Shafin Diamond Tejani, CEO and founder of Victory Square Technologies, has just established a $75,000 matching fund to help launch and grow Simon Fraser University’s (SFU) Victory Square Girls Tech Camp.
Taking place this month at two elementary schools in Surrey, British Columbia, the five-day Victory Square Girls Tech Camp provides girls in grades six and seven the opportunity to engage in hands-on workshops, develop fundamental computer programming and engineering skills, and build a project to present to a judging panel on the final day of the camp.
Specifically, the camp’s curriculum emphasizes topics such as coding, circuits, and electronic components, which are taught by SFU’s faculty members, students, and graduates of the computing science and engineering programs.
“The camp is a great way to reach girls at a key age when they begin considering future options.”
“We want to provide more girls in Surrey an opportunity to learn important technology skills and take pride in their achievements,” said Rani Gandham, manager of community school partnerships for the Surrey School District. “This camp allows them to learn outside the classroom and be exposed to a field that often has an underrepresentation of women.”
SFU said Tejani’s $75,000 fund will help grow the camp for future years. With the fund, Tejani will match contributions made by other individuals, thereby hoping to double the impact of their donations.
“I am so proud and honoured to be able to assist SFU and Surrey Schools with this important initiative,” said Tejani. “The camp is a great way to reach girls at a key age when they begin considering options for their future. Together, we can champion STEM with girls through creating curiosity, celebrating accomplishments, and giving them the confidence to grow and excel.”
Tejani’s philanthropic efforts were recently recognized when the BC Tech Association named him “Person of the Year” at the 2017 Technology Impact Awards.
In August 2016, a year after Victory Square Labs acquired PRO Draft League and relaunched it as a fantasy sports platform Fantasy 6, Victory Square Labs announced that it would inject $10 million into the company to continue global growth.
Related: Visier partners with two Canadian universities to launch programs supporting youth in STEM