Social enterprise celebrates its new female tech innovators in the Shoreditch graduation ceremony.

Kimolian Academy proudly announces the graduation of their latest cohort of product managers at The Brew Eagle House, City Road, London on Thursday, 27 June. This milestone event celebrated the achievements of women who have completed the Academy’s intensive 12-week online program, designed to empower women from diverse backgrounds based around the world, to create tech-enabled products aligned with their social values.

The Academy is dedicated to bridging the gender gap in product management and tech entrepreneurship. Through bespoke training and mentorship, the Academy equips women of any age with the tools to lead with innovation, creativity, and confidence.?

The Academy unites women from across the globe, transcending borders to support its mission of enhancing women's financial health. In addition to the United Kingdom, the program boasts graduates from Nigeria, Austria, the USA, Egypt, Belarus, Moldova, Poland, Spain, Portugal and Serbia.

“The strength of our community of women lies in its diversity, camaraderie, and unwavering support," said Eleni Lialiamou, Founder of Kimolian Academy. "Together, we drive progress, leveraging our skills to create products that uplift and bring about positive change, and we aim to improve female representation in the tech industry in the UK. Only 19% of UK tech workers are women and women hold only 5% of leadership positions in the tech industry, according to “Women in Tech: closing the gender gap DDaT DBT (The Digital, Data and Technology Directorate in the Department for Business and Trade.)”

“I’ve been totally blown away by what the women have been able to achieve in the 12-week program, and share their innovative tech products with all of us. I’m looking forward to seeing what they do next with their newfound skills. Be it as an entrepreneur or product manager.”

The graduation ceremony included team presentations from the students who, during the program, were challenged to find a tech-enabled solution to help underrepresented women improve their financial health. The women worked with industry mentors over the 12 weeks including experts from the AND Digital company and Aaron Cripps, a product consultant based on the US West Coast.?

Additionally, keynote speakers addressed the graduates, providing valuable insights and advice for navigating their careers. One of them was Sharath Jeevan OBE, an author and acclaimed advisor and facilitator who supports leaders and organisations to future-proof success. He talked about the inflexion points in careers and how women can grow through them.

Ecaterina Chimacovscaia, one of the recent graduates, was born and raised in Moldova and is currently launching her start-up in Vienna, shared her experience of the Kimolian Academy: “The most valuable lesson to me was that the course covered important skills such as market analysis, product strategy, customer interviews to understand what kind of product you are really creating, roadmap planning and cross-functional leadership. It was very helpful. And, of course, we were introduced to many AI tools.?

“My next steps are to get funding for my start-up and I hope that the knowledge acquired in this course will help me realise this.”?

She pointed out why product managers are so important for any tech company: “Product management is a key role in many companies because we are the people who determine what to build, for whom, what and when, and mastering this can open doors to higher-level positions within an organisation.”

The event was a momentous occasion, celebrating the strides made by women in their journey toward becoming influential leaders in the tech industry.?

This press release was written in collaboration with women from Kimolian Academy’s community who are all programme graduates.