Women in Tech Hampshire talk female leadership in the tech industry at third sellout event

Women in Tech Hampshire (WiTH) held their third meetup recently in partnership with Spectrum IT Recruitment, bringing together around 70 guests – enough that extra tickets had to be released.

The group, which is open to anyone from apprentices and graduates to C-suite execs, meets regularly to network and hear from expert speakers.

This time the discussion centred on senior leadership, with the prompt that only five per cent of leadership roles in the tech industry are currently held by women.

The panel for the event included Deniz Aygen Uluer, director of Deep Culture; Donna Wayman, chief operating officer at Zurich Legacy Solutions; and Jayne Sibley, co-founder and CEO of Sibstar – a debit card and app for families living with dementia.

“Networking at any level is so important”, said Deniz. She got a role at Unilever after meeting someone from the company while playing tennis with a friend.

Deniz has held a range of roles across various fields over her career, putting her progress down to curiosity, ferocity and a willingness to work with other people.

Now in the fourth ‘quartile’ of her career, she offers coaching, mentoring and advice for female entrepreneurs and companies.

Donna picked up a degree in drama before falling into insurance and IT. She later moved onto a graduate scheme at Zurich Insurance, then took up project management.

With all that behind her, Donna’s built up 15 years of strategic leadership experience, which she’s currently applying to her COO role at Zurich Legacy Solutions.

Finally, Jayne advised the group that ambition and passion for a business is key to its growth and development.

Jayne’s professional career began as a global product executive for The Body Group before starting an 11-year stint in marketing and communications with the BBC.

Nowadays she runs her fintech startup Sibstar – born out of the challenge she faced in helping her mum, who had dementia, to remain financially independent, while also keeping her money safe from scams or overspending.

Jayne brought plenty of experience to the project, but coming into fintech for the first time meant learning all about banking processes and business management.

She told WiTH that you need to know where you’re good, where you can learn and where you can get people to plug the gaps.

All three speakers were keen to get more women into top leadership roles, and agreed that passion for what you want to achieve is a key asset.

“It’s so important to be passionate,” said Donna.

“Find what you love – find projects that make you passionate.”

The next WiTH event will look at attracting and retaining women in the tech industry, as well as the important of male allies.

It’s scheduled for Tuesday 9 July at Axis Conference Centre, Chilworth.

• To reserve a spot for free, visit the Eventbrite page.

To get the best of Hampshire Biz News straight to your inbox every week, sign up for our newsletter!