The UK’s Multicultural Apprenticeship Awards 2023 finalists have been announced and Softwerx has been shortlisted in the SMB Employer category while Faith Akinbo - a degree apprentice from the marketing team - has been shortlisted as an apprentice in the Digital Technology category.
This year all records were broken with over 450 nominations being submitted, of which over 350 were apprentices from 250 different employers.
Apprenticeship growth at Softwerx
The apprenticeship programme at Softwerx has grown over recent years to include 9 current or graduate apprentices working at the company from all different backgrounds, nationalities and walks of life. Softwerx is excited to celebrate a culture of openness and to be working with leading degree apprenticeship training providers Anglia Ruskin University and others on this.
Faith Akinbo, Coordinator of Voice at Softwerx has done extremely well to have beaten some very tough competition to become a finalist. Faith Akinbo, originating from Gambia and Nigeria, has received this shortlist status hot on the heels of being awarded the ‘Apprentice of the Year’ 2022 award for the local Cambridgeshire Council Apprenticeship Awards. Faith commented about her apprentice experience, “I’m honoured to be a part of this all, and I look forward to the awards ceremony on the 5th of October. Softwerx has been really supportive on my apprenticeship journey. Recently, I had the opportunity to participate in a Google event specifically designed for women in tech, which further enriched my learning experience.” She was featured in an article by Anglia Ruskin University here. In addition, Faith recently attended a networking event for the Multicultural Awards in July in London.
Faith Akinbo and Patrick Leckie at the Multicultural Apprenticeship Awards Networking event, July 2023
Investing in future IT security leaders
Softwerx is excited to be a finalist in the awards. The digital skills gap is now in excess of 3.5 million unfilled IT posts globally and Softwerx sees apprenticeships as key to addressing this. One apprentice manager explained the support provided at Softwerx by saying, “When the apprentice started, he had no knowledge of Microsoft cloud services/infrastructure and how they work, so I’ve spent the first 3-4 months training him and teaching him everything from scratch. Also, we have lab environment to test and play around with rules and other things if needed, plenty of responsibilities within the role itself, constant mentoring and shadowing as well.”
Olly Ijeh is a recent graduate apprentice in the Softwerx IT support team who says, “During my apprenticeship, I worked closely with a few of my colleagues who mentored me and allowed me to learn the ropes very quickly. Softwerx also encourages me to further my studies by paying for any Microsoft exam I wish to take.”
Softwerx in collaboration with the UK Government’s Apprentices In Action recently shot a short video about their experience here:
What makes the Multicultural Apprenticeship Awards Tick
The Multicultural Apprenticeship Awards in partnership with Pearson showcases the outstanding work and achievement of apprentices from multicultural backgrounds in Britain and inspires other apprentices to reach their full potential. Now in its eighth year, the awards have been instrumental in creating future leaders and ambassadors for apprenticeships. Winning employers have showcased their diversity and inclusion strategies and how it’s helped them to shape an inclusive and diverse work environment.
David Smart, Softwerx’s Managing Director said, “Apprenticeships are part of our DNA here at Softwerx. We find the scarce skills that we need from a variety of different backgrounds – and as such we’ve developed a fantastic mix of cultures and personalities. I was an apprentice myself in the 80’s with BT and am excited to do what we can at Softwerx to keep providing life-changing opportunities to young people from all backgrounds.”
“The quality and quantity of nominations we received this year has been phenomenal, anyone shortlisted should be very proud of their achievement!” said Safaraz Ali, founder of The Multicultural Apprenticeship Awards & CEO of Pathway Group.
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