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The 2023 Echelon Asia Summit is happening at the Singapore EXPO on 14-15 June 2023. Are you a startup founder, investor, corporate, or tech enthusiast? Don’t miss out on one of the most anticipated tech conferences in the region! For more information, visit the official Echelon page.

The challenges that women face in building a career in the tech industry are well-documented. Of all the barriers that women face, one that often prevents them from moving forward and securing top positions is gender bias.

You might remember an article that The Guardian published years ago about how women are considered better coders in the coding community, but only if they hide their gender in their profiles.

According to a 2013 report by researchers, who looked at the behaviour of software developers on GitHub, found that code written by women was approved at a higher rate (78.6 per cent) than code written by men (74.6 per cent). They also uncovered a disturbing discovery of women’s work being more likely to be accepted than men’s unless “their gender is identifiable”, in which case the acceptance rate was worse than men’s.

This is just one example of gender bias in the tech industry that discriminates qualified women from securing top positions, raising funding for their companies, and, in principle, developing their full potential. To tackle this problem, there has to be active participation from leaders and members of the ecosystem to build an inclusive community that allows equal opportunity to thrive.

At Echelon Asia Summit 2023, we are going to hear from Chrisanti Indiana, Co-Founder & CMO at Sociolla, an Indonesian beauty-focused e-commerce platform. Speaking on the Forge Stage on June 15 with moderator Devina Mardiputri, Senior Account Executive, APAC, e27, Indiana will touch on the topic of how women can play an increasing role in the tech industry. She will also discuss whether this would be the right time for Southeast Asia (SEA) to have more gender-neutral collaborative organisations.

Also Read: Women in tech have leaned in enough. This is what we should do instead

For women by women

Indiana herself is widely known as one of the co-founders of the leading e-commerce platform Sociolla which focuses on the beauty and cosmetics industry. A household brand amongst beauty enthusiasts in the market, the market has expanded its presence to neighbouring SEA countries, including Vietnam, which happened in 2020.

The company’s business units include:

– SOCO, an online consumer review platform for beauty and personal care products
– Beauty Journal, an online beauty and lifestyle media with an O2O marketing service
– Sociolla, a beauty and personal care e-commerce which also has an offline store with the omnichannel concept
– Lilla by Sociolla, a beauty and personal care e-commerce service specifically designed for mothers
– Brand Development, the business unit that offers end-to-end distributor service for beauty and personal care brands

It raised a US$60 million funding round led by Temasek and L Catterton in 2022.

In a past interview with e27, co-founder John Rasjid named Dollar Shave Club as an early inspiration for the platform.

“Social Bella started out as a B2C e-commerce platform focussed on a single category, walking side by side with larger horizontal/marketplace e-commerce with much larger resources. The challenges have been there since day one; they just evolve from year to year,” remarked Rasjid.

A gender-neutral organisation

As a solution to the problem of bias in the tech industry, there are many solutions that are being proposed. One of them is building a gender-neutral collaborative organisation.

Also Read: Unleashing women’s potential: How tech companies are leading the way

“An inclusive workplace that offers the same opportunities for growth and productivity to all members of the staff, irrespective of gender, has to start from the top and actively encourage this within its design as well as the company policies and ethos. The discussion has to begin from a clear understanding of what gender diversity and inclusivity truly means and how that can manifest in the design of the physical environment,” Dr Pragya Agarwal writes for Forbes.

There are many ways that businesses can build a gender-neutral collaborative organisation from the moment an employee is hired by an organisation. To make it easier and clearer, the International Labour Office (ILO) even published the Gender-Neutral Job Evaluation for Equal Pay: A Step-By-Step Guide in 2013 to help businesses implement a fair job evaluation process.

But how exactly can this be implemented in the SEA startup ecosystem? Are we even ready for this? If not, what can we do to get there? Find the answers in this fireside chat!

Echelon Asia Summit 2023

This year’s Echelon is a great opportunity for you to meet experts such as Indiana and learn from them!

Echelon Asia Summit 2023 is happening on June 14-15 at the Singapore EXPO. Featuring a slew of speakers, exhibitors, business matching sessions, pitching stages, and more, the event enables participants to connect, network, and engage with the larger tech startup ecosystem.

At the Echelon Asia Summit, participants get the chance to attend a diverse range of sessions, including keynote speeches, panel discussions, and workshops, all exploring exciting topics like AI, blockchain, e-commerce, fintech, and marketing. You’ll also have the opportunity to join networking sessions and meet-ups where you can connect with fellow entrepreneurs, investors, and industry leaders.

To learn more about Echelon Asia Summit 2023 and sign up for the event, visit the official page here.

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Image Credit: Sociolla

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