Elly Yates-Roberts |
Technology support provider Tek Experts has committed to help close the gender gap in careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) through its partnership with Microsoft, which began in 2019. It is also offering a Microsoft Leap Apprenticeship Program.
The apprenticeship programme lasts 16 weeks and focuses on delivering technical software support engineering with 12 weeks working on a training project involving real-life scenarios at Tek Experts’ offices.
Tek Experts has recently introduced 45 more young women, its third cohort, to the programme and plans to continue running the programme across Nigeria, Rwanda and Bulgaria between April and July 2022.
Only eight per cent of women of colour believe that they will have successful careers in the technology industry, according to Accenture’s Resetting Tech Culture report. Consequently, Tek Experts says organisations need to be intentional with inclusion and diversity by providing access to training and skilling development programmes so that women of colour can envision a successful career in technical roles.