A social enterprise working to increase the amount of women in tech has announced the milestone of teach 10,000 women to code through free, in-person education.
Code First: Girls launched their 2020 campaign at the end of 2017 with the objective to significantly grow their existing free in-person coding courses and set a target to teach 20,000 women to code by the end of 2020.
Over the past 5 years, Code First: Girls has delivered £6.75 million worth of free tech education across the UK and Ireland.
As part of this campaign, and with the support of several corporate partners, they have now taught 10,000 women across 35 cities hosting 297 courses.
The enterprise is working with partners from some of the world’s leading employers including OVH, Trainline, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, and KKR.
Allison Krill, head of EMEA global banking and markets technology at Bank of America Merrill Lynch said that their partnership has flourished since it began in 2014.
?“As a business committed to responsible growth, we recognise that it is essential we equip women with the tools and training they need in order to play an active role in building the digital economy,” said Krill.
“We look forward to seeing more young women thrive and fulfil their potential.”
Code First: Girls’ CEO Amali de Alwis was awarded an MBE award for services to women in technology at Buckingham Palace and is one of the leading voices on the topic in the UK.
Prior, Amali was elected as the 2018 most influential women in UK tech and was also shortlisted in the top 10 most influential BAME tech leaders in the UK by the Financial Times.
Jo Hannaford, Head of the Technology Division for Goldman Sachs in EMEA and Global Head of Quality Assurance Engineering, added: “We’re thrilled to see the progress Code First: Girls has made towards its goal of increasing the number of women in technology.
“The scale at which it is now operating is hugely effective. Enabling access to coding for young women is incredibly important to me, both personally and professionally, and I look forward to seeing the impact these young women will have in the future.?”