The panel includes Head of Marketing at Samsung, Deborah Hayes; Regional Head of UK&IRE at Equiem, Bronny Wilson, Founder and CEO at Wisdom, Dayo Akinrinade and CEO at Tapoly, Janthana Kaenprkhamroy.

The panellists will discuss a wide range of topics including: how much progress the tech industry is making towards redressing the gender imbalance issue; how the sector can be made even more accessible to people of different backgrounds; and what all tech professionals should be mindful of as they break into or progress within the industry.

Doors will open at 6.30pm, with the discussion taking place 7.30-8.30pm. The panel is open to all members of the public, although there is a maximum capacity of 100 and Mindspace expects this event to fill up fast. Complementary cider will be served by Hawkes.

Dana Riklis, Mindspace VP or HR said: “We’re immensely proud to be able to host such inspiring women leaders at our office in Shoreditch, to share their expertise and experience with aspiring tech professionals.”

“Mindspace typifies the future of work, which is one of diversity and inclusion. There is still much work to be done, but providing platforms where people can come together to debate such topics and explore solutions is an important step in the right direction.”

More information about the panellists:

Deborah Hayes, Head of B2B Marketing at Samsung UK

A commercially aware global marketing leader with over 20 years’ experience in software, tech and IT firms across channel, brand and product. Deborah is passionate about building integrated content-led plans that put the customers first, whilst leading and mentoring a team of incredible marketers. Deborah is an advocate of emerging talent, a ‘Women in Tech’ mentor, with a strong focus on bringing diversity into the tech world. Academically Deborah brings a 1st class degree in finance marketing, and is CIM accredited.

Deborah said: “I’ve been lucky enough to work the tech industry for almost 20 years and have been offered incredible opportunities that are not always possible for all. As a result I’m passionate about bringing diversity into this industry – specifically flying the flag for senior women in tech – and sharing the lessons I’ve learnt over the years.”

Bronny Wilson, Regional Head of UK&IRE at Equiem

Bronny heads up the entirety of UK and Ireland operations for Equiem; a global property technology and services company best known for its world-leading tenant experience app which is rolled out across 60 million sq ft of prime commercial real estate worldwide.

Bronny is a huge advocate for levelling the playing field for women in the PropTech and wider tech industry, and was formerly the Co-Chair of “Women in PropTech”; a global organisation dedicated to giving women a stronger platform in the industry.

Bronny said: “The gender imbalance in tech related roles has been high on the agenda for a while now. Women currently hold only 26.7% of tech-related jobs, and this number has actually decreased over the last two years. Female tech founders receive around 2% of investment funding, and in order to improve each of those metrics we need to be addressing it in education, hiring processes, and in funding. As a tech leader, in an industry that struggles with gender imbalance I am committed to doing everything I can to have a positive impact for women in tech.”

Dayo Akinrinade, Founder and CEO of Wisdom

Dayo has over a decade of experience in the tech ecosystem and has successfully founded two tech startups with the first being Africlick, a cultural dating app targeting 1 billion Africans globally. She was listed in the Global Dating Insights Women In Dating Powerbook, celebrating the 20 most inspirational and influential women in the dating industry alongside the likes of Whitney Wolfe and was named in the Financial Times Top 100 Most Influential Ethnic Minority Leaders in Tech.

Dayo was also one of the few Black female founders able to tap into the 0.34% of venture capital that’s been invested into Black women having raised $2 million for Wisdom, thanks to the support of First Round Capital and a number of angel investors.

Dayo said: “The barriers to success for women in tech are often invisible and structural which presents additional challenges – and this is reflected in a lack of female representation in STEM degrees, leadership and the gender pay gap. It is encouraging to see tech organisations strategically seeking to embed inclusion into every aspect of the organisation - when a company is authentically diverse, it will naturally attract more women.”

Janthana Kaenprkhamroy, CEO at Tapoly

Born in Thailand, Janthana is the CEO of insurtech Tapoly, winner of Insurance Provider of the Year at the British Small Business Awards 2018 and recipient of the Technological Development award at the European Business Awards 2021. Tapoly is an award-winning digital managing general agent (MGA) for commercial lines insurance tailored to micro SMEs and freelancers.

Janthana was named Insurance Woman of the Year at the Women in Finance Awards 2021, was listed by Forbes as number 6 of the Top 100 Women Founders to watch and was named in the Insurance Business UK’s Elite Women List 2021 and 2022.

Janthana said: “The main thing I’ve learned as one of the very few female CEOs in insurtech, is that it's harder for women to overcome cultural barriers in an industry where women are underrepresented, and the culture is led by men at the top. The remedy for this is to increase female recruitment and retention rates across all functions and organisations. We can achieve this through encouraging, promoting and recruiting more women to take up careers in technology, which is why events like this are so important.”