Picture of Nathalie Richards, a smiling Black woman with black hair wearing a white t shirt.

International Women’s Day: In discussion with Nathalie Richards

We recently had the pleasure of meeting Nathalie Richards, Director and Co-Founder of Edukit – the only one-stop-shop connecting teachers to thousands of development programmes across London. She was keen to talk to us about her role as a female tech entrepreneur, and what a brilliant time to do so! International Women’s Day is on March 8th and below Nathalie gave us her thoughts on the need for more women in the tech world.

Nathalie Richards:

“With International Women’s day around the corner, it’s a good time to reflect on the critical need to get more women into senior positions in tech careers.

I was recently invited to pitch at the 5050tech event chaired by Baroness Martha Lane Fox. Organised by the Dot Everyone team, they aim to bring an equal gender balance in leadership positions in tech.

As a female tech entrepreneur I’m disappointed by the paltry number of women among my peers. Tech is fun, fast-paced and creative, so why wouldn’t women want to be part of this fantastic career path. And further to this, why wouldn’t those who do well rise to the top?

The stats speak for themselves. Just 17% of silicon valley tech start ups are led by women and only 3% of start ups founded in 2015 had a woman at the helm. The numbers are similarly poor this side of the pond.

Many girls and young women think tech isn’t for them. I recently heard about a 15 year old who in her spare time liked taking computers apart, then reassembled them. When asked by her teachers if she’d like a career in tech, she balked at the suggestion. Girls are missing out on fantastic opportunities and our future economy will suffer because of it. We need as many talented boys and girls to enter the profession if we are to stay competitive. Technology is the future.

Getting tech savvy early is crucial if we are to see a gender balance in tech. I salute organisations like now>press>play, who use technology to trigger the imaginations of Primary school pupils. Led by a fabulous female founder (Alice Lacey) they are all set to achieve great things. When little girls put on their now>press>play headsets I hope many imagine themselves in positions of leadership.

International Women’s Day is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate ourselves as women and how far we’ve come over the last half a century. More importantly it’s also a chance for us to acknowledge how far we still have to go.”

Picture of Nathalie Richards, a smiling Black woman with black hair wearing a white t shirt.

To read more about Nathalie and her amazing work with Edukit, visit their website.

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