At Nokia, we understand that we must create diverse and innovative solutions to address today’s sustainability challenges. Utilizing the skills of both men and women in technology solutions and adopting a gender-balanced approach is good way to achieve innovative solutions. Doing it together with our customers is even better. 

The Nokia Action for Leadership program is built on this approach, and I am proud to announce the successful completion of a cycle with our long-term strategic partner, stc Group, the digital enabler in KSA and the region. 

Abdullah Alkanhal , stc Group’s Chief Strategy Officer, said: “The stc group has been closely operating with Nokia for several years. Our successful relationship continues to bring more technologies, solutions, and opportunities to our markets. We are delighted to have 22 female talents from stc Group and Nokia, to come up with innovative solutions that promote business opportunities to address global sustainability challenges”.  

Bridging the digital divide 

Nokia and the stc Group began the program by exploring a sustainability challenge to identify areas where they could make a difference in building a more sustainable society. We recognize that the lack of digital access is a challenge, and enabling such access is crucial for all aspects of life, including education, business, and communication. Girls and women often face greater barriers to technology and internet access compared to boys and men. Therefore, Nokia and stc, as one team, decided to generate ideas and technological innovations to reach these populations and bridge the digital divide.

Empowering solutions from women 

The female talents from both companies came together to develop solutions to address the challenge. These developed solutions couldn't have been more diverse and inspiring:

• A technical solution to empower young girls in their digital journey and enable them to shape this world while guarding their safety.
• Creating a technical expert mentorship program to increase the percentage of female talents in ICT by preparing university students for their professional careers.
• An AI-enabled job search platform to enable more women to pursue professional careers while still being able to accommodate their personal and family needs.
• Creating a one-stop platform to support women in achieving digital savviness and financial independence in their professional lives through technology.

The program's setup allowed a unique approach to business innovation, utilizing the power of female leadership skills, the knowledge and local expertise of UN Women, and the technical capabilities of stc Group and Nokia.

"It was a unique experience to encourage oneself to be innovative and contribute to a bigger cause," and "I thoroughly enjoyed working in the all-women environment and understood how other minds can open up my creativity," were some of the key takeaways from program participants.

I acknowledge that we still have a long way to go to close the digital divide and create an equal gender distribution in the workforce of private tech companies. This program and its outcome make me confident that we are heading in the right direction.

We look forward to expanding these kinds of partnerships and proving how a diverse, gender-balanced team of leaders can unleash creativity and innovation at a time when it's needed most.

Resources:

Nokia-UN Women collaboration initiatives in Saudi

Nokia's People and Planet report 2022