We see that more and more people don’t have an opportunity to pursue their career due to financial boundaries. As a private education company with a mission to elevate humanity through learning, we decided that it is time to take action.
In April 2019, Growth Tribe and TechConnect have brought tech education companies such as Codam, Ironhack, TechGrounds, Techionista and Winc Academy together to discuss how we can make a difference and provide opportunities to those whom the current system excludes.
That’s how the idea of TechMeUp was born. TechMeUp is the first inclusive (re)training fund in tech which focuses on underrepresented minorities. We tested a financial model that allows participants to get an interest free loan which removes financial barriers to entering the tech job market.
In order to make this project happen, we have managed to raise 375,000 euros from ASML Foundation, Exact Foundation, Rabobank Amsterdam, StartupAmsterdam, CA-ICT, SIDN and the City of Amsterdam.
And this is only the beginning! We aim to raise 2 million euros in the next two years to show a real impact that lifelong learning has on the prosperity of society.
The tech sector belongs to all of us. We want to give all motivated talents an opportunity to learn and retrain. So that everyone has an equal chance to develop in this rapidly changing digital world.
