Mpho Josephine Mbele
Mpho Mbele is doing a master’s degree in information technology (IT) at the Central University of Technology (CUT). She obtained a BTech cum laude from the same institution in 2011.
Mbele was born in Gauteng, but grew up in the Lejweleputswa district of the Free State, where she witnessed first-hand the devastating effects of environmental pollution caused by mining. The need to find an effective solution to this problem, and the hope that she could one day contribute to such a solution, inspired her to move up the education ladder.
She has published two papers in peer-reviewed international conference proceedings, and took CUT-sponsored a trip to Benin to present her work.
Mbele is one of three black women out of 20 students enrolled for an MA at CUT’s IT department, leading the way for other black women. She is also using her experience in mobile programming to mentor high school girls and encourage them to become software engineers.