Celebrating International Women’s Day: Adenike Baker

This International Women’s Day, hear from some of the women behind our work at Protas.

Today, less than 30% of the world’s researchers are women. Meanwhile, in technology, women are also the minority, comprising less than a third of the global workforce in tech-related fields.

This International Women’s Day, we spoke to the women working at Protas about what’s going well and what we can do to enable change.

Tell us about your role at Protas.

I’ve been at Protas for six months, working as a business analyst on our unified clinical trials management platform (UCTMP), the technology that will allow us to design and deliver clinical trials.

My role is to elicit and analyse the requirements for the UCTMP, manage internal and external stakeholder relationships, provide solutions, and ultimately ensure that we create a great end product that allows us to achieve our mission of delivering high-quality clinical trials at a fraction of current costs.

Being a business analyst is a role that I never get bored of. Every week there are new challenges and therefore new solutions to be found. My role is to deploy solutions that make people’s lives easier, it’s very rewarding.

What’s more, the UCTMP sits at the very heart of Protas’ purpose. People suffer daily because of common health conditions that could be treated. I feel I have a responsibility to never get tired or complacent, because what we are doing would make a huge difference to human lives. I can’t wait to see the product come to life.

How did you get to where you are today?

I began my career in customer service and then moved to customer experience in the financial services sector. This involved not just dealing with customer complaints, but understanding why the complaints were being made, what the data was revealing to the business, where the pain points were, and coming up with long-term solutions.

Over time, I began to be more interested in preventing things from happening in the first place, rather than fixing problems that had already happened. I liked the strategy and creative side of things. After receiving advice from my Chief Technology Officer at the time, I moved into IT business analysis.

I strongly believe in living a life of impact – what you do in your own life should also positively impact other people. I often think, “What do I want to be remembered for?”

I’m proud to have been able to mentor colleagues and coach professionals, particularly those looking to transition into tech. As someone who transitioned into tech, an industry where women are still underrepresented, I get real satisfaction in helping other people take that next step.

What advice would you give to women pursuing a career in tech?

Today women hold around 30% of tech jobs. The industry needs more women!

My advice would be to leverage the opportunities available and take on new challenges. If you need training, get it. If you want something, then work hard for it. In my own career I have tried not to see the limitations. Women are capable of doing amazing things. We must not limit ourselves.

What does International Women’s Day mean to you?

For me, International Women’s Day is a day where we get to see the great work that women are doing and contributing to the world, which is often not recognised enough. But today, we are able to celebrate our work, show how we have overcome biases, and inspire one another.