Women In Tech Global Movement To Launch Malaysia Chapter

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 23 (Bernama) -- Women in Tech, an international non-profit organisation with a mission to close the gender gap and help women embrace technology, will launch its Malaysia Chapter Thursday. Country Director Yuki Aizawa said, headquartered in France, the organisation aimed to bridge the gap in female representation in the areas of corporate, micro and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), as well as startups, while managing the complex multi-racial nation. Speaking to Bernama, she said to achieve that mission, Women in Tech Malaysia Chapter is ready to work with other women empowerment organisations in this country. “In Malaysia, the SME sector obviously contribute to, I think much of the economy, so we want to empower them. We know how important it is to have the understanding of the power of technology. “There are so many women business owners, but they are doing a lot of very manual intense work, where if we introduce a very simple, efficient application on mobile phone for example, they can just log in, just share it so easily with their teams, maybe it will be much more efficient by 20 to 30 per cent or maybe even more,” she said. Noting that less than seven per cent of women entrepreneurs worldwide get access to business funding, she stressed that the way forward is to look at the solutions. “We have to think about how to strategise, have the ecosystem and find the right talent. We don't want to give you a fish, but we want to teach you how to fish and we are looking at the sustainability part,” she said. During the Women in Tech Malaysia Chapter launching event, Aizawa said a panel discussion will also be held, comprising five notable speakers from the industry. They are chief executive officer (CEO) of Malaysian Research Accelerator for Technology and Innovation (MRANTI) Dzuleira Abu Bakar; CEO of Cradle Fund Group Rafiza Ghazali; President of Fintech Association of Malaysia Karen Puah; Chairperson of LeadWomen Anne Abraham; and Managing Director of Fusang Digital Securities Exchange Farah Jaafar. Around 100 participants including decision makers from government agencies as well as Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) are invited to the event, which is sponsored by the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) and several technology companies. Women in Tech is a global movement of close to 200,000 members with 23 chapters in six continents. Aizawa said Malaysia Chapter is the second in ASEAN after Thailand and the organisation is expected to grow into 100 countries by the end of 2024. -- BERNAMA