Mon, Dec 09 2024
This week saw the introduction of Project Nemo, an effort to speed up disability inclusion in the UK fintech sector that aims to motivate the sector to better serve people with disabilities and lived experiences.
Disability advocate Kris Foster, graduate Ella Manley, and former fintech CEO Joanne Dewar—who oversaw UK payments platform Thredd—founded the non-profit organization.
The initiative aims to give the fintech sector the tools and know-how to support the development of a more inclusive business. It will take the form of a 12-month disability inclusion campaign.
This will be achieved via creating awareness of the barriers that people with disabilities have when trying to break into the fintech sector and by putting fintech executives in touch with persons who have personal experience with these issues.
Furthermore, the initiative highlights that a crucial component of its success plan is organizing a series of workshops called the Fintech Festival of Inclusion, with the goal of showcasing and supporting instances of disability inclusion in the industry.
Dewar called it a "massive missed opportunity for fintech," since one in five individuals in the UK have a handicap, which translates into annual buying power of almost £274 billion.
Furthermore, the campaign asserts that data points to a discrepancy in job opportunities for people with disabilities in the UK fintech industry.
Fintech views itself as the financial services industry of the future, and we have achieved significant progress in cost reduction, reach expansion, and simplification. However, project manager Dewar asserts that "we need to make sure that our workplaces, all of our products, and services fully consider accessibility if we ever want to truly achieve mainstream adoption beyond the digital natives."
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