The Next Generation: Supporting New Talent
Giving great ideas the space to grow
Level39 is a space of equal opportunity: where good ideas get the chance to grow into something more. We want it to be a place where the future starts. We nurture talent, regardless of its source, enabling budding ideas to thrive.
PROMOTING
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Making people aware of the benefits of entrepreneurship can be a major challenge. Too often, people see entrepreneurs and what they do as far removed from their lives. Level39 challenges this assumption, and shows how entrepreneurship drives and stimulates the economy, benefiting everyone.
People Behind the Future is an exciting initiative that champions Level39 members from diverse backgrounds who are building businesses to help change the world. This digital campaign tells their stories from a personal view, celebrating unity and inclusion and highlighting people who are making a real difference. Here are just four of their stories.
Anders Gundersen
Norwegian Anders moved to London a day after the Brexit referendum, attracted by the international pull the city retains. His company, Sensanomic, is on a mission to digitise agriculture. By using modern techniques to tackle old problems, Anders and his team apply deep tech to real-world issues in some of the poorest areas on the planet. He believes that being at Level39 “delivers unique benefits: the proximity to fintech companies providing an understanding of the financial world that in turn means a greater understanding of clients’ issues”.
Ghita Sqalli
Having decided to become an entrepreneur while an intern at General Electric, Ghita’s aim is to create impact through her work. She joined fintech start-up RedCloud to help further this goal of digitising cash-to-cash business and modernising transactions in the developing world. Ghita says London, and Level39, provide the ideal base to launch such an international business, as the diversity on offer provides a vital understanding of different cultures.
Delber Lage
Delber grew up in provincial Brazil, where the local community fostered attitudes of altruism and care for others, and a desire for people to find happiness. Those traits are embedded in the work of his business, SalaryFits, which promotes financial inclusion and sustainability by bridging the gap between financial institutions and individuals. The platform enables deductions from employees’ salaries to be put towards services that fulfil their financial needs. Being based at Level39 offers real advantages, he says: “You can find anything you want in London – it’s an amazing place to be. This translates into business opportunities.”
Ramona Nan
Ramona cut her entrepreneurial teeth while working for a Canadian businessman in her native Romania. She’s using that experience at BlockDox, which uses AI, machine learning and the internet of things (IoT) in the built environment. BlockDox provides real-time data on the health of a building, from CO2 levels to occupancy, helping to reduce costs and improve comfort and well-being. Romana says the best of London can be found at Level39. “It brings the whole tech community together, so that’s a lot of skills under the same roof.”
CHALLENGING PERCEPTIONS
Women are currently seriously underrepresented in STEM-based (science, technology, engineering and maths) roles. Only 24% of the digital workforce in the UK is female. This is a huge challenge, but we’re determined to help beat it.
With our support, Makers Academy, a software development boot camp, launched its first annual Women in Software Power List in February 2019. By searching for the top 30 women in the UK making an impact in software development, Makers hopes to address the lack of role models and encourage more women into the sector.
Code First: Girls works with companies and individuals to help increase the number of women working in the tech industry. Only 24% of the tech industry workforce is women. Code First: Girls, a not-for-profit social enterprise, aims to address this imbalance by delivering free training in the skills young women will need to enter the industry. At Level39, we’ve been proud to host Code First: Girls for a number of years, providing training to young women from the local community. To date, more than 500 women have successfully passed through the programme here, and through our support have received free training worth more than £300,000.
Our 2018 progress
