KUWAIT: Continuing its ongoing support for cybersecurity programs and contributing to empowering local female talents in this vital topic, Zain has sponsored the ‘50 Women in cybersecurity in Kuwait’ hackathon challenge. The initiative aimed at upskilling women and girls in programming, coding, and cybersecurity, and was organized by ESK Holding under support from the National Cybersecurity Center (NCSC).

The event was joined by 50 women and girls who participated in several hackathon competitions, including the Zain Hackathon challenge that covered specific cybersecurity-related skills. Zain’s team was part of the judges panel that evaluated the teams and picked the winners who met the outlined standards. Present during the awarding segment was the Director of the National Cybersecurity Center Major General Mohammed Bouraki.

Zain’s support to this unique initiative came under its Group-wide Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I) strategy, as well as its efforts to raise cybersecurity awareness in the community and encourage aspiring female Kuwaiti coders. Many of Zain’s initiatives center around youth and education development. As digital skills are gaining accelerating importance in the future of education and the economy, the company has put the development of programming and digital competencies of young men and women at the forefront of its priorities.

Zain Group is proud to be among the first telecom providers in the region to have established a Diversity and Inclusion office, as an indicator of how seriously the company takes the subject of uplifting its entire workforce and benefiting society. The remit of this function is to nurture a diverse and inclusive culture through a series of carefully crafted programs and initiatives.

In a previous step to support cybersecurity programs, Zain recently sponsored the Kuwait Hackathon, the nation’s biggest cybersecurity competition of its kind. The successful initiative was launched by CODED Academy under support from the National Cybersecurity Center and came in response to a parliamentary initiative that was adopted by Kuwait’s government and supported by the private sector.