It’s always a proud moment for any parent
when their child does well. More so when their child’s passion and efforts are
recognised and rewarded. Now, imagine, when someone’s child has been invited by
the prime minister of the country! That was the case with Tania Da Veiga
(originally from Curtorim), and Ivo de Noronha (originally from Panjim), who
are currently living in London, United Kingdom (UK).
“We are proud to announce that our son,
Ruben de Noronha, was invited to meet our Prime Minister Theresa May at 10
Downing Street, to talk about business and young people,” read Tania’s Facebook
update recently, which was cheered by a large number of Goans here in Goa.
In the weeks prior, Tania had informed her
friends and family via social media about Ruben’s selection among thousands of
nominations as a finalist for UK's #DL100 Young Digital Leader of the Year.
From that moment on, there was a lot of cheer, good wishes and anticipation in
Goa about young Ruben’s progress.
So when it was announced that Ruben had
secured the runner-up position for the Young Digital Leader of the Year for
2018, there were celebrations in Goa.
“I didn't expect to be among the top three
as the others on the list are working on some really big problems that affect
us all. I am earnestly grateful for the recognition I have received for my
work, because I am very sure that every other nominee for this award was as
capable if not more, of winning this award,” says Ruben, speaking to Café from
the UK.
Ruben got to know that he had finished
second, at a breakfast meeting leading digital thinkers including Matt Hancock,
Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport; Jacqueline de Rojas,
President of techUK and chair of the Digital Leaders; Nominet’s CEO Russell
Haworth; London CDO Theo Blackwell and four of the 2018 Young Digital Leaders.
The meeting was held to launch the Digital
Leaders Week 2018 by the UK Secretary of State Matt Hancock MP that was in line
with their objective to raise awareness of the opportunities in place to
support leadership and to support transformation by leveraging innovation, skills
and experience from across the tech sector and the country.
During the breakfast discussion, Ruben
spoke alongside the Secretary of State, and impressed upon the government to be
prepared to harness the full potential of Industry 4.0 and suggested that
businesses should step in to fill the gap and attract talent. Ruben also
indicated that the UK government must ensure that the inclusive power of
digital technology does not leave anyone behind.
After his speech, the Secretary of State,
added on to what Ruben had said and agreed with Ruben’s statement. The CEOs of
major tech companies around the roundtable also strongly appreciated the fact
that Ruben had suggested investing more in training young people for the future
of work.
“I emphasised the need of making sure that
the opportunities that are available and being showcased correctly in
particular to young people in the UK. Only 36 per cent of millennials believe
they have the skills required for industry 4.0 and I believe businesses can
help solve this and attract talent. Millennials think businesses should be most
responsible for preparing them to work with technologies such as robotics and
artificial intelligence and this is how businesses can attract and retain
millennial talent in an uncertain future,” says Ruben, who is the co founder of
TechSource.
His work at TechSource was a big factor at
Ruben being recognised and being featured as part of the DL100 list for 2018.
“TechSource is the media company I built
along with my dad (Ivo de Noronha) and together we have grown the brand to
reach close to 10 million people a month through our YouTube channel
(TechSource) and website, which we continue building along with a team of
writers and others. I was the runner-up for Young Digital Leader of the Year 2018,
by building TechSource, “explains Ruben.
TechSource is a privately owned rapidly
growing digital media publication based in the United Kingdom.
He explains that their platform on YouTube
and their news publication exhaustively cover breaking news across the
technology landscape that encompasses the mobile industry, computing, life
styles and all things tech. Their digital channels have a subscriber base of
over 1.7 million and have attracted a combined audience of over 300 million
globally.
While Ruben now works on various campaigns
through his second business TechSource working with brands like Google,
Logitech and various other start-ups, his journey is quite incredible and began
at a young age.
Ruben finished secondary school at St
Bonaventure's RC School in 2016 and finished college a few months ago and
studied Media & Technology.
But as early as 13 years old, Ruben had an
interest in mobile apps and developed four apps by 15. Having had no experience
in business or creating apps, Ruben set out to learn how to develop apps for
Android, by watching video tutorials on YouTube. The apps started reaching
people internationally and eventually reached thousands of people across 15
different countries. At this point, Ruben was moving into secondary school and
began juggling school work and business. Following this, aged 16, Ruben
discovered he was running a business and created his first business RDNHD Ltd a
UK based digital agency.
RDNHD Ltd started growing rapidly and
started finding strategic partners while building a team of designers,
programmers and social media team working with numerous start-ups and online
influencers with large followings on social media.
Ruben began to outsource some of the work
to the team he built over the years, who could deliver the projects on time.
Over time, Ruben began to get national and international press coverage for
being so young and running a business.
Ruben was asked to appear on a number of TV
shows to share his journey and knowledge whilst also speak at conferences including
TED Talks and Google Campus London, about his story. Ruben is now focussing a
lot more on his businesses, public speaking and working with the Government.
Commenting about his latest honour, he
says, “This award has allowed me to voice my opinion on Industry 4.0 and how it
will disrupt work as we see it today and I am happy that being nominated for
this award has given me the platform to talk about these important issues. I
think the Prime Minister and senior government officials have a really tough
job being in the public eye and I don't think they are given the credit they
deserve. Personally, I don't think politics would be something that appeals to
me. However, I believe to some extent, you can have a far greater impact in
private sector where I definitely want to grow professionally.”
On a concluding note, Ruben spoke fondly
about his memories about Goa and also offered his opinion when asked what Goa
can do in the digital space given its status as a tourism hub amongst others.
“I love Goa; at the end of the day I am
ethnically Goan and I have a lot of memories in Goa, especially because most of
our cousins are there! The best holidays so far have been in Goa and I can't
wait to go back. Goa is a really attractive destination for tourists from
abroad who want to visit the beautiful beaches and other attractions. I hope
Goa stays at the forefront of technological advancement and I am sure they are
already working on this. I am looking forward to see the transformation in the
near future,” says Ruben.
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Young
Digital Leader of the Year
Digital Leaders, the global initiative to
promote digital transformation, is the nationwide initiative for promoting
effective, long-term digital transformation across government, industry and
charities. It had recently announced the finalists who make up the DL100 list
for 2018 and opened the public vote.
The independent list recognises 100 people
and organisations across the UK who are leading the way in digital
transformation in all sectors. Previously, the list has featured industry names
such as: Martha Lane-Fox, Mike Bracken and Eileen Burbidge.
The 100 finalists that made up the list,
then had to compete for the public vote in one of 10 categories. This year’s
list was made up of individuals and organisations with 44 private sector, 32
from the public sector and 24 from the nonprofit sector.
Each year’s list is created from
nominations submitted by members of the 1,27,000 strong Digital Leaders
Community before being shortlisted by the DL100 judges who are taken from the
Advisory Board members. This year’s list the 5th cohort to join the alumni of
previous winners that now numbers over 400 leaders from government, enterprise,
startups and charities. These former members stay in touch, network and learn
from each other through participation in the DL100 Club.