven track record and pilot success with Ray Nkonyeni Municipality in 2024, we are still hitting brick walls with government officials who don’t understand the very technologies they are tasked to promote.
The Harsh Truth:
We’ve sat in boardrooms with government departments that speak of “smart cities” as a media buzzword but have no real understanding of what they are or how they work. We’ve presented real, community-based solutions only to be dismissed not because our work lacked merit, but because we are young, Black women leading the conversation.
We’ve had to use people from other races just to get our voices heard. We’ve watched budget allocations sit idle while communities continue to suffer. And we’ve experienced firsthand how these spaces exclude women like us not through law, but through disrespect, doubt, and closed doors.
Moving Forward Without Permission
We say this not to complain but to call for change.
Because even with all this resistance, we’ve secured three major stakeholders who believe in our vision. We are pushing forward. The rollout has begun. And this is just the beginning.
We are proving that Black women in tech are not just capable we are essential. We are building the bridges between tradition and innovation, between the informal economy and formal systems, between paper queues and digital service delivery.
A Call to Stakeholders, Media, and South Africans
We invite more partners to join us. This is a call to the private sector, government departments that are ready to learn, universities, innovators, and changemakers.
Come build with us.
Let’s create a South Africa where:
- Access to services is a right, not a privilege.
- Rural, semi-rural, small towns and townships communities are not left behind in the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
- Black women lead national innovation projects without having to beg for seats at the
table.
We are Gugu and Yamandosi Cele and we are changing the narrative for rural and township communities in South Africa through technology, AI, and unstoppable vision.
- Gugu Cele and Yamandosi Cele Sisters | Tech Entrepreneurs | Founders of Ovico Super App & the Digital Economy Innovation Project
