Booking.com women in tech mentoring scheme partners Web Summit 2017

The initiative is a new component of Web Summit’s Women in Tech initiative introduced in 2015 to encourage open discussion about gender diversity in the technology industry. Continue reading →

A women in tech mentoring scheme is being created by Booking.com in partnership with the annual Web Summit conference.

The initiative is a new component of Web Summit’s Women in Tech initiative introduced in 2015 to encourage open discussion about gender diversity in the technology industry.

The on-site mentoring will give attendees at the event in Portugal on November 6-9 an opportunity to hear from some of the most inspiring women in the sector and receive one-to-one mentoring sessions.

Web Summit has pledged to give away 14,000 free tickets to women interested in attending the 2017 event.

The percentage of female attendees has risen to 42% over the past two years.

Booking.com chief executive, Gillian Tans, who will be a keynote speaker at the event, said: “Diversity of all kinds has been core to Booking.com’s culture since the company was founded 20 years ago.

“Our workforce is truly global, it consists of 150 different nationalities, and more than half is made up by women.

“We strongly believe that gender diversity is key to building a workforce that fosters innovation, collaboration and creativity and we are continuously working to make Booking.com one of the most gender-balanced companies in the world.

“We are committed to diversity inside and outside the walls of Booking.com and this is why we are sponsoring the Women in Tech track of Web Summit and the event’s first Women in Tech track mentoring programme,” she added.

Tans will join high profile mentors at the event, including Blake Irving, chief executive of domain hosting company GoDaddy, Holly Liu, founder of the entertainment app start-up Kabam, Mada Seghete, co-founder of Branch, a mobile metrics company, and Princess Khaliya Aga Khan, an advocate for mental health and the use of neurotech innovation to tackle mental health issues.

Web Summit co-founder Paddy Cosgrave said: “As a company that runs events around the world, we are acutely aware that female participation in the technology sector has been, and continues to be, lower than should be.

“This mentorship programme will be a great opportunity for female tech talent attending the event to learn from and get inspiration from our incredible network of CEOs, founders and senior executives – some of the most successful tech entrepreneurs in the industry today.”