Alibaba Cloud and United Women Singapore to Jointly Empower the Next Generation of Women in Technology with Inaugural RiseHERs in Cloud Programme

New initiative sets sights on nurturing and empowering nearly 1,000 aspiring
female tech professionals within the next five years

Singapore, October 17, 2023 - Alibaba Cloud, the digital technology and intelligence backbone of Alibaba Group, and United Women Singapore (UWS), a non-profit organisation dedicated to gender equality and women’s empowerment, inked a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that launches the Alibaba Cloud’s first-ever collaboration for their inaugural ‘RiseHERs in Cloud’ programme. This strategic alliance aims to nurture a new generation of female leaders in Singapore’s technology sector, targeting to provide nearly 1,000 talented young women with robust academic training and practical expertise within the next five years, to prepare them for impactful careers in technology.

This initiative aligns well with UWS’ flagship Girls2Pioneers programme which aims to encourage young women to take up STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) subjects in their higher education and careers.

Amidst Singapore's reputation as one of the top tech talent hubs in the world, the need for fostering gender diversity in the industry becomes increasingly evident. The current landscape reveals that women account for 41 percent of tech professionals in the nation – a significant achievement that outpaces the global average of approximately 28 percent. Despite this accomplishment, both Alibaba Cloud and UWS acknowledge the pivotal role that remains to be played in order to ensure gender parity in Singapore's tech industry.

The RiseHERs in Cloud programme arrives as a transformative response to these statistics, providing a unique platform for young women to gain comprehensive exposure, skills, and knowledge in technology.

Developed and delivered by Alibaba Cloud’s technical team of engineers, the program is a free of cost, structured program for the students. Covering critical topics like artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud computing, the program equips participants with a well-rounded understanding of these domains, fostering practical skills through immersive workshops and interactive sessions.



Unlike traditional academic approaches, RiseHERs in Cloud's collaborative design also offers internships and job attachments with Alibaba Cloud for the enrolled students, thereby encouraging networking and engagement with industry experts, ensuring that participants gain not only theoretical knowledge but also hands-on proficiency in the ever-evolving tech landscape.

“At Alibaba Cloud, our commitment to nurturing the next generation of women in tech finds a powerful partner in United Women Singapore. With a shared vision of gender equality and empowerment, this collaboration is a natural extension of our shared values and aims to create a strong foundation that propels aspiring female technologists to thrive and become future leaders of Singapore’s tech sector. We look forward to furthering a meaningful contribution to Singapore's women in tech community and eagerly anticipate the remarkable impact that our program graduates will enable in the industry," said Selina Yuan, President of International Business, Alibaba Cloud Intelligence.

“Cultivating a gender-equal tech industry requires collaborative efforts, and United Women Singapore is delighted to partner with Alibaba Cloud for the RiseHERs in Cloud programme. This initiative is in line with our objective of narrowing the gender gap in technology by providing young women with exclusive opportunities to gain hands-on expertise in cutting-edge fields like AI and cloud computing. We believe in the potential of every young woman to become a driving force of innovation and progress, and this programme is a significant step towards realising that vision,” shared Georgette Tan Adamopoulos, President of United Women Singapore.

About Alibaba Cloud:

Established in 2009, Alibaba Cloud (www.alibabacloud.com) is the digital technology and intelligence backbone of Alibaba Group. It offers a complete suite of cloud services to customers worldwide, including elastic computing, database, storage, network virtualization services, large-scale computing, security, management and application services, big data analytics, a machine learning platform and IoT services. Alibaba maintained its position as the third leading public cloud IaaS service provider globally since 2018, according to IDC. Alibaba is the world’s third leading and Asia Pacific’s leading IaaS provider by revenue in U.S. dollars since 2018, according to Gartner.

About United Women Singapore

United Women Singapore (UWS) is a local non-profit organisation that advances women’s empowerment and gender equality, and they build a pipeline of women leaders and influencers in Singapore. The organisation works towards narrowing the gender equality gap through education and raising awareness and advocacy on issues such as anti-violence and women’s empowerment, with the support of key stakeholders including corporate partners, government agencies, academia, the diplomatic community, nonprofits and community groups and the wider community.

Find out more at https://uws.org.sg/.