A ‘non-techies’ journey to building a diverse tech community – YSYS

Deborah Okenla — the CEO and Founder of YSYS was perfect (virtual) company on Friday. We spoke all things tech, start up and community (and self care but that’s for another time). Deborah is the Founder and CEO of YSYS (Your Startup, Your Story) which is a much needed community focused business for founders, developers, creatives and investors on a mission to break into tech. Deborah has been recognised by the Financial Times and Inclusive Boards as one of the top 100 most influential BAME leaders in the tech sector, twice over.

YSYS has connected over 10,000 people from diverse backgrounds with opportunities within tech and they’re on a mission to scale their impact to 100,000 people by 2023 — go big or go home! That means more startup boot-camps, more accelerators, more events, and more opportunities! Deborah gave me a few exclusives including the plans to launch other brands under YSYS including a coding programme to create a 360 ecosystem of support. YSYS already connects talented developers, coders, and UX designers with startup businesses, a coding programme would continue to grow this talent and open up more opportunities.

‘Techpreneur’ is one of those buzzwords making its rounds. Deborah candidly explained that she simply classes herself as an entrepreneur working within the tech sector, rather…