A great higher education sets up one’s entire career for success. But unfortunately, not everyone is able to access a great education. The seats at the premier schools are limited and often too expensive for a huge segment of the population because of the socio-economic backgrounds they come from. Believe it or not, higher education remains an area that is yet to be democratized.
WhiteHat is looking to change this.
WhiteHat’s mission is to build an outstanding alternative to higher education by bringing to market an integrated apprenticeship marketplace and training platform. A student who goes through the WhiteHat apprenticeship program spends a minimum of a year as an apprentice at one of the best companies in the world, learns real-world skills while working at the employer, gets trained on the fundamentals of their chosen area of focus through WhiteHat’s training program. All this, while getting paid by the employer, instead of paying a hefty tuition fee.
WhiteHat’s offering covers the entire lifecycle of an apprenticeship from a candidate’s point of view — matching them with employers for interviews, helping them prepare for the interview, and offering them year-long training in partnership with premier content providers. The apprentice is given access to an online and offline community of other apprentices and at the end of the program, receives a formal apprenticeship certification. From an employer’s point of view, WhiteHat allows companies to access high-quality pre-vetted talent, who are choosing not to do a degree, and train them in partnership with WhiteHat. A win-win.
In just two years, WhiteHat has been able to attract best-in-class employers such as Google, Facebook, WeWork, Burberry, Warner Bros and more to become customers and join them on this journey. They’ve launched multiple streams — Accounting, Software Engineering, Digital Marketing amongst others — and built a highly scalable growth engine. While they’ve launched the program in the UK, their customers are already asking them to take the program global.
Euan and Sophie, WhiteHat’s co-founders, are driven by the mission of building a platform that enables a diverse group of future leaders to enter the workforce confidently. If you’re smart and hard-working, you shouldn’t be at a disadvantage based on your socio-economic background or because you simply don’t want to go to college. They are obsessed with their vision of providing an outstanding alternative to university and transforming the way young people access the best jobs.
We’re very excited about our partnership with Euan, Sophie and the rest of the team at WhiteHat. They’re building an important company and have a big vision for the future of work and education. And they’re just getting started.
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