Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – AirAsia Academy, RedBeat Capital’s education arm under Capital A Berhad has recently joined forces with Malaysia’s automotive marketplace and tech unicorn Carsome to develop in-demand marketable tech skills for underprivileged women through #RatuTech. The campaign aims to encourage women to not only develop marketable skills but also to expand their economic opportunities, participate in decision-making, network, grow as individuals, and simply have fun with technology.
To commemorate the partnership, Tony Fernandes, CEO of Capital A and Co-Founder and Group CEO of Carsome, Eric Cheng, met at Carsome’s Headquarters in Petaling Jaya.
Cheng said that Carsome’s journey from only a lean team of five which has now expanded to become Southeast Asia’s largest car e-commerce platform was inspired by entrepreneurial stories and figures the founders respect like Tony. They also discussed ways to expand collaboration between the two digital platforms through #RatuTech.
Cheng added, “As one of the fastest growing tech companies in the Southeast Asian region, Carsome understands the shortage of tech talent to fill the growing demand for STEM jobs. We are happy to support AirAsia Academy’s efforts to expand the digital talent pool by helping women gain access to education, training, or networks that can make a career in technology possible. We are actively exploring creating job opportunities for the graduates of RatuTech, as we are confident that they will be capable and competent after taking Academy’s digital courses.”
The group of female students are part of the 200 women from underprivileged backgrounds, especially those in the B40 income group, taking digital fundamental courses including Data Analytics, Digital Marketing, Cybersecurity, Cloud Infrastructure, and Software Engineering, in hopes of becoming data analysts, digital marketers, cloud experts, and cyber security specialists. Some of the other sponsors include the Sarawak Digital Economy Corporation (SDEC), the Sabah Creative Economy and Innovation Centre (SCENIC), Google Cloud as well as Yayasan Peneraju.
Fernandes commented, “AirAsia Academy’s vision of making education accessible, affordable and inclusive is very much in line with Capital A’s mission of serving the underserved and democratising our services for all. We are excited that Malaysia’s leading tech player Carsome has put faith behind our digital edutech platform and joined in our efforts to educate and cultivate the next generation of female tech talents, and also creating job placement opportunities.”
Meanwhile, Aireen Omar, President (Ventures) Capital A and CEO of AirAsia Academy, said, “We are grateful that Carsome is lending their support to our initiatives of addressing the underrepresentation of women in tech, and are confident that they can add value to their future company of employment. It’s inspiring that the women we are training as part of this campaign come from all walks of life, with great stories of overcoming personal and circumstantial struggles.”
“We have a stay-at-home mum who’s being upskilled to learn to grow her business and get into a new career to fund her business, along with a hearing impaired student who is learning to rise beyond her physical challenges to develop in-demand marketable digital skills,” Omar adds.
