Tech Leadership Meetup with Charlene Cooke (Senior Executive at BBD)

Join us at our next in-person Tech Leadership meetup. There will be drinks and snacks to kickoff the evening.

The event will be hosted at the BBD offices (3rd Floor, Northbank Building, No. 1 N Bank Ln, Century City, Cape Town, 7441).

The agenda for the evening will be as follows:
17:30 - 18:00 - Arrival: Drinks and snacks.
18:00 - 18:15 - Introduction and house rules.
18:15 - 19:00 - Main speaker - Charlene Cooke.
19:00 - 19:30 - Networking and wrap-up.

Topic of Main Talk - Leadership Against The Grain

Leadership in the technology world is often focussed around innovation, speed, and delivery—but at its core, it’s about people. In this talk, I’ll share my personal journey to leadership as a woman in IT, reflecting on the challenges, turning points, and values that shaped the way I lead today.

Central to my approach is the belief that trust and respect are not just nice-to-haves—they are the foundation of any truly effective team. I’ll explore the impact of leading by serving, creating space for others to thrive, and being genuinely invested in the growth of those around you. Whether you’re building your leadership path or supporting others on theirs, this talk is about showing up with authenticity, believe, and a commitment to lifting others as you lead.

Thank you to our sponsors Peach Payments, MoonPay, and OfferZen

Peach Payments make online commerce and digital payment acceptance easier and more accessible across all Africa. We believe in the potential of Africa and aim to grow into more countries. Based in Cape Town, South Africa, we work with small and large merchants in South Africa, Kenya and Mauritius to provide a complete toolkit to accept, manage and disburse payments through web and mobile. Our merchant partners include your favourite food delivery services, whether you are ordering in or using a meal kit, travel services that can help you book your next getaway adventure and even your neighbour’s side-hustle e-commerce store. For these partners and their customers, we aim to provide brilliant experiences that make it as easy as possible to facilitate online payments.

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MoonPay believes in building a world where you own your digital future, giving you control of your identity, money, property and data.
We are the market leader in end-to-end solutions simplifying access to the crypto economy for 20M+ people across 180+ countries, and trusted by iconic global brands including wallets, marketplaces, exchanges and leading web2 enterprises.

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OfferZen is an online job marketplace by developers for developers. Our mission is to help people unlock their potential by helping them build awesome software. That’s why we are connecting actively looking developers with exciting job opportunities from over 1000 companies in South Africa and the Netherlands. We flip the normal recruitment process on its head – companies reach out to candidates with upfront salary information.

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