Business

The Mission-Driven CEO Transforming The Tech Sector For Women

“Don’t get stuck” - Amali de Alwis, CEO of Subak, shares her guiding principles and leadership advice… hear from her live on 16th February

By Florence Robson

14 February 2022
T

he tech gender gap isn’t a new problem but it’s a persistent one. According to government-funded growth network Tech Nation, women make up only 26% of the UK tech workforce. Even more worryingly, half of young women in tech drop out of the industry by the age of 35 due to poor work-life balance, gendered biases and other aspects of a “non-inclusive company culture”.

It’s not all bad news. Between June to September 2021 technology was the third top sector in terms of job creation for women. And Amali de Alwis has played no small part in balancing the scales.

Now Chief Executive at Subak, the world’s first non-profit accelerator that scales climate impact through data, policy and behaviour change, de Alwis is widely recognised for her work as CEO of multi award-winning social enterprise Code First Girls. She is already something of a legend in the technology world; she was named Computer Weekly’s Most Influential Woman in IT in 2018 and in 2019 was awarded an MBE for her services to women in technology.

Now Chief Executive at Subak, the world’s first non-profit accelerator that scales climate impact through data, policy and behaviour change, de Alwis is widely recognised for her work as CEO of multi award-winning social enterprise Code First Girls. She is already something of a legend in the technology world; she was named Computer Weekly’s Most Influential Woman in IT in 2018 and in 2019 was awarded an MBE for her services to women in technology.

Despite her track record in tech, de Alwis’ career started somewhere unexpected: the fashion industry. “I started studying engineering and then swapped to a degree in shoe design”, she says. “I graduated from the London College of Fashion and did my graduate scheme with Clark’s!”. After working at Paris Fashion Week and shoemaking with Vivienne Westwood, de Alwis took a job with research consultancy TNS, became hooked on data and never looked back.

While she has worked in companies of all shapes, sizes and sectors, de Alwis’ professional journey has been guided by two factors: a passion for innovation and a core belief in fairness.

“I come from a family of doctors and there has always been a shared feeling of responsibility to the world around us”, she says. “I consider myself very fortunate to have grown up in a stable country, with a supportive family, with access to education and healthcare. And so why wouldn’t I want to leave the world in a better place?”

This guiding principle led de Alwis to join social enterprise Code First Girls as CEO in 2015. Under her leadership, it became the largest provider of free coding courses for women in the UK, having delivered over £40 million worth of free technology education. In fact, Code First Girls has taught three times as many women to code as the entire UK university undergraduate system – something de Alwis agrees is as depressing as it is impressive.

“I consider myself very fortunate to have grown up in a stable country, with a supportive family, with access to education and healthcare. And so why wouldn’t I want to leave the world in a better place?”

“The challenges we face in tech aren’t really any different to those we’re facing across society”, she points out. “When we talk about women’s role in technology, we’re really talking about our role in the world as a whole and millennia of undervaluing us.”

She celebrates the positive developments in the sector – the rise of STEM role models like Stemettes founder Dr Anne-Marie Imafidon and Darktrace CEO Poppy Gustafsson, for example – but acknowledges that we still have some way to go, particularly when it comes to getting women in into senior leadership roles.

While it might seem like her position at Subak signals a passing of the baton on gender equality in favour of tackling the climate crisis, de Alwis sees the two issues as fundamentally connected. “Gender inequality becomes exacerbated through the lens of climate change. In times of crisis it’s usually women who get pulled out of education, who have to stay at home and look after the children. Every other problem we’re facing gets worse if the climate challenge isn’t solved.”

Now a respected senior figure in the tech industry, de Alwis worked with a coach to figure out her leadership style, a process she describes as “starting with what you have”. “Think about what comes naturally and then reflect on which parts of your personality aren’t helping you as a leader”, she says. “Say you’re a particularly impatient person. That can be a good thing, helping you to keep pushing things forward. But sometimes you need to temper that instinct to acknowledge that it won’t work in every scenario. It’s about understanding where your vulnerabilities are.”

As for her advice for other women with leadership ambitions? It’s never too late and it’s never too early. “It’s really easy to tell yourself you’ve missed the boat on something”, she says, “but when it comes to career progression, things can be done at any stage of your career.”

On the other hand, that doesn’t mean you’ll get where you want to go instantly. “It’s easy to see perfectly curated LinkedIn profiles and think ‘This person must have had a strategy for life in place since they were ten!’”, she says. “But that’s not reality – it’s theatre. Our careers are journeys. Whatever happens, just continue to move forwards. You judge when you’re ready. Don’t get stuck.”

Subak has a busy year ahead, with an active hiring strategy, a new accelerator cohort and another fundraise on the horizon. De Alwis relies on Asana, team brainstorms and plenty of private reflection time to keep the organisation – and her own ambitions – on track.

Ultimately, though, every decision comes down to her drive to leave the world better than she found it. “I saw a tweet once from a young woman who was doing one of our Code First Girls courses and she was being taught by another woman who herself had done the same course about a year beforehand”, she recalls. “It was so exciting to see these generations of women passing on knowledge. That’s what I want to do: create a positive cascade”.

The Short Stack

Join us on 16th February for a live session with award-winning tech leader Amali de Alwis.

By Florence Robson

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