Fintech scholarship to cater for surge in Welsh digitally savvy graduates

NEW WAVE OF DIGITALLY SAVVY GRADUATES TO ENTER THE FINTECH SPACE

LOCAL FINTECH SUPPORTS STUDENTS WITH CHANCE TO WIN BURSARY

During the pandemic, UK firms have invested considerable sums in their technology as they cater for employees working from home. Data from the Office for National Statistics suggests this trend is continuing as investment in new technologies is still gaining traction – increasing by more than 7% from Q4 2019 to Q2 2021.*

The rapid growth of all things digital is no surprise throughout the covid crisis but it does provide real potential for a new generation of digitally savvy graduates entering into the growing world of fintech.

By April 2020, the pandemic had forced almost 1.6 billion children and students out of their schools and universities worldwide – with the number of active users of Google Classroom doubling to 100 million.** These children will be the first to have experienced such a technology-savvy education – raising the bar and creating a future generation of school leavers and graduates with high-quality digital skills – ideally suited to a career in the fintech industry.

Seopa has been supporting UK graduates with its Fintech Scholarship programme for higher education students, an initiative that has been specifically designed to help foster greater diversity in the fintech sector across the UK.  The bursary, now calling for final applications before entries close on 31^st January, will be awarded to one student from each UK region; Scotland, Wales, England and Northern Ireland – receiving £1,000 each which can be used to cover part of the cost of their studies, course materials or any other living expenses.

The aim of the scholarship is to encourage students from outside the world of fintech to explore what the sector could potentially offer them as a career and enter a short blog post on what the next generation see as the future of fintech.

Professor Jon Williams, Head of Bangor Business School at Bangor University, stressed the need for this type of programme in order to foster diversity in fintech: “The fintech sector generates £7 billion a year in the UK and employs over 60,000 people, but its continued success depends on access to skilled workers from a broad range of disciplines, including finance and computer science…UK fintech is thriving, but it is also vulnerable. To sustain growth, the sector must continue to attract the best talent.  As one of the most innovative and fast-growing areas of the UK economy, and an area where the UK is a global leader, the benefits of nurturing the sector cannot be overstated.” 

Sarah Williams-Gardener, CEO of Fintech Wales comments:  “The Quotezone scholarship recognises that Fintech companies require more than just the highly valued financial and computer science skills. Innovative transformational solutions require marketeers, lawyers and product designers – as it takes the full complement to create the next evolution of financial services, embracing open finance, digital currencies, green finance and most importantly, designing with the consumer at the heart. At Fintech Wales we truly believe an inclusive and diverse team can result in great innovation.” 

Greg Wilson, Founder and CEO of Seopa, comments:  “Diversity of talent is key, it builds a more dynamic and innovative team.  Personally, I studied   Mechanical & Manufacturing Engineering and started my career as a Stress Engineer, working on stress analysis of aircraft structures for Bombardier Aerospace before I created Seopa – a company that is now a household name in financial comparison technology.  We want this scholarship to give students the chance to explore their options and understand the potential in fintech.

“I suspect, given the investment in classroom technology during the pandemic, that we’ll witness a boom of digitally savvy graduates in the coming years – a very positive development for our rapidly growing company and the fintech industry itself.” 

Seopa has been recognised with six Deloitte Technology Fast 50 Awards, and has been awarded a Deloitte Best Managed Company Award each year for the past three years – topped by the Gold Standard Deloitte Award for Best Managed Company in 2020 and 2021 – making it five consecutive wins.

The deadline to apply for the Fintech Scholarship is 31^st January 2022, full details of how to apply are available here:  Fintech Scholarship . 

As a leading fintech employer, Seopa has been investing in recruitment throughout lockdown, with new fintech roles in both Belfast and Timisoara including a Senior Business Development Executive, a CRM Specialist, a Product Owner, Front End Developers and multiple graduate positions.  Seopa also has several phases of recruitment planned for 2022 including a UK graduate recruitment process, due to start in February.