Women in Tech

The Danish entrepreneur Camilla Ley Valentin, who is co-founder and CCO in Queue-it, has just been recognized by Inspiring Fifty, as one of the fifty most inspiring women in Europe’s technology industry. In this context, the British Prime minister invited to roundtable discussion, on the challenges European women face when entering the tech world.

Inspiring Fifty is a pan-European program that identifies, encourages, develops and promotes women in senior positions in the technology industry. The jury consist of three women – one from Amazon, one from CNN and one from the Inspiring Fifty initiative. They all pointed towards the Danish entrepreneur Camilla Ley Valentin.

Throughout 2014, Inspiring Fifty asked their vast network of professionals, journalists and followers on their social media, to nominate women who both act as role models as well as inspire other. Camilla Ley Valentin is co-founder of the Danish startup Queue-it, which has created a software for online queues.

A strong woman in a male-dominated world

Queue-it managed to reach 250 million users globally in the end of 2013, and they hit the milestone of 500 million transactions through their queueing system in 2014.

The European initiative Inspiring Fifty received a list of hundreds of nominees across the technology industry, including entrepreneurs, business leaders, academics and policy makers.

The list was then filtered down to 150, and then send to the jury. The jury, consisting of Ellenore Angelidis from Amazon, Nina Dos Santos from CNN and Janneke Niessen from Inspiring Fifty, was tasked with analyzing the remaining subjects.

“I am both humbled and pleasantly surprised by the results that each of the nominees has delivered, but Camilla’s focus and commitment was something special. Her hard work in a male dominated world, as well as her unrelenting commitment to increase the number of women in the technology industry, makes her the ideal role model,” says Janneke Niessen, Co-Founder and jury member for Inspiring Fifty, and continues:

“The acuity and dedication that Camilla and others in the industry show, is exactly what it takes to create a lasting change – Both for this generation as well as the next one.
I could not imagine a better role model than Camilla

A role model for young women

Camilla Ley Valentin was invited to a roundtable discussion in Downing Street no. 10, along with the other women on the list, on behalf of the British Prime Minister and Inspiring Fifty.

“I am honored to be on the list, and I look forward to meeting the other women and participant in the roundtable discussion in Downing Street no. 10,” stated Camila Ley Valentin, CCO and Co-Founder of Queue-it, and followed up:

The discussion will focus on the initiatives, which we believe the governments can assume, to improve Europe’s digital economy and the opportunities and challenges, which women in the technology industry is facing. This is something that is close to my heart.”

The fifty women also attended in mentoring sessions at the event, with young women who want to enter the industry, which sees women as Camilla Ley Valentin as their role model.

Last week IBM hosted an event called “Pink in Tech” in Founders House located in the heart of Startup Village in Copenhagen. They had Camilla Ley Valentin as one of the speakers, along with the experienced Tine Thygesen and Gulnaz Khusainova from EasySize, who has flown around the world and won numerous pitch prizes.

The focus at the event was to inspire more women to enter the tech industry, even though it is a male-dominated industry.