We were thrilled to sponsor and host GirlBoss New Zealand over the weekend for their CEO Summit in Auckland. The event was delivered by GirlBoss founder Alexia Hilbertidou.
Over the course of the day sixty young women between the ages of 15-18 years old received training related to being a future CEO.
The NZ Women in Tech Report 2018 showed only 3% of high school girls are interested in a career in technology and there is only one female CEO in the NZX 50. Statistics like this were what encouraged Alexia to found GirlBoss and help close the gap of gender disparity in NZ’s economy.
Other recent research, published in the Harvard Business Review, showed that 40% of female CEO’s interviewed had a STEM background and 20% a Business/Finance background. “Not a single one had a background in HR, the field which is most popular amongst women,” Alexia said. “With only 3% of 15-year-old women in NZ interested in a tech career and a persistent aversion to all things money, we have urgent work to do.”
Alexia herself is aged 19 and founded her first company at age 16. Alexia is recipient of a Queen’s Young Leader Award for Services to the Commonwealth and has received teen leadership honours for the last three years.
The GirlBoss mantra is “only 2% of NZX CEO”s are women – we’re changing that.” Babcock is proud to support such a great initiative and encourage young women into STEM careers such as engineering.
