Ejad Labs along with Pakistani Women in Computing organized Pakistan Tech Summit 2020 – Silicon Valley on. The purpose of the event was to celebrate startups, innovators and inventors working on disruptive technologies around the globe. The event was attended by top Pakistani entrepreneurs, techies and entrepreneurs from Silicon Valley and a 50 people delegation from Pakistan.
Huma Hamid, co-founder and former president of Pakistani Women in Computer Science, organized a talk by the fire with Dr. Telle Whitney on “Promoting innovation through diversity and inclusion”. Dr. Telle Whitney , a training computer scientist, is the former CEO and President of the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology. She also co-founded the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing with Anita Borg.
The purpose of the talk was to highlight the importance of having diverse people that can share their opinions to enable building solutions that are innovative and work for the majority. The talk focused on what diversity means, how to embrace it, and the ultimate benefits that the whole world can reap from it. The talk highlighted the need for inclusion of all genders, races, and ethnicity in all spheres of life, especially technology.
Dr. Telle Whitney said that diversity does not mean the inclusion of women or people of color, it is about having a diverse set of voices on the table. Men are such an important part of this conversation as women and diversity and inclusion should be everyone’s goal. Organizations should prioritize the hiring of women and retain them and should start from the top of the hierarchy. However, the importance of merit cannot be ignored here and Meritocracy in hiring is defined by a small group of people who assume their right to define it. This will lead to quality people of all kinds at the decision table.
