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Exclusive | Getting teenage girls into science, engineering is key to narrowing skills gap in tech sector, says education entrepreneur
- By equipping girls with digital literacy, firms can build a pipeline of tech talent, says Jennifer Yu Cheng, deputy vice-chairwoman of CTF Education Group
- Her foundation aims to train teenage girls tech skills and the know-how they will need to become ‘future-ready’ leaders
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Increasing the number of women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) can help the sector tackle a widening skills gap as demand for talent increases amid changes to the workplace wrought by Covid-19, according to a female Hong Kong entrepreneur.
By inspiring and equipping teenage girls with digital literacy, corporations can build a strong pipeline of tech talent, said Jennifer Yu Cheng, deputy vice-chairwoman and group president of CTF Education Group, a unit of one of the city’s largest conglomerates, Chow Tai Fook Enterprises.
Yu is the wife of Adrian Cheng Chi-kong, the third-generation scion of the family that controls Chow Tai Fook Enterprises and Hong Kong-listed New World Development.
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“We believe that change starts early and today’s adolescents are the key to closing the gender gap and creating a better future,” said Yu. “Leaders aren’t born; leaders are made,” she said in an interview with South China Morning Post.
Yu said an extensive roster of educational initiatives including school outreach programmes, workshops, and regional events and summits led by female changemakers can impart to teenage girls a tech-based forward mindset and skills.
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