Written by: on January 28, 2021
M247 have been great friends of ours for nearly two years now, and thanks to their continued support – we are delighted to say that their journey with us will continue. Like us, M247 is passionate about seeing more diverse talent in the tech industry, and with their help, we have been able to provide free tech education and opportunities for the people who need it most.
We caught up with M247 for a catch-up. we talked about everything from our partnership to their internal achievements and plans.
We asked M247 the reason behind their support of InnovateHer, especially after such a difficult year.
InnovateHer is such an amazing programme to be a part of, giving back to the community and helping girls take that first step into tech. We know we all have a part to play in making tech and tech roles more accessible for females, from the government, to companies and schools all working together.
We are always looking for ways to improve our connection and collaboration with our partners, it’s vital for us to know what offerings our partners value the most! Here’s what M247 said…
Social media and PR support from InnovateHer is always valuable, but we have found particular value in the interactive elements of our partnership such as the networking events, mentoring opportunities, and the links to schools and education that lead to us running an educational session with a group of school girls in our office. InnovateHer’s D&I health check was also beneficial; our colleagues found their seminars on unconscious bias constructive and informative.
What are your views on diversity and inclusion in the workplace? Has this changed since becoming a part of our community?
We know that diversity is often compared to being invited to the party, whereas inclusion is being asked to dance. We want our workforce to feel represented and safe to be themselves. We want everyone to be able to dance. We believe a more diverse workforce brings greater ideas, innovation and makes M247 a happy place.
What are your hopes for future collaboration with InnovateHer?
We are aware that females in tech are still severely lacking and improving this starts in schools. InnovateHer helps in bridging the skill gap and continues to give us, as an employer, the opportunity to educate and share our knowledge to the next generation of innovators and females in tech.
What do you enjoy about being a part of our community?
We particularly enjoyed the opportunity to educate and inspire the group of girls from Loreta who came into our office.
What would you tell other businesses who may be thinking about joining our community? Absolutely 100% join, the programme, community, and support you give is amazing.
Have you got anything exciting going on that you would like to tell our community about?
We are currently working with and supporting TechManchester. This is a 16 week programme aimed at people who identify as females, covering IT fundamentals, Networks+ and Security+. We have truly amazing SME’s at M247 who have given up their time and held one hour sessions with the cohort to educate and inspire.
We are also exploring ways we can take a candidate centric approach in our recruitment and proactively source from under- represented groups. This is in its very early stages – inspire, identify and educate.
A final word
One thing we would like to add about M247 is that they lead by example. They have a team bursting with talent, experience, and passion, and this year with our plans of building an online learning platform, we hope to be able to utilise this to inspire and empower the young people that immerse themselves into our new online offering.
To read more about InnovateHer, tap here.
For more information about M247, and how they can help you in taking your business further tap here.
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