Thakral One, as it celebrates its 25th year, partnered with For The Women Foundation (FTW) for their annual Data Science Scholarship Program. The 13-week training program began with a series of lectures and culminated with a capstone project. All throughout the program, the scholars received guidance and mentorship from Thakral One’s Business Analytics leaders, enriching their learning with advice from seasoned industry experts. Scholars were given real-world scenarios, group collaborations, and problem-solving exercises.
Data in the Real World
There is always data involved in everything we do. This could be as simple as tracing weather patterns to know when it would rain, or as complex as following the trend of global job competition for programmers. Julie, an agriculturist and research teacher, couldn’t have worded it better: “Data is everywhere.” The scholarship program helped maximise her potential to not only understand the data she is analysing, but how it could benefit people apart from herself. Through the intensive workshops, she was able to “tell a story from the past, present, and future.”
In order to understand how data works on a day-to-day basis, Kaycee, a Data Integrity Specialist, emphasized the importance of “setting the foundation right just to master the basics.” Here, in the scholarship program, the mentors trained the scholars to discipline themselves with the basics first, before delving into more complex topics.
This is also evident in their culminating project: she shared how her fellow classmates had different, contradicting ideas to approach a problem from one of their client consultations. Given the limited amount of time, they all needed to go back to the basics and fundamentals of their ideas to meet in the middle. And from then on, the skills she had picked up from working in teams would give her the confidence in dealing with problems in the professional setting.
In imparting industry best practices to the scholars, Thakral One had to ensure that they are exposed to real-world business problems.
Our capstone project was meant to stretch their perspectives and apply their learnings through near real-world scenario-based problem solving. They have the foundational knowledge and our exercises aimed at honing their client focus, confidence in recommending solutions, business creativity, and data story telling skills.”
Joseph Correa, Data Strategy and Insights Practice Lead, Thakral One.
Pacing the Problems
Glaidyl, a BS Electronics Engineering graduate from PUP, said that the mentors and instructors in the scholarship program helped “simplify otherwise complex concepts.” This gave her the leverage to fully upskill her knowledge in programming to put her ideas into codes, and codes into action. They encouraged her to pace herself in dealing with problems, especially when concepts seem too jarring to absorb. With their guidance and mentorship, real-world experiences seemed less intimidating than she initially thought.
As for client consultation in the professional setting, Shaira, an Operations Supervisor, said that “requirements may vary.” Hence, one takeaway from the scholarship program is that it trains you to be equipped with different tools to handle different problems efficiently. The vast knowledge imparted by their mentors was what they applied when dealing with clients during their capstone project. Taking it one problem at a time helped set the pace and lessened their fear of committing mistakes.
Problem solving requires a lot of confidence. Now this doesn’t refer to the swagger, but on the faith, one puts in their skills. Imnas, a Production Engineer, said that the scholarship program trained her to become resourceful, reminded of the fact that there will always be several difficult situations to encounter in the corporate setting. But with her confidence in her capabilities, there would always be twice as many ways to overcome them.
Making A Mark in One’s Career
The extent of the scholarship program does not stop after the training program has ended. Pia, an Industrial Engineering student, would want to continue building networks and learning new skills to achieve her long-term career goals, especially venturing into the electric industry. To her, this program was an “opportunity to meet talented and hardworking people in the community,” and instead of feeling under the shadows of their grand achievements, these people inspired her to be better, to strive for greatness. The program made her believe in herself and discover skills she never thought she had.
Indeed, learning does not stop there, it is a continuous cycle of passing on the knowledge to younger generations – from championing accessible high-quality education to building a community of women in analytics. Making this possible is the vision of the Data Science Scholarship Program.
About For The Women Foundation
FTW Foundation is a Philippine non-profit organization that up-skills deserving women through intensive training in tech with the goal of creating a community of Filipinas empowered to break through traditional career barriers.
Their Data Science program consists of a 14 week intensive tech training course in the areas of data science and AI, giving selected scholars a head start and the confidence to compete in the industry. FTW graduates earn an average of +154% post program completion. Beyond training, the organization also provides a support system to develop strong, resilient and gritty women that thrive wherever they go – inspiring equal opportunity and driving systemic change in the country.
One of the Founders and the Executive Director of the program is Cara Wilson who lives by the FTW slogan – For the Women, For the Win, For the World!”
Learn more at www.ftwfoundation.org.
About Thakral One
Thakral One is a consulting and technology services company focused on value-added bespoke capabilities, enhancing decisions through analytics, and unlocking possibilities in the cloud. The company engages clients collaboratively and believes in grounded, practical outcomes. This approach is possible through partnerships with leading global technology providers. Headquartered in Singapore, the company’s pan-Asian footprint covers 16 countries with 1000+ consultants.
In the Philippines, Thakral One has been providing technology consulting, solution implementation, and managed services since 1998. The Philippines is a key unit for Thakral One as its Centre of Excellence in Data & Analytics with strong delivery capability of 100+ consultants. Its portfolio of practices in Technology & Digital Solution – Software Engineering, DevOps, and Cloud – enable enterprises across industries such as Banking, Telecommunications, Insurance, Retail, and Hospitality in their digital transformation journeys.
