Some of the UK’s most influential women in tech are here in the South West
Tech leaders, founders and entrepreneurs from the region have been featured in a list of the top 50 Most Influential Women in UK Tech.
Computer Weekly’s annual list celebrates over 500 leading women, who have each boosted the reputation or advanced the technology sector and South West personalities like Gapsquare’s Zara Nanu and Open Bionics co-founder Samantha Payne.
CEO of Bristol-based Gapsquare, Zara is passionate about fair pay through tech and developed her firm to empower companies to build inclusive workplaces & policies. Zara’s been on Tech South West’s Tribe Tech podcast explaining what they do and how Gapsquare helps firms close the gender pay gap.
Zara also chairs the Women in Business Task Group in Bristol, which explores and addresses issues for women in the workplace.
Samantha Payne is COO of Open Bionics, a prosthetics company developing affordable, assistive devices that enhance the human body.
The company is based inside Future Space, co-located with Bristol Robotics Laboratory. Samantha has been named 'Entrepreneur of The Year,' 'The Hottest Founder in Europe' via The Europas, and was awarded an MBE. The startup has also won multiple awards for innovation, including being named one of the top 50 robotics businesses in the world alongside Google and Amazon.
Monika Radclyffe, Centre Director at SETsquared Bristol and chair of the Business Acceleration Group at SETsquared Partnership, was also featured in the top 50 list. Monika has previously spoken at the World Innovation Summit in Qatar, The Times CEO Growth Summit and the International Enterprise Educators Conference.
Rav Bumbra, founder of the mobile learning platform Cajigo, also made the list. The app supports girls and women with mentoring to accelerate their growth into careers within tech and leadership.
A panel of judges will choose the shortlist of 50 women which will be published soon. People will then be able to vote for who they think should receive the accolade of Most Influential Woman in UK Technology 2021. The winner of the top 50 will be announced at Computer Weekly’s annual diversity in tech event, run in partnership with Spinks, which this year will be held online on 30 September 2021.
