Technologists, Inc. Hosts First Anniversary Meeting of SAWEC

 

January 26, 2012

Arlington, Va.

 

Technologists, Inc. (Ti), an international engineering, construction, and management company that works primarily in challenging and remote environments, hosted the first anniversary meeting of the Society of Afghan Women in Engineering and Construction (SAWEC) on January 26, 2012 at Ti headquarters in Kabul. The Society, which is modeled on professional organizations in the United States and other developed countries, enables members to develop contacts, share experiences, and pursue partnerships and business opportunities. Ti provides administrative support and meeting space for SAWEC’s monthly meetings but its members develop and implement their own agenda and activities.

 

SAWEC was founded in January 2011 with initial support from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Afghanistan Engineer District (USACE AED). Thomas H. Magness, Ti’s chief operating officer, was one of the Society’s founding advisors in his capacity as Commander of USACE AED in 2010–2011. “The Army Corps helped get these folks up and running,” Mr. Magness said, “but the Society’s natural home is in the private sector. I am pleased that Ti is taking the lead in keeping this important initiative going.”

 

Khadija Mayar, Ti’s director of capacity building and public relations, and the company’s primary contact with SAWEC, has been involved with the Society from its first meeting one year ago. “Many of these women will play a major role in building the new Afghanistan,” Mrs. Mayar said. “We anticipate working with them as friends and partners for years to come.” Lucille Hunter, director of Ti’s design division, recently spoke to the group about opportunities in the construction of the International Center for Afghan Women's Economic Development in Kabul. (Ti is building the Center on the new campus of the American University in Afghanistan.) “As a woman engineer working in Afghanistan, I am inspired by the level of professionalism and drive that the members of SAWEC exhibit,” Ms. Hunter said after the meeting. “We Americans take organizations like this for granted, but for Afghan women to have created a professional association like this is really quite extraordinary.”

 

“Ti is not hosting these meetings just to have a discussion club,” Mr. Magness added. “We see these women as potential employees, partners, and subcontractors on future Ti projects—and we encourage other firms to take a close look at what SAWEC has to offer.”