Nepali developer Rojina Bajracharya has become the very first recipient of Toptal Scholarship. Launched by Toptal, the program is designed to empower and support the next generation of female computer scientists, software engineers, and developers, through a combination of financial support and mentorship.

Bajracharya is an inspiring and motivated Python developer, entrepreneur, and mentor from Bhaktapur. As the first winner of the fellowship, she will receive $5,000, as well as one year of weekly one-on-one mentorship with a Toptal senior developer, to support her goal of having a successful career as a professional software developer.

Rojina is a co-founder of Girls in Technology, a rapidly growing community of women in the Kathmandu area who are training to become future software engineers. The organization was founded after Rojina and several friends took a programming course that a mentor from Pagoda Labs, a Kathmandu-based creative agency, had set up for girls in the area.

Toptal Director of Engineering Anna-Chiara Bellini, who is organizing the initiative and leading the committee of judges, has praised Bajracharya on several grounds. Not only was she impressed with the talented programmer’s application, Bellini also considered her to be brilliant, ambitious, hard working and doing amazing things to build and support a community of female technologists in Nepal.