Competition to find future female leaders in tech launches for 2023, doubling the number of industry-leading mentors
Leaders from Three, Royal College of Art, Costa Coffee, Penguin RandomHouse, GE Healthcare and more support mentorship programme for 2023 winners
TechGirl – the biannual competition to accelerate the careers, skills and experiences of girls considering entering the technology sector – has launched for 2023. This year the competition has doubled the number of mentors for winners to 10, including female technology leaders from the likes of William Hill, THG and The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association. They are joining an already impressive roster including Three UK, Penguin Random House and Costa Coffee.
Building on the huge success of last year’s mentorship programme the competition, run by leading C-suite business community HotTopics, invites girls aged 16-18 from across Great Britain to submit ideas on how technology can be used to improve schools and education. Entries can be submitted in whichever medium entrants are most comfortable, such as word file, video or audio-only.
The winners will be invited to Abbey Road Studios in London, on May 16th where they will have the opportunity to discuss their ideas alongside technology leaders who are coming together to discuss some of the most important challenges facing society today.
Winners will then be partnered with and introduced to one of the competition’s official Mentors, who will be on hand to offer career advice and in the future secure work experience for each winner to help them kickstart their career in technology. Winners will also partake in a recorded interview at the awards ceremony with their mentors.
The mentors for 2023 are:
Charlotte Baldwin, Global CIO, Costa Coffee; Deborah Haworth, Director of Information Security, Penguin Random House UK; Jacqui Lipinski, CIO, Royal College of Art; Belinda Finch, CIO, Three UK; Christina Scott, CPO & CTO, OVO Energy; Alison Davis, CIO, GE Healthcare; Georgina Owens, CTO, Liberi; Marie Orpen, CDO, The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association; Joanna Drake, CIO, THG; Anna Barsby, Chief Product & Technology Officer, William Hill.
“To be a Techgirl, to me it means having a network of strong women in powerful positions…to help and mentor you into getting your foot into the tech sector,” said Imogen Cooper, a TechGirl 2022 winner from Denstone College, Staffordshire, England.
“I’ve agreed to be a TechGirl mentor and it’s absolutely brilliant,” said Jacqui Lipinski, CIO and director of digital at The Royal College of Art, of last year’s competition. “The girl that won the competition, I am going to bring her on-board to the RCA to get some work experience.”
“Women are still significantly underrepresented in the tech industry, particularly in leadership roles, but using HotTopics’ global technology leaders community, we’ve been able to help celebrate emerging talent and mentor them into and during the first steps of their careers.” said Philip Randerson, CEO and founder of HotTopics.
“TechGirl is all about giving young women the opportunity to work closely with some of the UK’s most prominent female leaders in tech. Only by creating opportunities for women in tech can we expect to improve their representation at all levels and create a fairer and more equal workforce in the future.”
You can find out more about TechGirl 2023, including the rules and details on how to enter, here.
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