International Women’s Day 2023

Dynamo currently has 82 employees, 41% of which are women. Being part of a team of strong women is inspirational, so to celebrate International Women’s Day we chatted with some of our Dynamites about themselves, and their experiences throughout their careers. What ‘career’ means to you is as unique as the person you are, so we wanted to listen to our Dynamite’s voices in each career pathway and country.  We spoke to:

• Adelia, who is part of our Consulting team in the UK.
• Denè, who leads our Data Analytics Engineering team in SA.
• Selem, who is part of our Professional – Consulting team in Paris.
• Tolu, who is part of our Enabling Functions team in Norway.
• Victoria, who is part of our Global Professional team and is based in the UK.

Adelia de Jager

Tell us a bit about yourself?

I’m Adelia, I joined Dynamo three years ago and subsequently moved to London from South Africa to be part of the UK Consulting team. My current role is Senior Manager – Actuarial, which allows me to take overall responsibility for project deliverables and client management. I thoroughly enjoy the consulting work I’m doing and the people I work with at Dynamo.

What does International Women’s Day mean to you?

The UN Women’s slogan for International Women’s Day is DigitAll: Innovation and technology for gender equality and the International Women’s day theme is #Embrace Equity.

To me it’s a day to celebrate the beautiful women around me and to be inspired by everything they achieve!

Why did you choose your career path?

I started considering it in high school as I really enjoyed mathematics! I also knew it would open up a lot of opportunities for me in the future if I could qualify as actuary.

What’s the most important piece of advice you’d give to a woman thinking of starting a career as an actuary?

Believe in yourself and grab the opportunity to become an actuary with both hands, you won’t look back!

Do you think there’s stereotype attached to female actuaries?

I have been fortunate enough that I have never really personally experienced any stereotyping due to being a female. I think the industry has come a long way in gender equality and my wish is for every gender to be given equal opportunities.

What is the most important piece of advice you have been given?

No wisdom is greater than kindness.

Denè Linde

Tell us a bit about yourself?

I’m Denè Linde and I joined the Dynamo SA team about 6 months ago. My role is to lead the DAE team to focus on optimising models that are not reflective of best practise characteristics. Prior to working at Dynamo I was in banking, working for South Africa’s largest retail bank, Capitec.

What does International Women’s Day mean to you?

The UN Women’s slogan for International Women’s Day is DigitAll: Innovation and technology for gender equality and the International Women’s day theme is #Embrace Equity.

A celebration of the opportunity we as women have to really influence the future of the corporate/professional world in the coming years.

Why did you choose your career path?

Initially it started out with a love for maths and the idea of a corporate job (pencil skirts) and over time it has transformed into a love for model building and working with people.

What’s the most important piece of advice you’d give to a woman thinking of starting a career as a professional in data analytics and model building or any other corporate job?

As a woman in a professional/corporate role your goal should never be to outsmart or outperform the men in the room, it should be to bring qualities to the table that are unique to what we as woman have to offer.

Have you faced any barriers in your career due to being a woman? If so, how did you overcome them?

When you work in very corporate circumstances (such as banking) it’s a lot more common than at smaller companies like Dynamo. In my previous role I was often in circumstances where male leaders have ignored me, spoken over me, directed questions based on my presentations to other males in the room. Luckily I have also always been fortunate enough to have enough male colleagues in the room who do respect my work/opinion and have spoken up, and to me these men have made all the difference.

Is there a female figure that inspires you?

My mom – she has made working a full-time job (pharmacist) along with being a mother/wife/home-creator look easy.

What is the most important piece of advice you have been given?

You don’t have to be loud to be heard.

Selem Uzun

Tell us a bit about yourself?

My name’s Selem, I’m French and Turkish, I’m 29 and joined Dynamo last year as a Business Manager for the French entity in Paris. My role consists in developing our activities on the French and European markets while supporting the consulting team. I have a Master’s degree in Financial Risk Engineering and a Bachelor’s degree in General Mathematics.

What does International Women’s Day mean to you?

The UN Women’s slogan for International Women’s Day is DigitAll: Innovation and technology for gender equality and the International Women’s day theme is #Embrace Equity.

Even if we’re in 2023, women aren’t considered all the time. International Women’s Day is the opportunity to give women a voice and focus on it for one day. It means that Innovation and Technology are not only for men. We really need girls to do what they want to do, be who they want to be without constraint and without feeling alone in some “masculine” roles.

Why did you choose your career path?

I always loved mathematics and I even wanted to be an astrophysician when I was younger. I discovered, when I was at university, how mathematics really models the world and especially financial and insurance worlds. I felt like studying in the applied mathematics field was a real and concrete way to see an impact on the world and I wanted to make a difference.

What first sparked your interest in working in an actuarial/software role?

I started my career as an intern for an actuarial software provider. I really enjoyed the approach; understanding regulation and clients needs, build an automated software/solution, test it and then the whole sales process to meet clients and implement the solution in their IT landscape, train teams to use it… I strongly feel like this approach doesn’t exist in other roles.

What’s the most important piece of advice you’d give to a woman thinking of starting a career as an actuary or professional?

Have you faced any barriers in your career due to being a woman? If so, how did you overcome them?

I don’t remember feeling “blocked” by any external force. However, I’ve heard some discouraging comments that I wish I hadn’t heard. They made me think about my whole career project. Even if I wasted time thinking about all these, I know that they’ve been encouraging me to continue and work harder and learn everyday.

Is there a female figure that inspires you?

My mom. She’s such a strong women, she has faced so many challenges and yet she’s the one who truly believes in me.

What is the most important piece of advice you have been given?

If you’re doing something, you’re doing it for yourself, not others.

Tolu Ogunleye

Tell us a bit about yourself?

I joined Dynamo in March 2020 as the Nordic Office Manager after a few years of a career break. In my current role I support the Nordic office with admin and finance alongside working closely with the Group Finance Manager in ensuring our clients receive their invoices and other finance tasks.

What does International Women’s Day mean to you?

The UN Women’s slogan for International Women’s Day is DigitAll: Innovation and technology for gender equality and the International Women’s day theme is #Embrace Equity.

#Embrace Equity to me means its time for change. Equity recognizing that every person has particular circumstances and allocates appropriate resources to enable them achieve proportionate results. Equity is a process and we can’t achieve equity by making a single change but in order to transform, we need to give chances to individuals who are institutionally excluded and provide opportunities to them based on their abilities. So, Let’s be Brave and seek out the opportunities to have authentic conversations with those that are difference from us.

Why did you choose your career path?

It all started off by enjoying working with numbers and being organised. I took a degree in accounting and worked in the accounting field in different industries such as banking, telecoms and automobile before I took a career break. Returning to work I combined my accounting experiences and organisation skills in my current role.

What’s the most important piece of advice you’d give to a woman thinking of starting a career as a professional?

Follow your dreams.

Is there a female figure that inspires you?

My mum inspires me. She worked full time, single mom and raising three children and never once complained. She made it look easy to effectively play all the roles.

What is the most important piece of advice you have been given?

Never give up.

Victoria Young

Tell us a bit about yourself?

I’m a mum to an almost 4 year old! Although being a mother does not define me, it is a part of who I am and I absolutely love it. I joined Dynamo in May 2022 as Group HR Analyst working as a HR generalist across all entities. No day is the same within HR and I love it! I have been working in HR for close to 6 years now and I can say I am enjoying my journey so far.

What does International Women’s Day mean to you?

The UN Women’s slogan for International Women’s Day is DigitAll: Innovation and technology for gender equality and the International Women’s day theme is #Embrace Equity.

A day to celebrate all inspirational women around the world and embrace the uniqueness of all women regardless of background and achievements. What #Embrace Equity means for me is that we do not all have the same opportunities and there are certain differences that require different means and resources to achieve equality. We cannot achieve equality without equity!

Why did you choose your career path?

I have always wanted to work in HR since high school but it wasn’t until completing my Masters and actually starting my career in HR that I recognised why I wanted to work in the field. My passion and empathy for people is what made me stay in HR and essentially what I love about my career path.

What’s the most important piece of advice you’d give to a woman thinking of starting a career as a professional?

Go for it! You can achieve anything you put your mind to!

Have you faced any barriers in your career due to being a woman? If so, how did you overcome them?

I think the HR field is dominated by women but often times I have faced barriers in getting the men around me or in leadership positions to listen and value my ideas and advice.

Is there a female figure that inspires you?

My mum inspires me. She has always been resilient even when faced with difficulties and has always endeavoured to achieve anything.

What progress have you seen on gender equality in your life and work?

I think especially here at Dynamo, it’s so refreshing to see the balance between the men and women. We have so many women in leadership positions which is usually a rarity. It’s so interesting to see so many women in the business, particularly in this industry with a “voice” that can be heard!

What is the most important piece of advice you have been given?

That I should not have to “fit in” or display certain traits to be heard. Being myself and embracing my own uniqueness is what makes me great! “The sky is not the limit, you can go beyond the sky”.

Why do we need more women in leadership?

Women in leadership positions do not just bring the diversity aspect to the table, I believe women are natural leaders, excellent communicators and have the drive to bring visionary and transformational change to any business.

Adrian Ericsson, Group Managing Director adds “At Dynamo, we’re strong believers in giving all of our people both the voice and the space to build a career here. I’m really proud that women represent such a significant part of team, and of the senior management positions in our company. It has undeniably shaped us into who we are today, and our whole business is so much stronger for it.”