Kenz Mroue is Director EMEA partner sales at Nasuni, the leading enterprise data platform for modern hybrid cloud environments.
An experienced leader in technology, Kenz has a track record of developing successful Channel industry strategies and strengthening key partnerships to drive growth.
Every year, the doomsters talk down women’s role in technology.
Only around one fifth of our industry’s workforce are female. Fewer than one third of computer science undergraduates are women. Only 7.5% of tech company founders are women. And so on.
But in my own experience, in the UK technology channel – where manufacturers’ IT products are distributed and sold by expert independent advisers and companies to meet end users’ needs – women are playing a vibrant and growing role in this exciting area of the UK’s brightest sector.
Here are three of the reasons why I think opportunities for women to build a successful and fulfilling career – and progress to leadership roles – in the technology industry are expanding.
Variety: the spice of tech life
I switched to a technology channel career because of the way it champions new thinking. I quickly realised that technology channel companies constantly challenge received wisdom in our society about how people work and what they can achieve.
My first commercial experience was in sales for Burberry, but it couldn’t compare with the tech industry’s lava flow of innovation, where corporate objectives can change by the month and no two days are the same.
A decade ago, who would have thought that we could work remotely in global teams? Or that business information could be safely stored and instantly accessed via the cloud? Or UK workers could have a better work-life balance? The technology industry’s sheer variety and the way software firms deliver game-changing efficiencies and reinvent the way we work and play have inspired me from day one.
Inclusive cultures
Forget the usual accusations of male-dominated workplaces in tech; I’m constantly impressed by the way women in the channel are already contributing to and reshaping our industry. They’re helping manufacturers, distributors and partner sales, and integrators realise new market opportunities. Women channel executives are helping high-growth companies and government organisations overcome critical business challenges.
This enhanced role is part of a growing shift towards more inclusive – and productive – workplaces. McKinsey’s global research over many years shows that diverse and inclusive companies are more innovative, better decision-makers and higher performers.
At Nasuni, an inclusive and supportive culture has helped me take on an early strategic leadership role over the last four years.
Our executive team quickly gave me the guidance and best practice mentoring that has enabled me to progress to managing teams, supporting colleagues and delivering my best work. Through their insights, I have gained the confidence to direct new product launches and guide partner teams towards deeper collaborations to help them realise our mutual revenue goals.
Leaders in management best practice thinking already believe women have the rounded personalities and capabilities to lead – studies by US management experts show that women outscored men on 17 out of 19 leadership skills. And as women gain senior leadership roles in organisations, there’s a multiplier effect: Deloitte research shows the number of women in senior leadership roles increases threefold for each additional woman brought into the C-suite.
Support and success
But as any aspiring leader, female or male, knows, you can’t climb the ladder on your own.
It was invaluable that my company backed me and my female colleagues stage by stage and provided role models. Its ‘can-do’ corporate culture enabled us to rapidly learn and progress.
While forward-looking UK tech firms are undoubtedly supporting ambitious women, the wider industry must replicate this level of support and engagement and develop more tried-and-tested career paths for women candidates. They need to give young women entrants a full commercial grounding and focus on inspiring more women candidates to build a career that could change the world for the better.
The data shows the wealth of female STEM and computing talent out there. In the H22/23 academic year, 31% of core STEM students in UK higher education are women or non-binary. While female enrolment accounted for nearly 25% of computer science courses, the most exciting pointer for our industry’s future was the 37% of female or non-binary students signing up for mathematical sciences.
Tech firms need to more effectively tell the story of how they inspire and nurture women to take on senior and specialist roles. Better reflecting women’s success and creating role models for school-leavers, undergraduates and new joiners will help deliver the leaders that the technology industry and our country needs.
More women in tech, more leaders
My channel experience tells me that tech firms that can inspire and support women candidates with career pathways and mentoring in open and inclusive environments will deliver success for all. Deloitte 2024 research indicates that women now hold over one-third of leadership roles in FTSE 350 companies; l look forward to women’s representation at all levels of the tech industry reaching and exceeding this level in the near future.
