9 September 2014

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Today, the Food and Drink Federation (FDF) announces a new partnership with youth skills initiative MyKindaCrowd and three of the UK's largest food and drink manufacturers to promote careers for women interested in engineering in food and drink.

In this new collaboration, FDF members, Cargill, Mars UK and PepsiCo UK will work with FDF and MyKindaCrowd to deliver industry visits with practical challenges for female students to get a first-hand taste of the food and drink industry - the UK's largest manufacturing sector.

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 an exciting career in food and 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, MyKindaCrowd: "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 and 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."

The MyKindaCrowd programme is an exceptional opportunity for young female students to get the inside track of engineering within food and drink and even the chance to 'win a work experience prize' at each of the challenge days. In turn, the FDF member companies will help the students to develop work skills and will benefit by establishing links with talented future recruits that offer fresh ideas and solutions.

Notes for editors

1. The Food and Drink Federation (FDF) is the voice of the food and drink manufacturing industry – the UK's largest manufacturing sector.
2. MyKindaCrowd established in 2011 has embarked on a global mission: to connect young people with the world of work and enhance their future employability. The social enterprise company works with 4500 schools and over 90% of universities in the UK. Through company involvement, MyKindaCrowd set challenges; young people respond with ideas; and get rewarded with work experience.
3. The MEng Food Engineering course at Sheffield Hallam University has been developed by Graduate Excellence , a partnership between the Food and Drink Federation, the National Skills Academy for Food Drink and Sheffield Hallam University
4. Your Life Stem pledge - In May 2014, the government set out national ambitions for greater participation in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) especially amongst women. FDF and our members support the new campaign called 'Your Life' by creating our own pledge to attract women into STEM careers in our industry.
5. Cargill provides food, agriculture, financial and industrial products and services to the world. Together with farmers, customers, governments and communities, we help people thrive by applying our insights and nearly 150 years of experience. We have 143,000 employees in 67 countries who are committed to feeding the world in a responsible way, reducing environmental impact and improving the communities where we live and work. Cargill has been active in the United Kingdom since 1955 and now employs over 3,000 people in 19 locations, in Cobham, Dalton, Hereford (two locations), Hull, Lichfield, Liverpool (four locations), London (two locations), Manchester, Newent, Shobdon, Witham St Hughs, Wolverhampton, Worksop and York.
6. PepsiCo products are enjoyed by consumers one billion times a day in more than 200 countries and territories around the world. In the UK Ireland, our core brands are Walkers, Quaker, Tropicana and Pepsi - but the business also includes a wide range of other products, including Snack a Jacks, Sunbites and Copella. We employ over 5,000 people across 13 locations in the UK These locations include the Quaker Oats mill at Cupar in Scotland, a world-leading potato crisp manufacturing plant in Leicester, and the Copella apple juice plant at Boxford in Suffolk, as well as a number of other manufacturing, distribution and administration sites.
7. Mars is a private, family-owned company with more than 75,000 Associates (employees) in 74 countries who are guided and united by our Five Principles - Quality, Responsibility, Mutuality, Efficiency and Freedom. Our global business has six segments; Petcare, Chocolate, Wrigley, Food, Drinks, Symbioscience and Mars owns many best-loved brands including PEDIGREE®, WHISKAS®, M'S®, SNICKERS®, MARS®, EXTRA®, ORBIT® and UNCLE BEN'S®.

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