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DIGITAL WORLD
To the tech entrepreneurs in the room, she recommended
that they reach out and support each other in business. “Don’t forget to support other women with your wallet. Network with the women beside you, listen to them, find out what they do and, if you like it, support them by doing business with them.” NPR’s Sydell remarked that it was great to have a room
full of women who were passionate about technology and business, having read all the dreadful ‘brogramming’ stories that do the rounds on the internet. “I don’t think we hear enough from women who are excited about technology,” she said. “We tend to hear the horror stories, and not the positive stuff that’s going on.”
Cathriona Hallahan, managing director of Microsoft in Ireland
IN OCTOBER, EUROPE’S LARGEST TECH CONFERENCE THE WEB SUMMIT TOOK PLACE IN DUBLIN AND, WITH MORE THAN 9,000 ATTENDEES FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD, MUCH OF THE TALK ON THE GROUND WAS THE LACK OF WOMEN ON STAGE, DESPITE THE ORGANISERS’ BEST EFFORTS. One place where there was no shortage of leading women in tech, however, was at an event on the fringe of the main summit, the Leaders’ Lunch, where several hundred women turned out at the Four Seasons Hotel to hear a panel discussion with Cisco chief technology officer Padmasree Warrior, Peak Games co-founder Rina Onur and Zepotlab chief revenue officer (CRO) Diana Moldavsky – the latter both global gaming companies. US visitor and digital culture
correspondent of NPR Laura Sydell moderated the panel, while Cathriona Hallahan, managing director of Microsoft in Ireland, and Anne Heraty, co-founder and CEO of technology recruitment company CPL Resources, also addressed the gathering.
VOTE WITH YOUR WALLET Opening proceedings, Hallahan pointed out that there was plenty of room in the tech industry to welcome non-technical people of any gender. “You don’t have to be a techie to be in the IT industry,” she said. “Half the roles we have open in Microsoft are not in tech.”
LIKE-MINDED NETWORK As chief technology officer at Cisco, Warrior is one of the most senior women in a technical role in the industry worldwide. She wowed the gathering with tales of how she rose up through the ranks, having studied mechanical engineering with just four other women in her class. She said she had stayed in touch with all these women, and that she found it important to have other like-minded technical women in her network. When asked by a member of the audience if women needed
to behave like men to succeed in leadership, she answered in the negative. “Be authentic. Be yourself. Women have to be women to be successful and be leaders.” And of course the talk was of technology too, and how quickly the world is changing. “It is not just the technology that is changing. It is the business models and consumption patterns,” said Warrior, pointing to areas like cloud, mobile and the internet of things. She placed the potential of the latter in context by pointing out that of the things that could be connected to the internet, 99.4pc were not yet connected. Onur, who is chief strategy officer
‘We need to stop talking about the problems in being a woman entrepreneur. Men come up against roadblocks too’
DIANA MOLDAVSKY, CRO, ZEPTOLAB
50 INNOVATION IRELAND REVIEW Issue 7 Autumn/Winter 2013
at Peak Games, encouraged the tech entrepreneurs present to look beyond the obvious markets like China and India when making their pitch on the international stage. “We sometimes forget that the emerging markets are huge,” she said. “And many are under- served and pass under the radar.” She encouraged the women present
to play to their strengths. “When it came to pitching for funding or for new business, it was clear that I was more confident than my [male] co-founders, so I took on that role and I got up and pitched the business.” According to Moldavsky, it is
vital that women in the industry focus on the opportunities rather than the problems. “There are huge
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