In 2016, talent and recruitment group MCG Group launched a subsidiary recruitment consultancy, Hopscotch, to bring together professional women who prefer flexible working options and companies looking for quality, shorter term hires. The firm is headed by Helen McGuire, MCG Group CEO Justin McGuire’s wife, who is the former head of digital content at Impact BBDO / Proximity in Dubai and a mother herself.
At the time, 98 percent of non-working professional women said that they would return to the workplace if more flexible options were available. Furthermore, 1 in 10 women felt that they lack the confidence to return to work after a stint away from the office. And so, Hopscotch’s aim was not only to find flexible work, but also to support women at all stages of the process, offering exclusive workshops and specific skills coaching.
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Now, two years later, the firm plans to go global following an investment from digital entrepreneur, Tim Baker, co-founder of agency hug digital. It has rebranded as tech platform Hopscotch.work with a host of digital offerings, which means that its talent pool of over 50,000 women can be brought closer together creating their own profiles whilst increasingly giving them the tools to work, learn and connect directly with businesses and each other, cutting out the traditional ‘middle man’ in recruitment.
“At launch in 2016, Hopscotch was innovative as the region’s first empowerment platform to source work and opportunities for professional women. We have since worked with brands big and small as well as playing a part in the UN Women’s Empowerment Taskforce in the UAE, and this is just the start of our plans for Hopscotch’s expansion and digitization,” says Helen McGuire, co-founder and managing director of Hopscotch.
