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The Financial Academy (FA) honored today 24 innovative young men and women during the closing ceremony of the Fintech Bootcamp 2023. The event was held under the auspices of His Excellency Mr. Mohammad bin Abdullah Elkuwaiz, Chairman of the Capital Market Authority and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Financial Academy.

At the opening speech, Mr. Elkuwaiz said the Fintech Bootcamp was one of the key initiatives developed by the Financial Academy to support the financial and technology sectors and contribute to the development of the national economy.

He hailed the Academy's fundamental role, having offered more than 2,500 specialized training programs that benefited more than 35,000 male and female trainees. 

"The FA offered over 48 professional certificates that more than 170,000 male and female candidates applied for. It also organized more than 170 meetings and seminars that nearly 30,000 participants attended in person and more than 1.5 million people virtually benefited from," noted Elkuwaiz,  adding that such initiatives are geared to back the ongoing efforts aiming to achieve development and foster the capabilities of human resources in the financial sector.

"The Fintech Bootcamp, as we celebrate its outcomes today, is one of the qualitative initiatives launched by the FA to support the financial sector in the Kingdom, which is involved in developing national talents in the field of financial technology by providing the proper ecosystem for building innovations under supervision of top professional trainers, mentors and experts," he concluded.

On his part, Mr. Mana bin Mohammad Al-Khamsan, the CEO of the Financial Academy, pointed out that the bootcamp served as an exceptional and rich hands-on experience for all participants, as it lasted up to six weeks that witnessed 140 hours of extensive training, in addition to a five-day fintech hackathon which offered the trainers 25 hours to refine their prototypes and innovative orientations. 

"The bootcamp received an overwhelming response as it attracted nearly 700 applicants, including fresh graduates and professionals from the financial, technological and administrative sectors. The program featured seven innovative projects and 13 training themes," Al-Khamsan noted.

The bootcamp included 10 modules that addressed a wide variety of topics  like design thinking, data analysis, emerging financial technology, and artificial intelligence (AI). In addition, the participants acquired new competencies in different relevant areas such as design thinking, agile management, data analytics and insight-driven decision making, data visualization, storytelling using financial technology and emerging technologies, the AI, the AI-supported growth, automation optimization, leading the digital transformation and pitching and presentation skills.

The bootcamp progressed through various stages, including selection, onboarding, team formation, the training bootcamp, the hackathon, until it culminated on the Demo Day.

The Fintech Bootcamp 2023 vividly reflected the Academy's keenness to provide a unique experience for program participants to more deeply explore the world of financial technology, especially the data and artificial intelligence domains, which would contribute to developing and upgrading their capabilities, thus enabling them to make use of these technologies in designing and presenting innovative solutions and obtain future bright career opportunities.

The FA is harnessing its full material and human potential for providing a series of high level initiatives and products that would help achieve the Kingdom's Vision 2030, and develop the financial sector in accordance with a comprehensive and integrated future strategy. The Academy also strives to raise skills and innovativeness associated with financial services to the highest international levels.​