Portfolio Opportunity Fund
Digital113
Supporting women’s aspirations to digital careers
Working to improve disadvantaged young women’s employability through upskilling in emerging AI skills.
The Foundation launched it’s Portfolio Opportunity Fund in summer 2024. Through the fund, the Foundation partners with software companies in the Hg portfolio on projects which forward our mission of helping under-represented groups access education and careers in tech.
The Hg portfolio employs around 100,000 individuals. The Foundation is keen to build on the portfolio’s expertise, ideas, and energy to widen the talent pipeline into the sector – and to help turbocharge portfolio companies’ own charitable and access-focussed programmes. To date, seven partnerships have been supported through the fund, totalling £440,000 in grants from The Hg Foundation and leveraging a further £540,000 from portfolio companies.
Rotary Club of Bibwewadi Pune is part of the network of 45,000 Rotary Clubs working to improve community outcomes globally. It has been delivering its ‘Asmita’ programme in Pune for 7 years, empowering girls and young women aged 12-20 through awareness-raising and training on a range of topics such as financial literacy, mental health, self-defence, communication skills, and female health.
The Hg Foundation and Serrala’s combined £55,000 grant will enable the Club to pilot ‘Asmita Nxt’, a new programme designed to train young women in generative AI and prompt engineering skills. The grant will fund 60 women to complete a twenty-week training course with the Pune Institute of Computer Technology. They will receive laptops and subscriptions to relevant programming tools, and complete a dynamic and hands-on course in generative AI across popular deep learning frameworks.
At the Rotary Club of Bibwewadi Pune, we have always believed in empowering young women, who we call daughters, through meaningful initiatives. This new project, generously supported by The Hg Foundation and Serrala, will provide AI training that enhances employability, ensuring that daughters are equipped for the future workforce. By bridging the skill gap, we are not only creating opportunities but also fostering long-term economic and social empowerment.
As leaders in finance automation, we know firsthand the impact AI is having everywhere. That’s why we’re truly proud to support this initiative together with The Hg Foundation and Rotary Club Bibwewadi Pune, helping young women from disadvantaged backgrounds get the training they need to pursue careers in technology. By investing in education, we’re contributing to create real opportunities for the next generation to thrive in an AI-driven world.
