Enstack, Southeast Asia’s first SME Superapp, recently hosted ‘EmpowHER,’ the first-ever forum created for women working in the technology sector.
Aptly titled “Conversations On Reengineering A Female-Led Future For Tech,” the forum was undertaken in celebration of Women’s Month and addressed the significance of diversity and inclusion in computing as a method of opening up more opportunities for women entrepreneurs.
The main goal of the forum is to start a conversation on how female entrepreneurs can play a major role in a historically, male-dominated industry.
The Enstack forum attracted women who work in a variety of roles that support the digital ecosystem. These include start-up founders, executives, venture investors, and public servants.
Bernadette Romulo-Puyat, Deputy Governor of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), who delivered the keynote address during the event, talked about the value of technology in promoting financial inclusion, particularly for women-owned micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs).
“The majority of MSMEs in the Philippines are owned and operated by Filipinos. These female leaders, nonetheless, encounter a number of obstacles to financial inclusion, such as low levels of economic engagement, difficulties obtaining credit, and a lack of familiarity with and use of financial instruments,” Puyat said in her speech.
“In order to address these issues, interventions must be made to foster an environment that is supportive and empowering so that Filipina business owners can succeed online. Technology has enormous potential to close these gaps and prepare more Filipinas for successful entrepreneurship,” she added.
Need to close the gender gap in technology
Anna Mae Lamentillo, Undersecretary of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), for her part, said that there’s now a need to close the gender gap in technology.
“A condition of gender equality is bridging the digital gender gap,”she said, “but we can’t accomplish this on our own. Men need to be involved in the struggle for gender equality so when we talk about women’s rights, we also need to start a conversation about how they (men) can support this cause.”
“We can do this by exemplifying the importance of giving women equal opportunities and demonstrating the importance of their engagement in society and the general well-being of our country,” Lametillo added.
The contribution of diversity to technology
Other women leaders in technology also provided their insights on the past, present, and future for women working in the sector, as inspired by the United Nations’ theme for International Women’s Day, “DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality.”
“Different points of view result in greater technology. We acknowledge the contributions of women in technology during this Women’s Month and we also encourage the subsequent generation of female technologists to foster innovation,” stated Stephanie Sy, founder and CEO of Thinking Machines.
Encouraging women to take on leadership and technical responsibilities
Ruoshan Tao, Head of Marketing at Shopee Philippines, foe her part, stated, “Seeing women in positions of leadership in the tech industry is crucial for women who wish to pursue jobs in this industry. Our job now is to help mentor and inspire the younger ones to continue pushing themselves and cultivating their strengths.”
Yangyang Zhang, managing director of Xendit, agreed to this, saying, “Empowering women leaders for inclusive fintech innovation is the first step in creating a more inclusive fintech industry. By empowering more women leaders so they can contribute their original thoughts and drive innovation, we could soon see a design infrastructure that is equally accessible for both men and women. That;s why we are now looking at the needs of the present payments landscape via a gendered lens.”.
Promoting Female-Driven Tech Ecosystems
“Women are the backbone of economies, and the technology sector is no exception,” adds Macy Castillo, co-founder and CEO of Enstack. In our encounters with thousands of women-led SMEs who have been adopting digitization through our superapp, we have personally witnessed this. We can unlock women’s innate creativity to solve problems, spur economic growth, and drive innovation by offering a variety of channels to support these enterprises and encourage strong connections among women.”
“While Southeast Asia has a higher proportion of women working in technology than other regions of the world, we still need to monitor new discussions about access, policy, and representation. Through EmpowHER, we seek to support the community’s overall objective of friendship so that together, we can all fight to create a more inclusive future for the tech sector,” she ends with a smile.