At a glance

SheCanDo, a South Africa–based non-profit creating pathways for women into the UX & UI industry, wanted to do two things that rarely come easily together: grow their operations and prove their impact.

They were already running two strong programmes, a six-month training course and a three-month mentorship track, but managing them through separate spreadsheets, Google Forms and manual follow-ups was becoming unmanageable. They needed a single, integrated system that could show their growth, keep participants engaged and give sponsors confidence that their support was creating measurable change.

That’s where Makerble came in.

About SheCanDo

Founded in 2019, SheCanDo empowers women to enter and excel in the tech industry; especially in UX/UI design. Its mission is to equip women with skills, confidence and connections that open career doors and change lives.

From Cape Town to Johannesburg, SheCanDo has supported hundreds of women through practical training, mentorship and volunteering pathways that turn graduates into future mentors. It's a circle of empowerment that sustains itself.

By 2025, Founder Inez Vermeulen and her board had one clear goal: to operationalise impact measurement so they could scale confidently and attract more sponsorship.

The challenge

SheCanDo was running two parallel systems:

• Volunteer tracking: Details of volunteers, their skills and projects were stored in spreadsheets; this made it hard to see who was active where or for how long.
• Programme evaluation: Monthly and quarterly surveys using Google Forms were capturing feedback from students and mentors, but responses sat in isolation. There was no easy way to link survey results to individual journeys or see change over time.
• Graduate follow-ups: Tracking post-programme success (“Have you found a job?”, “Have you been promoted?”) relied on manual emails and many went unanswered.

As Inez described it:

“There’s no way for us to do this at scale if we’re still doing everything so manually.”

They needed to connect people, programmes and outcomes in a single system, without losing the human touch that felt true to SheCanDo.

What they wanted Makerble to do

Their core needs fell into three areas:

1. Volunteer database and skills mapping
   • A central record of every volunteer’s skills, availability and projects.
   • Ability to match volunteers to new initiatives based on experience or interest.
   • Record length of service and link volunteers who were also programme alumni.
2. Programme management and tracking
   • Create a project for each cohort to keep data tidy and reporting simple.
   • Run monthly surveys for participants and mentors to assess quality and experience.
   • Automate reminders so follow-ups go out every three months post-graduation.
3. Impact measurement and longitudinal analysis
   • Link survey responses to individual profiles to see progress over time.
   • Report on how many participants gain employment or career growth after finishing.
   • Visualise the loop of “learner → volunteer → mentor” to demonstrate sustainable impact.

The difference Makerble has made

• Automated survey follow-ups mean SheCanDo no longer has to chase graduates manually because Makerble handles it on schedule.
• Volunteer linking allows alumni to be re-connected when they come back as mentors which captures the “give back” culture that's core to the movement.
• Project-per-cohort structure makes reporting simple while still allowing aggregate views across years.

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What’s next

Over the coming months, SheCanDo plans to integrate its UX facilitator feedback and mentor ratings into the same Makerble workspace, creating a fully 360° view of the learning and mentoring experience.

This isn’t just about digitising data, it’s about building a movement that learns from its impact and uses that insight to open doors for more women in tech. We're excited to be a part of their story.

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