The Food & Drink Federation (FDF) announces a new partnership with MyKindaCrowd and three of the UK’s food and drink manufacturers to promote careers for women.
In this new collaboration, FDF members, Cargill, Mars UK and PepsiCo UK will work with FDF and the youth skills initiative MyKindaCrowd to deliver industry visits with practical challenges for female students to get a first-hand taste of the food & drink industry.
Year 12 female students with A-Level STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects will be offered the chance to take on sector-related tasks and challenges at company-led workshops through visits to manufacturing sites across the country.
Students will take away an understanding of how they can use their STEM subjects towards career in food & drink manufacturing and give students the chance to network with employees at Cargill, Mars UK and PepsiCo UK.
Angela Coleshill, director of Employment & Skills at FDF, said: “FDF is really excited to be working with MyKindaCrowd to help showcase the huge range of dynamic engineering career opportunities for women in food and drink manufacturing.
“The skills agenda is a top priority for our industry and we are proud that our members continue to support careers initiatives such as the MyKindaCrowd engineering visits to ensure a solid succession plan for employment in our sector.”
At the heart of this collaboration is the aim to raise awareness for the industry-backed MEng Food Engineering degree at Sheffield Hallam University as well as FDF’s Women into STEM pledge as part of the YourLife campaign, which encourages women to pursue science or engineering careers in food and drink.”
William Akerman, founder and managing director of MyKindaCrowd said: “We’re thrilled to be working with FDF to highlight the great range of career opportunities available for women in the food and drink industry.
“The food & drink industry is doing great work in supporting our mission and the YourLife campaign, by working to ensure the work place is equal for all, and educating and highlighting the options out there.
I hope the success of this campaign inspires other manufacturers to actively promote the industry and encourage more females to join this exciting industry.”
