FinTech Wales to provide training and job opportunities for women in technology
FinTech Wales, the not-for-profit membership organization that empowers Wales as a globally recognized hub of FinTech excellence, has teamed up with women’s rights charity and champion Chwarae Teg to offer exclusive training and employment opportunities for women in Wales.
Despite progress in recent years, women remain critically underrepresented in technology roles, as highlighted in PwC’s Women in Tech Research Report, which claims that only 23% of people working in STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) have roles in across the UK are women*.”
To address this, FinTech Wales and Chwarae Teg have partnered with Code First Girls, a social enterprise offering free coding courses to women and non-binary people across the UK. As a result of this partnership, FinTech Wales has been able to offer the Code First Girls program to its members looking to recruit female talent, and the collaboration between academia and industry will see 10 women go through a 14 week fully funded academy. to obtain micro-degrees in Software, Data or Full-stack.
Gemma Hallett, Head of Skills, at FinTech Wales said “We are so proud to be working with Chwarae Teg, Code First Girls and our members to attract and retain more women in tech. FinTechs including Wealthify, Delio and Principality Building Society have already committed to the program with some fantastic job offers for women who have recently started their micro degrees and I speak to several members every day including Hodge, Monmouthshire Building Society, Sero , Pepper Money, Go.Compare and Acquis Insurance to name but a few , who have great career opportunities and want to further diversify the workforce.
“Collaboration is essential and FinTech Wales is delighted to be able to make the significant link between individuals and leading FinTechs in Wales, providing employment opportunities for this emerging / much needed talent.
“Earlier this week we were delighted to host an event with Code First Girls CEO Anna Brailsford, Chwarae Teg’s newly appointed CEO Lucy Reynolds and our members to share insights and further plans to attract more women into tech .”
Sarah Maher, Employee Experience Lead, Wealthify said “We are thrilled to be part of this initiative and were so impressed with the women during the interview process that we have now offered two job roles to women through this program. As a company that has a workforce made up of 57% men and 43% women, and a senior leadership team made up of 50/50 men and women, it is extremely important to us that we constantly look at ways to attract and retain more women in technology.”
Bethan Baldwin, New Futures Project Manager, Chwarae Teg said: “Technology is one of the fastest growing industries in the country, with digital skills in high demand. These are lucrative careers for the future, which is why it’s important to open up pathways for women to flourish and achieve fair representation in the sector We are excited to be working with FinTech Wales and Code First Girls through the New Futures project, led by the Learning and Work Institute and funded by the Covid-19 Support Fund, to address the under-representation of women, particularly in technology and digitalisation. roles across the FinTech sector. It is encouraging to see the commitment of FinTech employers keen to diversify their workforce.”
Gemma continues: “This is one of many initiatives FinTech Wales is working on to support the needs within the Welsh FinTech ecosystem. We are determined to fill the skills and diversity gaps in technology and ultimately change people’s lives with great training and job opportunities.”
