In February 2019, 70+ women came together to launch a new network that sought to connect women working within financial services, and specifically within the Regulatory Technology (RegTech) industry. Two years later, and with 1000 active followers in their networks, RegTech Women have established themselves as a leading industry network that supports and enhances the vital role that women play in driving success in the industry.
RegTech Women previously announced the launch of a brand new membership model that will support the next stage of their growing network. The annual subscription includes several benefits, ranging from exclusive member-only events to career-enhancing workshops and specialist advisory groups.
RegTech Women’s 4 goals are to empower, collaborate, celebrate and improve. Here 4 of the organisation’s board members have shared their thoughts on these themes and the importance of supporting women in this industry.
Empower – Kate Makuen, co-founder and the Chief Marketing Officer of Startup2Exit Club
“To feel empowered is the ability to articulate your ideas and perspectives with confidence. To be comfortable in one’s own skin, alone, is the first step. Affirming your capabilities and gifts, while acknowledging your areas for improvement, renders you stronger. Then, reach out to those around you: family, friends, colleagues and clients. Test your new-found confidence with them. Find your voice and project it, letting it reverberate across boundaries and time zones. Build your power. Use words to persuade, to transform, to enlighten, to motivate or simply to calm and reassure. Learn when to be silent, to listen rather than to speak.
“Sometimes being an observer who can offer dispassionate reflection is how you add value to a difficult situation. Embrace “kaizen”, the Japanese term for incremental improvement. You don’t have to boil the ocean. Little steps are better than no steps at all. Use your gifts to lift others.”
Collaborate – Sarah Sinclair, founder of Change Gap.
“With RegTech still being a relatively new market, and with regulatory and compliance burdens not showing signs of abating, the need for collaboration is greater than ever.
“The really exciting thing about RegTech is that its reach spans right across multiple industries and geographical boundaries. The rapidly increasing myriad of RegTech solutions provide plenty of opportunities to learn and also contribute to the relevant forums and collaborations seeking to support and foster a culture of better RegTech Adoption. Collaboration is more effective when there is diversity in its widest sense, and when each contributing party feels welcomed and valued. RegTech Women is taking its role seriously in helping toward seeing a sustained increase in the number of women working in RegTech firms, and providing a safe and supportive space for them to learn, survive and thrive as they navigate this maturing marketplace.
“With all the excitement of a marketplace such as RegTech, it can be easy to forget the most important thing – which is that the purpose is to make regulation and compliance easier and better for firms, and ultimately the end-consumers for whom regulation exists to protect. This is why collaboration is so key – together we need to create and nurture a healthy ecosystem, which promotes responsible and sustainable innovation.”
Celebrate – Bronwen Gray, Freelance Sales Consultant
“RegTech Women was founded in 2019 as “despite there being many fabulous women working in RegTech, there was no community bringing them all together”. With women now accounting for up to 35% of the RegTech workforce, it is fair to celebrate wins both in this sector and in general with 30% Club in the UK having reached their extended target of women on boards.
“Furthermore the FCA’s female-heavy team of new appointments reflects the leadership roles now held internationally by women in economics and finance at the European Central Bank, EBRD and World Trade Organisation. The IWD2021 theme of #choosetochallenge chimes so well with women’s voices in RegTech especially from those who started in a pre-millennial era and so are used to challenging and who also want to not only to celebrate but nurture and bolster emerging female talent. With our paid membership just successfully launched RegTech Women’s mentoring programme will be ramping up to give us more to celebrate in 2021!”
Improve – Lucy Heavens, Marketing Director, Wealth Dynamix, and Co-founder of RegTech Women
“One of the goals of RegTech Women is to improve and promote gender diversity in the RegTech industry. Female participation has grown over recent years with women now accounting for around 35% of the RegTech workforce. But for us, that’s not good enough and we continue to work hard for more equality. Gender diversity benefits all businesses because it provides a wider range of talent. Having a variety of skills and abilities in your business can make a big difference to revenue and productivity. Men and women see things differently and have different ideas which is a great environment for better problem-solving. These differences can also help increase innovation and creativity and help businesses to seize new opportunities and challenge gender stereotypes.
“It’s encouraging to see these changes, but I still think we’ve got quite a way to go, from to encouraging more young women into the RegTech industry, through to supporting women to move up the career ladder and take on more senior and C-level roles. Change doesn’t happen overnight. We all need to work together to encourage collaboration and lead initiatives that drive change – however big or small. Every time we share thoughts, tell stories, be a role model and inspire woman to speak out, go for that promotion and be heard, we break the cycle.”
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