Top 19 Women Of Color Leading The Nordic Tech Scene
This Women’s Day we want to shed a light on the women of color in the tech industry that are breaking the glass ceiling, and supporting the younger generation to get a step into the industry. The women on the list below are change-makers, innovators, and leaders who are changing the face of the tech industry. 🙌🏾
As the founder of EMMSTech, I’ve had the pleasure of working with some of these women, and many of them have been crucial to the growth and success of our organization.
Our motto has always been “by us, for us” and these women have made the work that we do possible, whether directly with us, or indirectly representing, empowering, and supporting the WOC community in Tech. 👩🏿💻👩🏽💻👩🏻💻
This list is a celebration of the incredible work and progress these women have made, and also a look into the future. We salute all the women who are studying, transitioning into tech, starting their careers, and more, and will continue to empower and lift you up wherever we can. ⚡️
1. Tonima Afroze
Afroze is a software engineer and has previously developed software for medical companies, opera houses and agricultural firms. She is currently an Experienced Engineer at Spotify, and for her Master’s dissertation at the University of Oxford, she studied fairness bias in machine learning, and has held talks and educated the industry on bias in Machine Learning.
2. Somit Fessehazion
Fessehazion is one of the Co-Founders of Rely. Fessehazion wears many hats, also working as an Agile Team Lead at Bontouch, and has done the work to educate Stockholm’s youth and young adults on communication and financial literacy.
3. Nora Bavey
A General Partner at Unconventional Ventures, and Co-Founder of UV Accelerator, Bavey has broken the glass ceiling for underrepresented founders to access funding. She’s also the Founder and CEO of UNITECH, and Managing Director of NEO Group Global, and is currently one of the most influential VC funders in the Nordics.
4. Heaven Bereket
Bereket was ranked Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2018 and is prominent Business Advisor after transitioning from a career in Pharmacy. She is currently an X-Lead, Project Manager and Innovator at ICA Gruppen, A Founding Trustee and Project Manager at Pangea Trust supporting entrepreneurs and developers in Africa, and Founder of the Bambino Foundation. Bereket has done incredible work in the Nordics, and connected the area with the African tech scene.
5. Andjela Kusmuk
A Senior Manager at EQT Group, previous Founder, Business Developer, and Angel Investor, Andjela has held many positions and hats in the Nordic tech industry. A prominent figure in the gaming industry, Kusmuk has used this opportunity to advocate for an equal tech industry.
6. Binette Seck
Seck was recently dubbed IT Woman of The Year after her work to democratize the IT industry by educating and empowering young adults in Sweden. Co-Founder of SPACE and the SPACE Academy which educates youths, she’s also worked with companies and organizations such as Changer’s Hub, iCog Anyone Can Code, Secks’ impact goes beyond the Nordics and into the African continent.
7. Maryam Arai
Arai is one of the early co-founders of EMMSTech, and has continuously worked to empower WoC in the tech industry. A DEI Advocate and HR advisor, Arai is also the Co-Founder of Nornir Visualization, an previous Advisor at Skilllab, and Brand Ambassador for VoiceHER.
8. Faduma Aden
A longtime DEI activist and specialist, Aden has worked with companies such as The Swedish Institute, Tankesmedjan, World Economic Forum, and most recently with Spotify to implement diversity, and tackle challenges to create inclusive and sustainable cities internationally.
9. Siduri Poli
Dubbed the Mother of Change, Poli has worked for many years with Stockholm’s youth to educate and empower them in their entrepreneurial journey in her role as Co-Founder and Head of Business and Brand at Changer’s Hub. Most recently, Poli has also stepped into the role of investor in countless companies.
10. Maria Villanueva
With a background in sales and online purchasing, and over 10 years of experience in business development in IT and FMCG, Villanueva is now changing up the e-commerce scene. She is the Founder and CEO of BeatyQlick, and was recently part of the Unconventional Ventures 2021 cohort.
11. Geisy Domiciano
With 10+ years of experience as a Frontend developer, Domiciano has used her skills to teach the next generation of developers, working with organizations such as EMMSTech and Changer’s Hub. She is currently a Senior Frontend developer at Telenor, and spent over 2 years as Vue Vixens’ Chapter Lead in Stockholm to engage more with the community.
12. Farhia Mohamed Muse
Muse is an experienced developer currently working at the Swedish Pensions Agency. In 2019 she was nominated and shortlisted for Bonnier’s 2019 Rising Star in Tech Award, and while she’s building on her career, has volunteered and supported other future developers in their journey into tech.
13. Suzan Hourieh Lindberg
With a background in statistics, tech, communications, and business, Hourieh has combined her skills with her passion for inclusion to Co-Found The Social Few. As CEO, Hourieh as led the tech and communications industry to rethink data and growth, focusing on enabling sustainable growth.
14. Juliana Araújo
Araújo is a Senior Product Manager at Spotify, but most notably was Nordic Women in Tech Awards’ Mentor of the Year 2021 and is the Founder of Beela. Araújo has used her experience and coaching skills to support immigrant women and non-ninary people in Sweden to join the tech world.
15. Ebtisam Mohammedsalih
Microsoft’s IT Girl of 2019, Mohammedsalih has dedicated her time to introducing children to programming in her role as Project Manager and Teacher at Kodcentrum. She is also a Cloud Consultant at Capgemini and has had an incredible career trajectory.
16. Nema Abdihakim
Transitioning from a background in dental surgery, Abdihakim is the Co-Founder and CEO for Kompetensjouren, as well as Co-Founder for Innovation and Growth for Women of Colour. Abdihakim has made incredible strides in democratizing competence and support for her community.
With her background in communications, Mafuta has done incredible work to bridge the Nordic and African entrepreneurial and tech landscape, especially in her role in the Swedish-East Africa Chambers of Commerce. Mafuta is now CEO and Co-Founder of Maje Health, building healthtech for over 1.3 billion people.
18. Mala Valroy
Valroy's impact and influence spans across the globe in her job as Head of Ericsson ONE across EMEA. She also holds many board seats, from India to the Nordics. Valroy has been dubbed one of Future Female leaders, and a Top Tech Talent by Dagens Industri in 2020.
19. Indra Sharma
Co-Author of Kvinnorna som Formar Vår Framtid, Sharma is Investor of the Year 2019. Sharma has years of experience investing in companies, at companies such as EQT, Novax, is most recently a Partner at Peak and was also part of scaling Swedish payment house Bambora Group into a fintech unicorn.