THIS year's theme for International Women's Day celebration is Choose to Challenge, so apt for women who dare to challenge themselves and be in a male-dominated industry — the tech sector.
Today, any industry seems to be a tech-related one. From fashion to finance to entertainment and transportation, each has its take on technology and today, more and more women are coming into the world of technology, challenging the norm, making lasting impressions.
DRIVING DIVERSITY
It was only days since Wise, a financial technology company, introduced its new country manager for Malaysia, Lim Paik Wan, a UK graduate who launched her career in her home country.
She kick-started her career with Malaysia's central bank, Bank Negara Malaysia, the place where she made her prints in the finance world, understanding the fundamentals of Malaysia's financial system.
But, it was when she joined Wise that she found her true passion in financial technology or Fintech.
"I deeply resonated with the company's mission of "Money Without Borders" and I wanted to explore the fast-growing fintech scene in Asean," said Lim.
Tasked to expand the company's presence in the Asia Pacific region, Lim begins her adventure with the tech that seeks to improve and automate the delivery and use of financial services.
"I was responsible for expanding Wise's operations across APAC, including Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines and Australia.
"And (now that I) have taken on the role of country manager, in this new role, I hope to be able to drive Wise's growth in the country, as well as contribute to the growth of Malaysia's fintech sector," said Lim.
She said that the best feature a smartphone should have is an app that is user friendly — easy to navigate and loads fast, like the Wise app (wink).
Proud of how many women are getting braver to wade through the tech waters, Lim wishes to see a diversity in the industry with bigger responsibilities.
"I am proud to see that there is an increase in female participation in the local tech scene, but there is always more we can do in order to encourage diversity in the industry. Overall, I hope to see more women in various roles and senior roles in the tech industry," said Lim, naming Tan Hooi Ling, co-founder of Grab as her woman-in-tech role model.
"I have not met her in person before, but I am inspired by her resilience and determination to grow Grab into a Malaysian and Asean success story," she said.
All work no play makes Jack a dull boy, or for the benefits of the girls, should we say Jill a dull girl? Lim too is not only about fintech. She has a passion for photography. For fun, she turns to her camera app to take pictures as memory keepsakes.
"I use my camera app to take pictures of my daily life, like food, time with my family and friends or when I travel (pre-pandemic). They are memories for me to keep and look at," shares Lim who also just like about 203 millions of people out there, she too unwind by binging on Netflix a lot on my phone," she said.
Lim's go-to mobile apps on weekdays are the Slack and Whatsapp, which she uses a lot for work and of course the must-have app for Malaysians, MySejahtera.
"With the pandemic, I use the MySejahtera app a lot to stay safe."
CONNECTING COMMUNITIES
For Kimberly Xavier, her must-have mobile apps include Grab, Google calendar, NYT crossword, BBC News app and of course Whatsapp.
As Grab's regional safety and quality head, Kimberly relies on these apps for her daily routines.
"I use (Grab) religiously to get around because I love the convenience of not needing to spend 20-30 mins searching for parking. Though at the moment with remote work, I turn to it to satisfy my hawker cravings," shares Kimberly who said she'd be "...lost without it!"
Started her journey with Grab some four and a half years ago, Kimberly's first position was operations manager.
The London School of Economics graduate with a degree in Maths and Economics never thought that she would one day be one of those inspiring women who dare be in the tech industry.
"When I started my career in the Advisory arm of Ernst & Young Malaysia, focusing on turning around government linked companies, I never expected to embrace a career in tech.
"I joined Grab because I was moved by the power of a home grown company and the social impact it had on local communities. I can't imagine not being in the tech space," she said.
Naming Cheryl Yeoh (now Sew) the former MaGIC's CEO as her inspiration, Kimberly is especially moved by the way she stood up against sexual harassment against women and the best of all, her journey started right here in Malaysia.
Today, Kimberly leads a team across eight countries in Southeast Asia to design tech-features, policies and processes that work in tandem to raise safety standards on the platform and inculcate safer habits within the community. And just like Sew, she too pays attention to the needs of the female population.
"Safety is not an afterthought for Grab, it's the premise on which Grab was founded eight years ago. We take the safety of our passengers, drivers-partners and delivery-partners, especially our female counterparts, seriously," she said.
"We have set strong safety foundations - both online and offline features such as Share My Ride, Emergency SOS button and stringent screening process for all partners - to protect users as well as prevent incident occurrences," she added.
Across the region, Grab is also focused on bringing preventable incidents down.
"We have safety tech features in place such as driver and passenger verification to safeguard against crimes and reduce the risk of incidents. Our driver and delivery-partners undergo stringent screening and training, including educating them on anti-harassment policy and proper etiquette, before they are given access to our platform.
"Safety is an ever-evolving journey and we strive to achieve a high bar for safety standards in South East Asia. We view the safety of every user on our Grab platform seriously. This is a powerful motivation behind our safety commitment and is what drives all of us who work day-in and -out to raise safety standards on our platform," said Kimberly.
As she keeps steadfast in the ride-hailing transport company, Kimberly acknowledges that the industry can be daunting especially for women.
"It's always a cause for celebration when more women embrace the tech scene and it's even more critical that there are existing communities available to support them. Drawing from my own experience, it can be daunting to take a leap of faith and move into an unfamiliar industry where you have to prove yourself not just as a woman leader but also as a relevant contributor to a team. It can lead some to take a pass on great opportunities so it's incredibly important that we continue to encourage more conversations for women, by women," she said.
"I have been very inspired by Grab's corporate culture. Within the company, our approach towards recruitment is to hire the best talent regardless of gender, race, religion, background, from a representative pool of candidates. Because of this approach, about 40 per cent of our leaders are female. It has created a welcoming environment for women to grow and work especially in leadership positions, hence just within the Safety and Quality team that I lead, about half are women," says Kimberly. she added.
As for her ideal app traits, Kimberly believes in the ability to take user input and produce relevant and accurate recommendations based on profile would be the best any app could offer.
"Creating personalised customer profiles is incredibly challenging, but if any app can get customised recommendations right, the experience will be revolutionary," she said.