‘Female Founder in AI’ award sponsor created first website aged 8!

Having founded Cambridge Spark in 2016, it's been brilliant to see more and more women take up digital skills bootcamps and engage with data and AI programmes – both to propel their careers and to start DeepTech businesses that will shape the world.

I’d like to tell you a little about myself and why I am so passionate about bringing through a new generation of DeepTech professionals.

I created my first website when I was eight and from then on have immersed myself in computer science and technology. The digital transformation is accelerating with every passing moment and, to me, it’s an exciting opportunity for businesses to supercharge their growth.

My interest in coding led me to Imperial College London, where I completed a MEng in Computing, and later to Cambridge where I threw myself even deeper into software engineering research – completing a PhD in Computer Science.

After my PhD, I got some hands-on experience working on software engineering projects for multinational brands such as Goldman Sachs, eBay, Oracle, and Google.

These invaluable experiences opened my eyes, showing me just how pivotal digital skills are in driving businesses to long-term success. I was privileged to work alongside some incredibly talented minds and was reminded of how important technology education is. This is really what drove me to establish Cambridge Spark.

I founded Cambridge Spark keen to deliver a skills programme and platform that allowed organisations to upskill their workforces and bring data and AI expertise into their businesses. According to Forbes Advisor’s 2023 IT Skills Gap Report, 93 per cent of UK businesses recognise there is an IT skills gap; the problem is severe.

Cambridge Spark is an education technology company helping to tackle this skills gap. We upskill the global workforce and provide them with the data and AI skills businesses need to survive and thrive.

Since 2016, we have grown to 150 employees and worked with some of the biggest brands, including M&S, the BBC, the NHS, Lloyds Banking Group, and easyJet. We’ve generated over £300 million in confirmed value for our clients, unequivocally proving the value of data and AI skills.

The truth is that AI is extending into every area of every business. It has the potential to revolutionise every industry, and its reach knows no boundaries. We’ve already helped international businesses and delivered programmes to learners in London, New York, and Hong Kong. My hope is that we continue to grow and become a truly global EdTech firm, tackling every market around the world.

I am incredibly proud of Cambridge Spark and the learning platform we have developed. When it comes to real-world skills, you can only learn so much in the classroom and by practising with ‘toy’ examples.

When I launched Cambridge Spark, I knew I wanted to provide learners with an immersive, practical educational platform that simulated an industry environment and allowed them to test their skills.

Through our proprietary platform, EDUKATE.AI, we achieved this! It’s so rewarding to see learners getting to grips with data and AI skills through our programmes and know that they’ll go on to bring tangible results to businesses across the UK.

So, as you can see, throughout my career I have been up close and personal with the need to bridge the technological skills gap. I’m acutely aware of the need to inspire and educate talented individuals with the potential to transform businesses and improve their outcomes.

But I am also aware of the worrying gender gap, particularly in the field of AI. In 2022, the World Economic Forum found that, across all industries, women accounted for just 30 per cent of the AI workforce.

My life has been heavily influenced by women in business. My mother, a true visionary and engine for progress, encouraged me to keep learning and pursue my passion for computer science. And, later in my life, I met Hanadi Jabado – Deputy Lieutenant of Cambridgeshire and tech powerhouse advocating for female founders and investors. Hanadi played an instrumental role when I founded Cambridge Spark and has made the need to bring women into the tech and AI sector even clearer to me.

I want to actively challenge the status quo, which is why I am also partnering with Murray Edwards College, a women-only constituent college of the University of Cambridge.

I’m not breaking the mould when I say that current representation is simply too low and that we must do more to remove the barriers to entry for women pursuing careers in technology.

I'm determined to play a key role in rebalancing the gender gap in AI and I want to start by recognising the work of the amazing female founders who are not only disrupting the tech landscape but also leaping over significant hurdles to do so. I hope that by rewarding their achievements and talent, we inspire more women and girls to seek careers in the sector.

So I really am incredibly proud that Cambridge Spark is sponsoring Business Weekly’s new Female Founders in AI award. There’s clearly more work to be done – but let’s start by acknowledging the brilliant AI technologies women are developing, and push harder to reach gender parity in the sector.