Reflecting on an extraordinary year, looking to the future
For all the right reasons we’ve paused to reflect this week on the extraordinary year we’ve all had were the COVID-19 pandemic has touched all of us in some way, and we know for many it’s been extremely difficult. This past year has transformed nearly all aspects of life for many of us. And it’s been a year where technology and digital have been vital components for how we remain connected, work, learn and maintain access to the vital services we need.
Fintech Innovation has played an important role in helping us develop some of the new norms’ we first started talking about at the beginning of this pandemic. A year on and the fintech Community in Scotland has grown and evolved. It has also developed the propositions and services that have helped people and businesses maintain the access to vital financial services.
There’s a growing understanding of the fintech potential to make a difference through new technologies and access to data as well as determination in fintech businesses to build solutions that help future progress.
Scottish fintech innovations are looking to the future. Zumo’s hard work and smart money wallet and platform is transforming how we think about the future of crypto currency and money, with financial inclusion at its heart. Nudelaunched its app this week guiding students and newly employed to raise a deposit more quickly for their first home. Qpal is working to help those financially stretched or financially vulnerable and VistalWorks is working to protect people from fraud, keeping online shoppers safe from harm.
Scotland has an established and growing reputation for fintech for good, a point recently recognised in the recent UK Fintech Strategic Review, also known as the #KalifaReview. The Kalifa Review provided an opportunity to take stock of fintech across the UK and learn about the strengths and opportunities across all the regions. It positively identified the value of a Cluster model in helping economic growth and recognised Scotland’s fintech Cluster as a well-established environment for future fintech expansion.
The energy across Scotland’s fintech cluster offers the kind of practical support and determined optimism for more development and an ambition that sees us embrace more inspiring and often extraordinary opportunities as we look at the potential for cross sector innovation. If we needed one, the Kalifa Review has given us even more impetus to harness the fintech opportunity for economic growth and social change.
We have another catalyst in the Scottish Technology Ecosystem Review, led by Mark Logan, the recommendations here set out a clear programme for collaborative action. It’s a call to action for us all and offers a future vision of how technology can help catalyse the post-pandemic recovery. This week’s announcement from Scottish Government confirmed its commitment to utilise the potential and support the broader opportunity to strengthen Scotland as a tech ecosystem.
If we needed an accelerant the COVID-19 pandemic has given us a year where we’ve experienced the power of digital and the role for technology. We’re learning from the experiences of the past and turn our attention to the hopes for the future. The Kalifa Review and the Scottish Technology Ecosystem Review have a number of common themes, apart from the obvious technology connection both call for action through collaboration to help us recover and embrace our full potential for an extraordinary future. Collaboration sits at the heart of what we do at FinTech Scotland and if you’re keen to hear more please get in touch.
Accelerating Scotland’s tech-led recovery.
Programme backed by £7 million funding in the first year.
A leading expert in scaling digital businesses has been appointed to oversee an ambitious programme to establish Scotland as a world-class technology hub.
Mark Logan, former Skyscanner executive and Professor of Computing Science at the University of Glasgow, will advise ministers on implementing the recommendations stemming from his independent review of the Scottish tech ecosystem.
The programme will be delivered with £7 million Scottish Government funding in its first year (2021-22). This will include a £1 million fund to make strategic investments in organisations and activities ”“ such as tech conferences, meet-ups or training programmes ”“ that create the best possible environment for Scottish start-ups to succeed.
Procurement for a network of growth-focused entrepreneurial hubs known as “tech scalers” will open for bids later this year. It is anticipated that there will be five scalers in different parts of the country by 2022, with the aim of supporting around 300 high-quality start-ups over the next five years.
Progress will be supported by a gender-balanced advisory board composed of some of Scotland’s most successful entrepreneurs and digital leaders including:
- Lesley Eccles, founder and CEO of HelloRelish and co-founder of gaming platform Fanduel
- Roan Lavery, co-founder of online accounting firm FreeAgent
- Sarah Ronald, founder of Nile HQ service design agency
- Stephen Ingledew, Executive Chair of FinTech Scotland
Finance Secretary Kate Forbes said:
“Mark is one of the most respected figures in Scotland’s tech scene and his experience, passion and global profile will be invaluable in our joint mission to elevate Scotland’s tech ecosystem to world-class level.
“The expertise and industry perspective of the advisory board will also be instrumental in ensuring we create the conditions and infrastructure needed to incubate a stream of start-ups that reach sustained profitability and can do so at scale.
“From attracting young people into computing science courses to supporting a community of high-growth businesses, this programme of work will be critical in determining the future contribution of Scotland’s tech sector to our economic recovery.”
Online travel businesses Skyscanner was Scotland’s first “unicorn” ”“ the industry term for a tech company valued at more than $1 billion. Professor Logan joined the firm as Chief Operating Officer in 2012 until its acquisition in 2017.
Professor Logan said:
“It’s very exciting to witness the shared sense of mission and ambition across government, industry and the education sector in bringing the tech ecosystem review’s recommendations to life. I’m pleased to have the support of such an experienced board as we strive to make Scotland a leading technology economy.”
Background
Mark Logan’s Scottish Technology Ecosystem Review was published in August 2020 and the Scottish Government has committed to implementing its recommendations.
A full list of board members will be published ahead of its first meeting in May 2021.
The £1 million Ecosystem Fund is expected to open for applications in summer 2021.
A document setting out the Scottish Government’s initial expectations of tech scalers will be published shortly and used as a basis for discussions with potential bidders.
Work to develop the technology sector will contribute to the successful delivery of Scotland’s updated digital strategy which was published this month and complements the artificial intelligence strategy published earlier this week
Picture Credit: Pexels
Banks’ Responses to Embedded Finance and Banking
WRITTEN BY RISE, CREATED BY BARCLAYS
Rise, Barclays’ FinTech ecosystem, is the #HomeOfFinTech and publishes its regular thought-leadership report, Rise FinTech Insights. This edition focuses on Embedded Finance.
In this article, we explore what Embedded Finance might mean to incumbent banks. It’s an area that’s gaining a lot of traction in both B2C and B2C markets across many sectors. In payments alone, Embedded Finance 2020 revenues were $16.1 billion, but by 2025 they’re forecast to reach $140.8 billion[1].
Banking as a Service
Key enablers of Embedded Finance that impact banks greatly include Banking as a Service (BaaS). This is expected to drive great disruption as new BaaS providers’ and the more innovative banks create new and better infrastructure supporting not only the surge in new payment models and Point of Sale financing that is driving eCommerce but also completely redesigned digital journeys that extend beyond retail into non-financial sectors like healthcare, education, agriculture and music.
Those digital journeys will need to be underpinned by new services that must be always-on, reliable and performant at all times. This will often require a significant uplift to the current technical capabilities of the incumbent banks, which will have to deal with legacy systems that are decades-old and costly to adapt to new propositions. This is possibly why we see incumbents invest so heavily in digital-only propositions and in their tech stacks.
Cloud
Another key enabler is cloud computing and its on-demand and highly elastic and configurable capabilities. Disruptors in this space have varied pedigrees ”“ FinTechs, Big Tech, neobanks and incumbent banks are all leveraging the cloud’s potential to innovate faster at a lower cost and to support newer and better B2B and B2C use cases.
In the drive to take financial services to new heights using cloud technology, FinTech representation is, as you’d expect, healthy and has allowed some startups to scale fast. In the payments space, for example, Adyen and Stripe have built modern platforms designed from the ground-up with the cloud at their core. Traditional banks are keenly aware of the disruption to banking experiences brought by neobanks. They of course rely heavily on the cloud and may be able to leverage this core strength to embed payments and other financial features into third-party, web-based products more easily than many incumbents currently can.
APIs
Finally, let’s consider APIs. They’re what lets a bank extend its reach into the new digital journeys of Embedded Finance. Whether it’s a payment transaction at the end of your taxi ride or a request for an instant personal loan when you purchase a luxury item, there are numerous jobs-to-be-done that culminate in a banking transaction. Research tells us that users are reluctant to move to a different digital site to complete that transaction, and the behind-the-scenes operations of APIs support a better, seamless experience. It’s these frictionless experiences that are king in today’s digital world.
When it’s the cloud or APIs, the developer experience should be paramount to banks. After all, other companies’ developers will be the first consumers of any new service that’s created, and if they struggle with opaque processes, difficult integrations or non-intuitive interfaces, banks will lose the agility and scale that allow them to deliver great customer experiences. FinTech developers must be allowed to experiment easily with safe’ data and sandboxes because, only if they’re in place, will financial institutions be able to co-create value propositions at scale.
Thinking like a FinTech
Embedded Finance means that banks will be collaborating with nimble digital players ”“ quite possibly acting nimbler than banks are traditionally used to. You need to move fast to partner with some of the big retail and tech brands ”“ slow and cumbersome processes may present a challenge. This, in part, is why Barclays has signed the FinTech Pledge.
Ready to collaborate?
Can banks think like FinTechs? At Rise, created by Barclays, we like to think so. If you’re in FinTech and are as excited as we are by these developments, we’d love to hear your ideas and thoughts. Contact your closest Rise team in London, New York or Mumbai to discuss how we can collaborate.
Read more about Embedded Finance and BaaS in the Rise FinTech Insights report.
Visit Barclays API Exchange.
[1] https://www.forbes.com/sites/ronshevlin/2020/08/03/ubers-departure-from-financial-services-a-speed-bump-on-the-path-to-embedded-finance/?sh=790efe967673#484180287673
Unleashing Fintech as a Driving Force for Economic Recovery
An independent review of the fintech commissioned by HM Treasury has highlighted the important role fintech can play in driving economic recovery by creating jobs, developing global trade and enabling financial inclusion.
FinTech Scotland along with fintech bodies across the UK contributed to the Fintech Strategic Review (FSR) recommendations which sets out a five-point plan to leverage innovation through a positive regulatory environment, developing diverse skills, facilitating investment to scale enterprises and accelerating a targeted approach to inward investment.
The detailed data-driven analysis of fintech innovation across the UK gave recognition to the momentum of the FinTech Scotland cluster, which included growing expertise in open finance, payments, regulatory innovation (RegTech) and “Fintech for Good”.
The Fintech Scotland cluster model was noted as a driving force since formation in 2018, progress over three years which has included,
- Entrepreneurial Growth, increasing number of fintech SME firms from 26 to 155 today
- Innovation Excellence ”“ collaboration to establish Global Open Finance Centre of Excellence in 2020
- Strategic Engagement ”“ 27 strategic partners from private, public, academic sectors
- Practical Collaboration ”“ developing mutual opportunities with UK colleagues in the Fintech National Network
- Global Recognition ”“ European cluster centre of excellence accreditation in 2020
Stephen Ingledew, Executive Chair of Fintech Scotland and a member of the FSR working group commented,
“Fintech has the potential to revolutionise how we live whether it’s paying for our shopping or managing our money or setting up a business”
“Crucially, it can play a pivotal role in stopping the exacerbation of economic and social inequalities. Fintech innovation is fast growing right across the UK and offers great potential for Scotland through investment, innovation and jobs.”
“We have been fully involved in the Review to share our learnings from the last three years, in which we’ve managed to build an inclusive and vibrant cluster, a model which The Review recognises can help foster innovation and collaboration in boosting recovery of the UK economy”
“ We believe the Review recommendations will support further progress in developing a growing fintech ecosystem and build on successes of home grown and international fintech firms already rooted in Scotland”
Linda Hanna, interim Chief Executive of Scottish Enterprise said:
“This independent review supports Scotland’s growing worldwide reputation as a leading fintech location. Scottish Enterprise has been proud to partner with FinTech Scotland in developing a vibrant environment that continues to attract international fintech firms from around the world, providing economic opportunities for our communities and high-quality jobs for our skilled workforce.”
James Varga, founder of Direct ID and Loral Quinn, founder of Sustainably also contributed to the FSR and welcomed the recommendations on behalf of the fintech community.
James Varga said,
“We have known for some time that Fintech has been one of the fastest growing parts of the economy driving innovation across the country and the findings of this report illustrate why the future of fintech is very bright indeed and, with the right drivers, can continue as one of the UK’s biggest success stories.”
Loral Quinn said,
“The FSR is a boost for fintech entrepreneurs across the country and the package of recommendations will enable innovative small and medium enterprises to accelerate growth nationally and globally”
Deloitte co-led the FSR National Connectivity Chapter with Tech Nation, undertaking a comprehensive data- driven analysis of the sector across the UK. Kent Mackenzie, Head of Fintech in Scotland, said
“the detail and data contained in this review will underpin and support what we’ve understood for a long time ”“ that fintech across the UK is alive and kicking, and primed for next stage of scaling’”.
The full report is available here
An update from Nicola Anderson on 2021
Happy new year and welcome 2021. With the continued lockdown and restrictions 2021 continues to throw a variety of challenges at us all, from all of us at FinTech Scotland we hope you’re all safe and well in what continues to be difficult times.
Diversity and Inclusion in Tech: It’s Time to Focus on More than the Optics
We’ve just completed some (admittedly superficial) digging into a few of the top tech companies’ adverts. They’re pretty diverse. Over the last couple of years, Apple’s feature 64% BAME actors, by rough calculations. Amazon’s have 78%. And Lenovo’s had a 50/50 split between the sexes.
By contrast, of Apple’s 11 board members, all are white and one is a woman. Last year, Amazon appointed the first person of colour to its 10-strong board. And Lenovo, well one of their board of 10 is female…
While big tech spends big money producing high-budget adverts with diverse optics, behind the scenes things are very different. A recent Girls Who Code report pointed out 50% of women leave tech by the age of 35. And the proportion of women working in tech is now smaller, at 32%, than it was in 1984, at 35%.
Tech companies are some of the most competitive and forward-thinking businesses out there. And various studies have shown that companies with above-average diversity perform better than their competitors. What’s the use in being so cutting edge if tech can’t capitalise on these gains?
So rather than focus on how diversity in tech looks to the public, how can we make diversity in tech a real tangible thing that can help businesses grow and thrive?
Get Better at Attracting Diversity
There are probably a hundred companies paying a similar salary to you. It’s your Value Proposition that sets your business apart from the crowd, particularly in tech.
With many tech positions in high demand, companies compete through their added benefits: good work culture, progression or mobility opportunities, the ability to learn new skills, and work/life balance.
But for many, it’s how inclusive and diverse their workplace is. Not something that can be bluffed with a couple of pictures of BAME people on an advert and some nice words. Companies need to BE inclusive to attract inclusive and diverse candidates. As employees talk (and write things online), you need to put measures in place like:
- a clearly-laid out inclusion plan,
- a spirit of inclusivity from senior management to the most junior employee,
- Inclusivity committees/groups
Get Better at Hiring Diversely
Unconscious bias naturally creeps into the recruitment process. A Yale University study found scientists of both sexes, “trained to be objective, were more likely to hire men, and consider them more competent than women, and pay them $4,000 more per year than women.”
A recent piece we wrote on Talent Maturity discussed the importance of a well-developed team. And if that’s beyond a company’s reach, how valuable an external recruiter who can help them reach a mature level can be.
And combating unconscious bias is one of the things an outside recruiter can help with, using various measures:
Clearly Laid Out Requirements
We call this Scoping at Solutions Driven. Sitting down with the hiring manager, figuring out their requirements and what success looks like. Employees are less likely to be hired on “gut feel” (another form of unconscious bias) and the brief is followed by both sides throughout.
It provides the basis of the candidate scorecard where we set down what’s important and rank each section. Perhaps a degree is desirable but experience is more important? That’s taken into account.
Blind Shortlisting
It’s difficult to hire blindly when you’re hiring for yourself. Recruitment companies regularly present candidates blindly, allowing businesses to judge them on their skills and experience, rather than their name or where they’re from.
Companies then get the best talent presented to them to final interview, without any outside factors influencing the decision.
Psychometric Testing
One of psychometric testing’s main aims is eliminating unconscious bias. Teams can focus on a candidates’ personality, attributes, and skills, rather than looking for similarities to themselves.
It can also be used on the existing workforce to determine what skills and attributes are needed on teams and help identify the right fit for each role. By saying “we need an analytical thinker” recruiters can add this into their requirements, and hone in on the “perfect match”.
Hiring the Right Candidates
All we’ve spoken about until now is getting the right people for your company. But what about if your company is right for the employee?
As part of our Recruitment Process Intelligence (RPI) at Solutions Driven, we employ the 6F methodology.
We look at fit, freedom, family, fulfilment, fortune, and family to determine whether an employee and a company will work well together and if reasonable adjustments can be made to get the perfect candidate onboard.
It’s an important part of the hiring process, because unhappy employees don’t stick around. And in tech, where the job market is competitive, you don’t want to waste time hiring someone who’s just going to leave.
To find out more about how your business could improve on its diversity and inclusion initiatives, and how to hire right, first time, get in touch with Nicki Paterson from Solutions Driven at npaterson@solutionsdriven.com.
Photo by Tim Mossholder from Pexels
Fintech Scotland, new norms, new fintechs
2020 ”“ Establishing New Norms
We’re starting to wind down and think about finishing up for a break over the festive period at FinTech Scotland and like so many of you and other organisations out there we’ve been reflecting on what a year!
2020 has felt like a year where we’ve lost what was normal. Like so many, we’ve been working from home since March ”“ our last day in the office was the 12th of March, forever etched in my memory! Since then, we’ve been getting used to a new norm’, new ways of working and phrases like you’re on mute’ have made it into our everyday working vocabulary.
Life moved online with technology and digital connectivity vital for new norms that were being established at work and school, for learning, shopping, social interaction and connection with family and friends!
We’ve been able to count our blessings in so many ways and continue to be privileged, inspired and energised by the FinTech Scotland Cluster.
Fintech driving New Norms’
The purpose and commitment to enable greater financial inclusion is a strength right across the fintech community in Scotland. The financial impact of COVID-19 on businesses and people has presented even more need to drive this agenda and Scotland’s fintech SME’s are providing a range of different products and services to help, enable and empower people.
Amiqus has progressed a collaborative initiative to ensure those facing homelessness and a loss of address can maintain access to vital services. @Proxy address, a new normal perhaps, is a solution that aims to overcome issues of financial exclusion because proof of identify to access products is closely tied to a permanent address. It’s an innovative approach that’s enabling new insights on old issues and focused on purposeful outcomes.
Empowering people by making personal finance more insightful and transparent, while using technology to see all your accounts in one place, is fast becoming a new norm and driven by fintech’s such as Money Dashboard. The team there were recently successful in the NESTA Rapid Recovery Challenge to help people financially hit by COVID-19. The award recognised both Money Dashboard’s innovation to help people manage money and its ability to quickly scale to support more people and a growing need.
New ways are also driving the team at Nude, who are working to enable aspiring first time buyers to build a deposit for their first home. The innovation aims to help people build that deposit quicker and is working to support new savings norms to empower people through data, behavioural insights and investments.
The team at Sonik Pocket have been innovating to help children with money. They’ve been focused on the potential new norm that generation Alpha will have less experience with physical cash and are building a product to help teach them about the value of money in a digital way. The inspiring team come from a teaching background and want to see children included and engaged with money and finances.
Float, working with SME’s, is integrating a range of activities to give businesses new tools to manage cashflow, accounts, and other business finance needs. Driving a new norm that helps business owners forecast accurate cashflow using real time information to get a visual view of ins and outs, pinch points and supporting confident business decisions.
There are many more fintech’s working and collaborating with industry partners, regulators, consumer organisations and universities to build the next phase of New Norms where technology in financial services supports inclusive outcomes for businesses and people.
New Fintech SME’s
The FinTech Scotland community of fintech SME’s has grown throughout 2020 and it’s a pleasure to welcome a host of new enterprises who are all aspiring to build and support other new norms and ways of working. Focused on cyber security Lupovis helps identify and divert cyber hackers away from crucial operating systems to keep businesses digitally safe, an increasingly vital need as we embrace new ways of digital working. Love Your Employees is focused on employee health and financial wellbeing, enabling employers to support colleagues through changing financial, emotional and other health needs.
In addition, an established norm continues to see international fintech’s join the FinTech Scotland community. Montoux, Access FinTech, UNest, all international fintech’s, have started to establish and build business in Scotland. All attracted to Scotland because of the strength of talent and data driven innovation expertise available here, and all working in different markets. Montoux, a New Zealand business is focused on the life and health insurance industry. AccessFintech from New York is using its innovation to help financial operating and risk models evolve, and UNest, a Californian business is focused on enabling people to save for university and education costs.
New Connections
The positive outcome of the new working from home norm has been the ability to broaden our reach and speak to more innovative fintech communities across the world. This opportunity to welcome global innovations and to learn from shared experiences continues to energise us. Mickael, our French Scot has been building new alliances with fintech hubs around the world. The FinTech Scotland festival reach worldwide audiences across the 70 virtual events held in September and we’re hoping to build on this experience for next year.
FinTech Scotland visited seven different countries virtually in 2020 and virtual events have brought about a new meaning to airmiles as we visited’ India, Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Europe and the US without leaving home. The ability to connect and learn from these experiences is wonderful as is the opportunity to profile Scotland’s fintech community at these international events.
New Year Ahead
Team FinTech Scotland are all hopeful for a healthier 2021 for all. We’re also looking forward to welcoming more fintech entrepreneurs into the FinTech Scotland community, through continued homegrown talent and through attracting international enterprises. We know Scotland will continue to inspire us through innovation, collaboration and inclusion, that there will be opportunities to continue to establish many more positive new norms and we’re ready to welcome all of that too.
Key insurable risks facing FinTech businesses
With the FinTech industry continuing to boom in the UK the insurance market has responded to the demand for focussed operational risk insurance solutions.
FinTech businesses have a unique combination of exposures that are not catered for by traditional insurance solutions, however the insurance market is innovating and creating bespoke solutions. The following are examples of key
operational risks facing businesses today:
Professional liability
Negligent advice, errors & omissions in the client services arena are common risks for any company providing financial services. This risk is potentially heightened for FinTechs who offer new products through new distribution models. FinTechs may also potentially assume additional liability where there is a reliance on third-party contractors.
Regulatory risk
New technology, new products and new distribution brings a wealth of opportunities, but also new regulatory exposures. FinTech companies will need to ensure they keep on top of the implementation of suitable and satisfactory risk management systems. As this market evolves, so will the regulatory environment.
Keeping pace with regulatory change and the need to consider differing regulations in multiple territories will be challenging.
Theft of funds
FinTechs may deal with a high frequency of funds movement. High volumes of payments, transactions and customer accounts can leave you vulnerable to theft. These thefts could be by an employee or external party.
Cyber events
Given the nature of your operations, FinTech companies are prime targets for cyber criminals. Network security, data breaches, ransomware or even a denial-of service attack – as well as damage and rectification costs following these incidents – should be a major concern for FinTech companies.
Technology failures
Innovative technology is essential for FinTech companies – it is how you have disrupted traditional financial services – but this heavy reliance on technology infrastructure means firms can be vulnerable. Technology failure can mean customers are unable to access services resulting in lost income or lost customers.
Directors & Officers liability
The personal assets of directors and non-executive directors can be at risk where they are held liable for legal costs and claim awards from third party claimants arising out of alleged or actual wrongful acts committed in their capacity as managers of the company. Whilst the business will normally indemnify the individual directors and officers, in some instances they may not be willing or able to indemnify (e.g. due to insolvency) and therefore having access to an insurance solution should be at the forefront your of considerations.
The insurance industry will continue to innovate and try to keep pace with the new risks that will emerge as the sector continues to grow in the UK and around the world.
For more information please contact garry.hill@pib-insurance.com or visit www.pib-insurance.com
Photo by Gladson Xavier from Pexels
Fighting inequality and increasing diversity in tech
CodeYourFuture (CYF) is a UK based non-profit organisation that trains refugees, asylum seekers and other disadvantaged people to become web developers and find work in the tech industry. At CYF Scotland, we are on the lookout for new partners and volunteers, as we approach the start of our fifth class in early 2021.
Our mission
Targeting motivated applicants who have limited access to education and are currently underrepresented in the tech sector, CodeYourFuture is not another coding school, it is a community with a mission to fight inequality. In fact, CYF strives to remove as many obstacles to learning as possible for its students: the course is free and students’ costs, such as travel, childcare and internet are covered. Moreover, our 8-month-long part-time course is designed to allow students to fit their studying around other commitments.
Our students
CYF students come from a variety of backgrounds, including:
- Refugees or Asylum seekers
- Single Parents with low income
- Those diagnosed with mental health, learning, or physical disabilities,
- Those who live in a household with a total income below the UK poverty line,
- Women, minorities, ex-offenders, or anyone else experiencing problems getting the education needed to find meaningful work- including being homeless or long-term unemployed.
Our course
At CYF, the tech curriculum starts from the basics and encompasses front-end and back-end technologies, in order to develop rounded full-stack junior web-developers. Alongside technical development, the CodeYourFuture program places an emphasis on the development of soft-skills and positive habit formation over the duration of the course. Moreover, students are matched with professional mentors who offer them career guidance and support during the course. Employment is one of CYF’s main success benchmarks. Upon graduation, we help our students with CV writing, interview skills, and match them to exciting job opportunities within our partner network and wider community.
Our impact
Despite our focus on remaining an inclusive and diverse volunteer-led community, we pride ourselves on the practical impact we have on people’s career development. So far, in Glasgow, we’ve graduated thirty-nine Full Stack Web Development Bootcamp students, 70% of whom have gone on to further related study or full-time tech employment. Our graduates have gone on to work with organisations such as BBC Scotland, STV and many other companies and startups in Scotland.
We are on course to graduate a further ten students in November, and are almost ready to interview applicants for our largest class yet of thirty students in our next Bootcamp starting in early 2021.
Join us!
To achieve our aims, we have worked with a number of corporate partners over the past few years. In Scotland, we have a special opportunity for partners to sponsor the development of students in our next Bootcamp. We ensure our partnerships are fruitful for everyone involved, with fantastic opportunities to energise your company’s working atmosphere and social impact through things like tailored volunteering opportunities, collaborative workshops and exclusive hiring avenues.
If you are interested in the chance to make an impact in your community and taking concrete action towards increasing diversity in the tech industry, we would love to speak with you.
For more information on how you or your organisation can get involved with CYF from a tech education, career mentoring, soft skills development or sponsorship perspective, contact scotland@codeyourfuture.io.
You can also find further information about CodeYourFuture on our website: https://codeyourfuture.io/.
Tech women: essential to economic growth
Scotland has a thriving technology sector but there’s still a huge amount of untapped potential that could further elevate its success and bolster our economy. Women, who remain significantly underrepresented within the sector, have a major part to play in making this happen.
The Scottish Technology Ecosystem Review by Mark Logan, published earlier this year, set out how Scotland’s technology sector can contribute to the post-pandemic recovery. The review identified three key areas which were essential in supporting and nurturing Scottish tech businesses, from the early start-up phase through to full scale maturity. These include education and talent, from school to all levels of further learning, infrastructure, and funding.
Logan’s initial point on education is where we need to start in addressing the current lack of women within the sector.
According to the UK organisation Women in Tech, females account for under 17% of technology roles at present with only one in ten women in IT leadership positions. With little progress being made on these figures over the last decade, it’s clear that we need to make a concentrated effort to encourage more girls to pursue STEM subjects which can provide a solid foundation for pursuing a career in technology. We must also support initiatives to keep women interested and active in technology as well as other STEM-related industries beyond their school years.
Here in Scotland there are a number of other bodies already seeking to do this including the Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE), an internationally renowned science-focused organisation currently run by a female CEO which has significantly increased its number of female Fellows over recent years. The Scottish Government also set up a taskforce earlier this year to tackle gender stereotyping in schools which aims to drive bold and far-reaching’ actions including ensuring greater gender equality in key professions.
Organisations like ours are also seeking to affect positive change. Through our annual AccelerateHER Awards programme for female company founders, we have now introduced four STEM-focused categories, including FinTech, Data Science and Cyber Security, which is specifically aimed at female technology business founders.
Women leading these types of companies not only demonstrate the potential to thrive in these sectors, they also play an important role as inspirational mentors to younger girls who with a talent for technology.
Encouraging more established businesswomen to become investors is also important in presenting technology as a more attractive sector for female entrepreneurs. We’ve seen this phenomena in the US where females now account for more than 25% of its business angel investment community. This has created a ripple effect where a corresponding percentage of angel-backed companies are those led by a woman.
As the Logan Review has reported, technology in now essential to our economic future as it’s a sector that is most likely to create jobs and develop new, world class companies. Women in Tech has also estimated the UK economy would benefit from an extra £2.6 billion each year if we increased the number of women working in technology to fill the prevalent IT skills shortage.
As we have witnessed through our AccelerateHER Awards programme, female tech business founders are breaking through. Previous award winners including Rachel Jones of SnapDragon Monitoring, Elaine Galston of Tubular Sciences and Sheila Hogan of Biscuit Tin Planning are great examples of successful, Scottish-based technology business founders who are growing their companies and contributing to Scotland’s overall economic growth.
I would invite any female tech business founders, even those whose businesses are in the very early stages of growth, to put themselves forward and apply for next year’s awards ”“ the deadline for entries closes this Friday (11 December).
Meanwhile, educators, governments and business must continue to ensure they keep the focus on attracting more females into the tech sector. This will not only deliver greater equality in a field where there are still far too few women, it will also help pave the way for a strong economic recovery which will be essential as we emerge from the global pandemic.
Jackie Waring, CEO at Investing Women
More details on the 2021 AccelerateHER awards can be found here