Alexandra Clare: Winner of the 2024 Great Companies International Women Entrepreneur Award

Name: Alexandra Clare

Business Name: Re:Coded

Location: Lisbon , Portugal

Establishment (Year): 2017

Category: Social Enterprise and NGO

Profession/ Specialty: Tech - Social Impact

Website : https://www.re-coded.com/

LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexandra-clare/

Company Detail:

Technology is transforming work in just about every sector of the global economy—and while these advances have created unparalleled opportunities for many, displaced and underserved talent still face systemic barriers in accessing quality education and employment required to improve their economic and social mobility in a changing landscape.

Re:Coded is a startup non-profit that offers market-driven skills-to-jobs programs and online courses providing career mobility for underserved talent in fields such as software development, data analytics, AI, and product design across Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, and Turkey. The impact of their programs is transformative with a 92% go-to job rate, a 300% increase in income from pre-program to post-program, and a 30% RoI on the total cost of the program within the first year. Today, graduates are writing code, enabling innovation, and bringing diverse viewpoints to new industries.

Unique Selling Proposition or Competitive Advantage:

At scale, Re:Coded could provide market-driven education to millions, reducing inequality and spurring economic growth in some of the most digitally marginalized communities globally for free. Their programs offer a holistic experience that goes beyond simply building new technical skills and instead integrates values of self-learning, collaboration, self-confidence, and community. This is absolutely life-changing for people.

Challenges Faced During the Journey:

Working in complex and uncertain environments impacted by conflict, security, political, and economic crises has been a challenge. In the span of the last seven years, they've contended with bombings and rocket launches, political coups, the collapse of economies, local and global pandemics, and financial insecurity, all of which have affected their team and students. Any one of these challenges could have forced a fledgling startup like theirs to give up and fail. They could tell about the evacuation and contingency planning, the strategic risk mitigation, the last-minute fundraising wins, and ability to pivot and be adaptable in the face of adversity in order to protect their team. However, what has enabled them to overcome these many challenges is a deep sense of perseverance, resilience, and belief that what they do is important.

Advice for Women Entrepreneurs:

Many people will doubt you and tell you that you will fail or you don't know what you're doing. Keep going, believe in yourself, and surround yourself with people who will give you good advice and champion you in the moments when you feel like giving up. The most successful entrepreneurs are those who have been able to withstand challenge after challenge, pivot after pivot.