500k women from female-led scaleups to be digitally upskilled by January 2022

Digital Boost, a new platform connecting organisations with digital skills founded by serial entrepreneur Sherry Coutu CBE, has today set out a bold ambition to digitally upskill 500,000 women from female-led organisations by January 2022, with 200,000 of those from BAME backgrounds.

This comes as recent research revealed that 97% of charities feel insecure about their command of digital skills, while a survey conducted by BT and Small Business Britain found that 63% of small businesses lack confidence in future-proofing their business.

Digital Boost helps small organisations access digital skills through unlimited free one-to-one mentorships delivered by volunteers at some of the world’s most respected organisations including Google, DCMS, Visa, BT and The Big Lottery. Digital Boost is also working with its partners to offer specialised workshops and access to short online courses to its learners. 

Since its launch in June 2020, Digital Boost has mentored more than 2,000 small businesses and charities. It currently has 1,600 partners listed on the platform and has successfully delivered multiple one-to-one mentoring sessions. 

Sherry Coutu CBE, Founder of Digital Boost, said: “We’re proud to work alongside our valued partners to mentor at least 1 million people who work for small businesses and charities by 31st January 2022, of which 20% will identify themselves as BAME and 50% will identify themselves as female. With our enhanced digital platform that offers unlimited mentoring support as well as commercial partnerships for potential corporates, we believe we can significantly boost the revenues of female-led businesses”.

As a beneficiary of multiple mentoring sessions, Amanda Mann, Founder of Mann’s Cookies, said: “Mine is a COVID-19 business. I couldn’t imagine I would have so much fun and meet such amazing people but I didn’t have any business experience so I am so grateful I found Digital Boost. They were brilliant on our mentoring calls and they were great at helping me get to grips with the mechanics of business, showing me how to deliver great customer service and sharing tips on keeping up my social media presence.”

Startup Details

Startup Details

TOTAL FUNDING AMOUNT
CB RANK (COMPANY)

Digital Boost

Digital Boost is a subsidiary of F4S, one of the largest employability charities in the UK. Supported by DCMS, Google and many others, the initiative was created in 2020 in response to Covid-19 to help drive inclusive economic growth and improve the livelihoods of millions, with a particular focus on the needs and challenges of women working for small businesses and charities.

  • Headquarters Regions
    London, UK
  • Founded Date
    2020
  • Founders
    Sherry Coutu
  • Operating Status
    Active
  • Number of Employees
    11-50