Championing a new wave of diverse talent

At OneTech diversity and inclusion is not just an afterthought, but instead at the heart of everything we do. Our aim is to create a just and equitable tech startup ecosystem where everyone has equal access and voice.

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We are on a mission to increase opportunities for underserved people across the tech startup ecosystem. This means supporting entrepreneurs with expanding their ventures, as well as empowering talent through our employability programmes and connecting talent with opportunities to accelerate their careers through our Internship programme and Jobs Portal.

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The Problem

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The tech ecosystem in general has a lack of diversity. A report by Tech Nation found that while 50% of workers in the labour market as a whole are women, in tech, it’s half of that, at 26%. Of the tech companies for which leadership data was available, we found that just 9% (206) of C-Suite leaders in tech companies were female and 81% (2065) were male. Only 3% of Chief Technology Officers (CTO’s) or Technical Director roles are held by women, and just 0.6% of Chief Operating Officer and 0.4% of Chief Financial Officer roles are held by women (1).

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According to a report by Extend Ventures, between 2009 - 2019, entrepreneurs from Black, South Asian, East Asian and Middle Eastern backgrounds received just 1.7% of VC investment during that time period. Given that ethnic minorities make up 14% of the UK population, this shows the disproportionate underinvestment in these communities. On the other hand, 76% of VC investment went to all-white founding teams (2).

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What are we doing to help solve this?

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We have partnered with LIFT (Leading Inclusive Futures in Technology) - a three year initiative to create opportunities across Camden, Hackney, Islington and Tower Hamlets - to create the LIFT Internship Programme. This programme aims to create 40 paid internships for underrepresented communities within the tech, digital, science and creative sectors, and support businesses who offer creative, science, and digital roles to hire diverse talent. So far we have supported 10 businesses to hire 15 interns, with internship roles ranging from Digital Marketing to Web Design.

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Benefits for Employers

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The LIFT Internship Programme gives businesses a chance to connect with and hire from a pool of diverse and ambitious talent from Camden, Hackney, Islington and Tower Hamlets. In addition, the internships are match funded by us at OneTech, meaning we will reimburse 50% of the intern's salary, paid at London Living Wage (£11.95 p/h), for 10 weeks. We also support businesses with CV screening, and provide pastoral care throughout each internship.

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Success Stories from startups we have supported

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“Super-hyped to have Joshua Owolabi join the my.Babbu team today as Marketing Intern 🙌 Josh ❤️’s social media, having just completed OneTech digital marketing course. He’s also a local Hackney resident and a huge fan of #Montessori being raised by both his mum & his grandmother who are Montessori early years educators! Welcome Josh!!! 👏 can’t wait for you to up our social media game.” - myBabbu

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[Since the internship] Germaine has stayed with us and grown to be a really fundamental member of the team and is really happy in his role. Following our acquisition by the Software Development company UKG, Germaine’s role and future job prospects have been further enhanced and he’s got a good future ahead of him here! - Quorbit (now acquired by UKG)

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Get Involved

And, if you are looking to grow and diversify your team, the LIFT Internship Programme is a great way to cost-effectively grow your workforce and empower diverse and ambitious local talent. Discover more at our virtual information session on Wednesday 22 March, 17:30 - 18:30. Register to attend.

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Are you hiring? Post your role for free via our Jobs Portal and get connected to great talent.

To find out more about the LIFT Internship Programme, please visit our website here.

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If you like to talk to a member of the OneTech team about the programme, please email Shan at shan@capitalenterprise.org.

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References

1 - Diversity and Inclusion in UK tech - https://technation.io/diversity-and-inclusion-in-uk-tech/#executive-summary

2 - Diversity Beyond Gender - https://www.extend.vc/reports

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