Unity Bank And AltSchool Africa Empower Female Software Engineers

<h4>Unity Bank And AltSchool Africa<&sol;h4>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">OpenLife Nigeria<&sol;a><&sol;strong> reports that in commemoration of International Women’s Day&comma; IWD 2022&comma; Nigeria’s retail lender&comma; Unity Bank Plc is partnering AltSchool Africa to sponsor female students towards the acquisition of specialist software skills &&num;8211&semi; an empowerment initiative to boost the capacity of the female gender&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;AltSchool Africa is a school for individuals looking to gain technical skills and kick start a career in Software Engineering&period; The school currently prides itself on the large enrolment of female students&period; Unity Bank Plc is providing funds to encourage enrolment of young female students into AltSchool who will pursue a career in Informational Technology&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The Bank said in a statement that the gesture has become imperative to &num;BreakTheBias against women in the emerging information technology industry&comma; where a recent study by ONE Campaign and the Center for Global Development&comma; showed that less than 30 per cent of technology companies in Nigeria are owned by women&comma; even as the female members of the entire tech ecosystem workforce constituted less than 20 per cent&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Speaking on the partnership&comma; Unity Bank’s Managing Director&sol;Chief Executive Officer&comma; Mrs&period; Tomi Somefun said the initiative to extend the scholarships to the young women looking to start a career in the IT industry not only aligned with the theme of the IWD 2022&comma; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;&num;BreakTheBias&comma;” but is in tandem with the Bank’s Corporate Social Responsibility and sustainability initiative targeting education and empowerment&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;She said&colon; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The International Women’s Day is yet another opportunity to reexamine the critical role that women continue to play in building a peaceful and prosperous society&period; Today&comma; more than ever before&comma; we are confronted by the harsh realities of gender-based exclusivity&comma; especially in the workplace&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;I agree that some progress has been made but we must not be distracted by this momentary success because&comma; over the next decade&comma; the share of jobs requiring medium to digital skills would have risen to more than 50 per cent&period; Therefore&comma; we must remain committed to empowering women who are courageous to make a difference in careers that have hitherto excluded the women&comma; such as the IT industry&period;&&num;8221&semi;&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;According to Mrs&period; Somefun&comma; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The advancement in technology has created a new world order that must be deliberate about inclusivity&comma; removing biases and unlearning stereotypes&period; If future prosperity shall be defined by technological and requisite skills&comma; we must not repeat the mistakes of the past by ensuring diversity&comma; equity and inclusivity and empower our women to take an active part in creating that future&period;”<br &sol;>&NewLine;The International Women’s Day&comma; IWD is a day set aside globally to celebrate the social&comma; economic&comma; cultural and political achievements of women and reflect on action to accelerate gender equality&period; This years’ theme &num;BreakTheBias &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;imagines a gender-equal world&comma; a world free of bias&comma; stereotypes and discrimination&semi; a world that&&num;8217&semi;s diverse&comma; equitable&comma; and inclusive&semi; a world where difference is valued and celebrated&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;