Saudi’s largest initiative of its kind, the Misk foundation, had just recently celebrated the completion of its second edition of Saudi Codes.

The celebration was held last Saturday at an event ‘Saudi Codes’ in Riyadh, participants ranged from different ages, and the impressive part is that 53% of the attendees were women, who completed courses in JavaScript, MakeCode and Python programming languages. These courses were available all across the Kingdom, in 192 provinces, cities and villages.

مبادرة #السعودية_تبرمج هي جزء من طموح هذا الوطن العظيم ، الشكر لـ @Dalyahya وفريقها @MiskInnovation على كل ما بذلوه خلال 3 سنوات للتأكيد على أهمية البرمجة كونها لغة المستقبل . https://t.co/9AYKNCQg6S

— أنس الغامدي (@ansalghamdi) February 10, 2019

And now, the Executive Manager of the foundation, Deemah Al-Yahya, is aiming to develop an innovative ecosystem that will allow Saudi talents to thrive and prosper in the entrepreneurial and tech businesses.

She took part in the event, during which she welcomed a new partnership between Misk, the Saudi Ministry of Education, the Saudi Ministry of Communications and Information Technology and Saudi Telecom Co., a partnership designed in the hope of teaching people about computer programming through an accessible and easy way.

“This partnership has brought new skills and opportunities to a wider array of people than ever before.” Said Al-Yahya.

تحقيق حلم شعور عظيم .. وطعم الإنجاز جميل .. لكن الأجمل هو أن يتلو النجاح همّة عالية تتوق للمزيد وحلم أكبر ..

مع الإنجازات الكبرى تتعاظم المسؤوليات فيارب بارك بأعمالنا وزدنا همّة وسعياً لما هو خير لوطننا وشعبنا #السعودية_تبرمج pic.twitter.com/oNmnaCvwXO

— Deemah AlYahya (@Dalyahya) February 11, 2019

Al-Yahya specializes in digital transformation, digital economy and literacy skills, with a bachelor degree from King Saud University, and a master’s degree from INSEAD. And currently, she’s working on obtaining her Ph.D from Harvard Business School.

Aside from her work in the Misk foundation, she’s also a member of the Global Future Council for Digital Economy and Society at the World Economic Forum, a member of the board of directors of the Saudi Federation for Cyber Security and Programming, and last but not least, a member to the advisory board at STC Academy.

And so as a tech pioneer, and the first Saudi female to be assigned as an Executive Director and leading Developer Experience & Digital Innovation at Microsoft; Al-Yahya is setting an example for many young women in the Kingdom to become like her. She is committed to supporting and encouraging these young Saudi women, and has already managed to launch and lead a number of initiatives that aim at including women in the IT industry and break the gender-based job roles.