Malaysia has been heralded by the United Nations for encouraging women to participate in the workforce with the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) seeing an encouraging show of intelligent, successful Malaysian women. The Peak sits down with some of our STEM stars to talk to them about their achievements, challenges and what more needs to be done to further champion women in Science.
Surina Shukri
CEO, Malaysian Digital Economy Corporation
Tell us more about your role as CEO of MDEC.
MDEC is the government developmental agency that is leading the digital economy forward. The digital economy accounts for about 20% of our GDP right now, our goal is to increase that. MDEC has been around since 1996 and our mandate then was to grow the ICT industry. Now that technology’s moved from being a vertical industry to ‘everything is tech’, it’s about driving digital adoption and building a robust digital economy that works for us all. Specifically, we focus on skilling, making sure that Malaysians can adapt and are future savvy, and businesses that are digitally empowered. We need to continue to invest in digital which then means we’ll start to attract investments into the country as well. I recently celebrated one year at MDEC, and my role is to continue to help organise everybody and to continue to show people what the art of the possible actually is. It’s been very interesting and exciting at the same time.
Tell us how you started your career.
I spent my career at JP Morgan, which taught me a lot of things. I was an investment banker and that job teaches you professionalism, competition, the value of hard work, stamina and having a voice. After I had kids, I wanted more of a desk job, so I moved from that to the corporate side of JPMorgan and ran strategy, which ultimately led me to a digital transformation role for middle market banking. That role really gave me exposure to all the facets we’re talking about today; how do you manage data; what are the latest and greatest technologies out there? What are startups doing? I thought I really shouldn’t be doing it from HQ on Park Avenue. I should be out there.
That inspired the confidence to do something different. I left JPMorgan and I started doing more entrepreneurial things for myself. It was a period of transformational growth. I got real in-depth exposure to the innovation scene in New York City, I was investing in companies, learning as much as I could particularly about crypto and blockchain and then I got the call from the government, to come back and serve the country. It was a really incredible opportunity, how does one say no to that? It was terrifying, but things happen for a reason, I was on a completely different trajectory and all that has come full circle and I think the universe brought me here.
You’ve worked the front lines with start-ups as an angel investor. What would you say is a key characteristic that tech entrepreneurs need in order to survive the competitive field?
I would say adaptability and the spirit of experimentation, because tech moves really fast. This ability to think differently and then apply it is important. Ultimately, tech is just a tool. How do you solve problems for customers and clients using technology? That is what you want to be thinking about first, as an entrepreneur. What big companies can learn from small tech companies, is the ability to quickly adapt and learn, the spirit of experimentation and this courageousness. That’s what I find interesting and exciting about the tech field. At the end of the day, what is technology? It’s really change, that’s what you’re talking about and so how do you use technology to create better outcomes to how do you continuously improve?
I think that is the spirit of entrepreneurism.
What is something you’re most proud of in your career so far?
One of my main goals was to stand shoulder to shoulder with the international world. To be able to stand proud as a Malaysian in New York, on Wall Street, in the largest financial services firm in the world and being able to stay true to myself the entire time is something I’m proud of.
I’m also proud that I’ve gone through a little bit of a journey myself. Cancer was a big part of that. I think women have it more, but we often define success by somebody else’s term. Then when you are faced with mortality, you really start to realise the things that really matter. I’ve learned to really define success in my own terms, to rediscover what’s important to me and I feel pretty good about that. I’m at peace with what I’m doing, who I am.
How do we encourage more women to take charge in corporate and entrepreneurial areas?
We need more feminine leadership. I’m not talking about female leadership, per se, but I’m talking about feminine values like collaboration, empathy and sharing. We need more of that, particularly when we’re talking about innovation. We’re heading into a world where we’ve got so many complex problems to solve and that requires participation with everyone and women have a lot to offer. I’m extremely proud by the fact that MDEC celebrates diversity and equal opportunity. We’re more women than men now. Our leadership team is quite diverse and our board right now is actually 50% woman, which is pretty cool. As we continue to expand we hope to at least keep that number.
You’re a vocal proponent of equal representation through your work with Parity Partners (now Declare). How important is it for leaders to open themselves up to be mentors in striving for greater representation?
It’s very, very important. I’ve been with Parity Partners especially for the benefit of support that we receive. We need that because from the start we were taught to compete with one another. Women shouldn’t compete, we should complete. It’s tough enough out there. But that requires this mindset of abundance to remind ourselves there’s plenty of opportunities.
I’m a big believer that role models are important too, you can’t be what you can’t see. I had really good role models growing up. My mom was a working mom and then in my teens, we had Tan Sri Zeti as the governor of Bank Negara and so I never felt that ceiling. I try to spend as much time as possible talking to different women because I want to give another person that courage to just do it.
Do you see 2020, and this new decade, as a ripe time for women to shake the world of technology in Malaysia?
Globally there are biases still. There’s momentum, there’s hard work that’s happening now, to continue to push the envelope. We need to think about ways to accelerate that even more. At MDEC, we continue to find ways and design programmes to get more women on board and give more opportunities.
I also feel women sometimes stop before they even start so we have to have this courage to just go and experiment. Don’t take existing systems of beliefs as is. We must continue to support one another.
TEXT ELLFIAN RAHIM, NEDA AL-ASEDI & SWAROOPINI UDHAYA NAIR
ART DIRECTION AUDREY LIM & MON KAI-SIONG
PHOTOGRAPHY PATRICK CHAN & ROBIN LIEW
