Arab News, Monday, Nov 21, 2022 | Rabi Al Thani 26, 1444
Geidea empowers women to compete in Saudi fintech boom
Saudi Arabia :
Saudi fintech firm Geidea has launched a training program in partnership with
The London Institute of Banking and Finance to support women in the fintech
sector.
The program stands firmly in line with Saudi
Arabia’s Vision 2030 blueprint for women’s empowerment, which aims to increase
women’s participation rate in the labor market.
The fully-funded GeideAct course is virtual,
part-time and six weeks long, and its graduates will receive a Certified Fintech
Practitioner qualification upon completion, it said.
The GeideAct which begins in February 2023 will be
accessible to any women in the Kingdom who work in tech, fintech or financial
services. The program is part of the company’s commitment to learning and
creating an inclusive fintech sector in Saudi Arabia, it said.
The training program contains several major
fintech topics, such as the impact of fintech on business models across banking
and finance and different strategies for growth. It also includes how risk and
regulation impact the sector, the newest technologies and how they affect
product design and distribution.
“By providing women in Saudi Arabia with access to
training and development, GeideAct delivers a more inclusive and diverse Saudi
fintech talent bank,” said Renier Lemmens, Group CEO at Geidea.
He added: “GeideAct is all about accelerated
learning, and we are giving back to a vast pool of young talents to help them to
become future fintech leaders.”
The company said its training program is flexible
as it targets professionals in the early to mid-phases of their careers, and so
it takes place twice a week for 45 minutes each.
Lemmens is also considering more training programs
when he called it “the first of many GeideAct programs” and hoped to introduce
the initiative across all markets in which they operate.
Saudi women have been taking up key
responsibilities and contributing to the growth of Saudi Arabia as the Kingdom
pushes for inclusive development as part of Vision 2030.
With the female unemployment rate at a record low
of 19.3 percent in the second quarter, the Kingdom is looking at bolstering the
presence of women in the workforce.
Nuwair S. Al-Shammari, deputy dean of the Faculty
of Information and Communication at Imam Mohammad ibn Saud Islamic University,
said that Saudi women have progressed because of historical decisions taken
under the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
The reforms enabled Saudi women to be active
partners in national development — the cornerstone of the National
Transformation Program and Saudi Vision 2030.