Imagination and Engineering Innovation: The philosophy of possibility - turning ideas into practical solutions

Epsiode 10 Transcript

[00:00:00] Hello and welcome to this episode of the HerSuccess podcast. We are the podcast that interviews highly successful and influential females within the engineering and technology world with the hope of inspiring the next generation of leaders in these industries. This podcast is brought to you by Engtal. We are an engineering and technology recruitment company that truly cares about diversity, equity, and inclusion.

If you are an engineer looking for your next role, or you're a company that wants to partner with someone who could help you find engineers, please get in contact. I'm incredibly excited about this episode, and we are interviewing Yewande Akinola. Yewande is an engineer and innovator, and she has a particular expertise in designing sustainable systems.

She's originally from Nigeria. She currently lives in the U. K. And she's lived and worked all over the world in the Far East, the Middle East and Africa. In addition to this, she was named as one of the U. K.'s Top 35 women [00:01:00] under the age of 35. In 2019 she was named as one of the U. K. and Europe's most influential women in engineering by the Financial Times.

She's also been a TV presenter. She's presented television programs on the Discovery Channel, Channel 4, Yesterday TV, and CBBC. So she is an absolute, fantastic guest and I'm really excited to be chatting with her. On this episode, it's all about innovation. We talk about what truly makes an innovator, what companies can do to foster an innovative environment, and what exciting innovations Yewande is part of and sees in the future.

I hope you all enjoy. Let's get to the show.

Chris: Hi everyone, and welcome to this edition of the HerSuccess podcast. I'm absolutely delighted to be joined by Yewande Akinola. As mentioned in the intro, I think Yewande really personifies everything, you know, that we look for, you know, in a guest, you know, here on HerSuccess. [00:02:00] Yewande firstly, welcome to the show.

 Would you mind kicking us off by giving us a bit of a high level overview of your background and What you've been doing over the last couple of years.

Yewande: Well, my name is Yewande Akinola thank you so much for having me on the podcast. It really is a pleasure to be here.

It's just amazing to see, what you're doing as a, purposeful and intentional intervention. In ensuring that you know, the visibility that young people need is there to inspire them. So it's really nice to be on your show. I'm an engineer. I describe myself as an innovator, as a dreamer as well, because there's a lot of dreaming in terms of possibilities. I didn't always want to become an engineer, as a young, girl, as a teenager, I wanted to study architecture, there were things like fashion design, [00:03:00] and designing that I was really interested in. I went through a phase where there was literally, a different thing every single day.

But my longest running was architecture. I was very interested in buildings. I was interested in the form and shape of buildings as well. And, just before, Before I started to apply to universities, my mom came into my room and she's like, you know, one day, do you want to sit down? Let's have a quick chat.

And I'm thinking, okay,

Chris: Am I in trouble?

Yewande: Okay. Okay. Here we go. And she goes, would you consider engineering? And I'm looking at her going, Right. And she's like, what, with engineering, you will have the flexibility to pretty much work on a diverse [00:04:00] range of projects, you would be able to design buildings, you'd be able to.

Working cars, design cars, I think she secretly hoped I'd be able to fix her car as well. there were all these things that she kind of expressed to me as possibilities and I, obviously I was like, Oh my goodness, then I really started to think about it. I started to think about the fact that I really also wanted to, I wanted to please her to a certain extent, I just, I had this sense of deep gratitude for everything that she had done for me.

 I just felt like, what, if this is something that she thinks might be good for me, if it's something that she also thinks is good. I should really explore it. I wasn't 100 percent sure, but then I was willing to explore it. So I applied to two universities to study [00:05:00] engineering and the other four universities to study architecture.

And then I got a place at Warwick University, to study engineering design and appropriate technology. It had a massive bias towards developing countries and, at the time, I mean, I grew up in Nigeria, I really could see the benefit of, very intentional engineering interventions in my immediate environment.

And so it made complete sense, in its entirety. And so I just went for it. The engineering design degree was going to give me the right tools and the skills to be able to work in water engineering in transport in, electrical systems and power as well. They just had this really, really cool flexibility, as well as the [00:06:00] core skills that I was going to need anyways.

Yeah, so that is, that is pretty much how my journey in engineering started, it, it was yeah, from a place of how can I, develop the skills, that equipment to be able to bring practical solutions to my mutual environment.

Chris: Wow, that's that. Yeah. It's so interesting. Obviously growing up in, in Nigeria and then you, you moved, to the U,K.

How do you think your childhood growing up in an African country, how do you think it kind of shaped your career or almost your sort of perspectives on the world?

Yewande: Growing up in Nigeria played a huge, massive role. It really did. I don't know.

There's this thing about Nigeria, Nigerians, right? And it's, it's possibility, like literally that is what we live for. You know what I mean? I could see the challenges, right? I could see the challenges [00:07:00] around power supply around water supply, but then It did not end there, the question for me was always, how can I be part of the solution?

And the fact that I could see the direct relation between getting those core skills and solving the problems I feel has given me the perfect foundation in engineering, because let me tell you, everything I'm about is solution driven, it's show me the problem. Right. And how can we go on the journey to developing the solution.

And so there was a big massive and very, very, very strong solution driven part of my childhood. And my mom's an artist as well. She always had paper in the house and they're always pencils [00:08:00] around. And so there was a very strong creative theme as well. I would, I would see her develop sketches. I would see her take designs from literally just, pencil sketches to some beautiful artwork. And so I guess I could really see the power of creativity and that has become pretty much the backbone of my career in engineering

Chris: and you specialize in the design for like sustainable systems, right?

So, obviously you have your engineering degree from Warwick and you've specialized in engineering that essentially allows people to, get clean water, food and more sustainable systems. Can you tell us a little bit about what that means and what are some of the projects that you've, worked on in that area?

Yewande: So sustainability is a word that lots of people are probably hearing at the moment, right? We talk about how we, develop our [00:09:00] built environment, evolve our built environment to be more sustainable. In the UK, net zero is a big massive thing because we recognize. The need really to, get to a point where we are not hurting the environment, we're using energy, from the right sources, we're using it in the right way, we are reducing the amount of waste that we typically would experience in our buildings, in our commercial buildings, in our homes. And that is pretty much, what my career has been so far. I started off as an environmental services engineer.

And, I remember, in my first week, my boss, at the time an incredible guy called David George, he pretty much sat me down and said, I want you to go on a journey with me. Have a complete [00:10:00] rethink, in terms of how buildings are designed, we are used to as an industry designing buildings that consume energy, this energy in heating the buildings up in cooling the buildings, in running the appliances that use Power in the building, in the water supply that we expect people to, then use, as a big massive resource in the buildings.

You know, we expect people to turn the taps open and, spend five to 10 minutes washing their hands as they have a conversation with people. And he said, actually, I see the role of an engineer as reshaping the way people interact with buildings and reshaping the way people consume energy. And so that change in behavior needs to [00:11:00] be driven by the systems that we design.

So when you design a water supply system with a tap, you put a flow restrictor on it so that it's not gushing. All that volume of water, that you really, could be saving and saving the energy that's associated with getting that water to that tap. When people come in, in the mornings and they've cycled to work and they want to go in and get a shower so they are not stinking throughout the day, what are the systems that we need to put in place to make sure that they use only as much as they need to be clean.

When we cool buildings down and then heat them up and then cool them back down. Does that make sense? No, let's look at the building material. Let's look at how we can keep the buildings cool and [00:12:00] comfortable for the people in them without necessarily using the energy associated with constantly heating and then air conditioning.

And so that's pretty much what I do. It's this real holistic for some approach to buildings to influence lifestyle as well.

Chris: Yeah, that's so interesting. I mean, I've never really thought of, sustainability in that way,, and it does make sense. I think as much as we would like to relying on each individual person in the world to really minimize the amount they use is maybe not as realistic as creating a system where, it's almost harder to use more than it is to use less. And to your point about, the tap having a limiter on it. I don't think anyone would even, , that would negatively affect anyone's life. No one would really mind about that. But I think in my own head, the amount of times I've left the tap on when I'm, doing my [00:13:00] hair and stuff like that.

You just don't even think about it. So yeah, absolutely. That's really amazing. Talk through some of your, career post university. So obviously you went, you graduated from Warwick. I think you started working at Thameswater and then you've had various sort of engineering roles, since then.

Talk me through kind of that, that journey.

Yewande: So I did a gap here, a placement year. So for anybody watching, a placement year is a year in industry that you can do between your 2nd and your 3rd year. If you feel like you want to get a bit more industry experience before you go back to university and then graduate, a placement year just gives you incredible exposure to industry and it just prepares you for, post uni life as well.

So I spent a year with Thames Water between my second and my third year. And it was the most incredible experience. So Thames Water are a water supply company. And I guess before my year in [00:14:00] industry, I wasn't exactly sure what I wanted to specialize in, I was interested in all these different things.

But then, spending the year in industry really getting a feel and a taste for, what it really was like to work in industry, really helped me, cement my interest in engineering as well and help me go actually, you know what I'm interested in water. I'm interested in energy as well. So that was great.

When I graduated, I joined an incredible engineering consultancy called Arup, and they're a global consulting firm, , pretty much, based and, visible, everywhere in the world because they've worked in projects pretty much in every part of the world. I spent my first few years, in Bristol, in the Southwest of England, learning everything that that would help me shape, my [00:15:00] career in a way that I could, start to develop, solutions and products that did not exist.

Okay, so we would be working in projects and the solution would not be readily available. It wouldn't be something that I can just go pick off the shelf of a store. And so I had to learn how to come up with ideas, that could then, become actual products and really see the, journey, the innovation journey through from an idea to an innovative product.

So I worked in Bristol for a number of years, worked in London, worked on some incredible projects in London as well and around the UK. And then I moved to the Far East. I worked in China for a number of years as well, designing super high rise buildings, worked on projects in the Middle East as well.

 And then decided I wanted to move into construction. [00:16:00] So, before, that I'd been designing buildings, and so I was pretty much mostly on the design side. I spent time on site helping the contractors translate my design, but then I really wanted to be in the thick of it because I wanted to be able to, really start to get a complete understanding of what my designs needed to be thinking of and considering because I'd seen both ends of the process as such. And so I moved to a construction company and spent a number of years there as well.

Chris: Oh, awesome. What an incredible diverse backgrounds. That is amazing.

We interrupt this podcast for a quick 30 second introduction to Engtal the host of her success Engtal is a US-based staffing agency specializing in engineering and technology. We have an insatiable passion for diversity, [00:17:00] equity, and inclusion, and part of our mission is to balance the diversity scales in our industry.

We are so tied to this mission that we donate a thousand dollars from every diverse placement made to our very own nonprofit Diversify the Future. We then use that money to fund scholarships for underrepresented groups of people to help them obtain a STEM degree. If you're an engineer or a tech professional looking for a new position, or maybe you're hiring for talent in this space and want a recruitment partner, please get in touch.

Looking at some of the things that you're doing at the moment.

I know you're also an ambassador, for Innovate UK. Obviously the majority of our listeners are, are American, so they might not be aware of that, but tell us a bit about, Innovate UK, and then what your role as an ambassador there looks like.

Yewande: So, innovation is big in the United Kingdom.

 And what it means to us as a country is [00:18:00] pretty much, setting the pace as well as being able to support lots of different economies all over the world in terms of fresh, new, purposeful, sustainable, forward thinking ideas, we also recognize as a country that it, is the only way to develop our economy.

We are not a massive manufacturing base as we used to be, a number of years ago. And so our real strength is coming up with some really good ideas and taking those ideas right through to, manufacture if there are physical ideas, if there are software ideas, for example, making sure there's a tangible product that then has to have an impact on the society they were designed for, as well as the economy.

So scaling those ideas, [00:19:00] ensuring that, organizations and, start to grow off the back of those ideas doing really well. So Innovate UK is pretty much the country's innovation agent, right? So every year, you know, the government allocates funding to innovation in the UK and what Innovate UK is tasked with doing is really identifying the areas you That the investment needs to go into, whether it's agriculture, whether it's ensuring that they're the right products out there for the country's aging population, whether it's digital and communications, whether it's construction and new ways of constructing buildings

Innovate UK sits at that place where it has great visibility of what the trends are,[00:20:00] what needs to be done, what areas are lacking in new, fresh thinking. And so it starts to look at developing programs around that, programs that attract. The right talent, the best of the best people, people who are interested.

And so it starts to allocate that funding to those targeted, very, very intentional areas of innovation that the country as a whole is looking at. And so my role as an ambassador over the years has really been to support, Innovate UK's work around finding the right minds, bringing people together who are super enthusiastic about embarking on the journeys, to develop the right products, the right programs, the right software, the right interventions, weaving together initiatives, different [00:21:00] strands of society as well, different demographics as well, and also ensuring that we are really, getting a diverse mix of talent, within that pool, purely because we recognize that products and services have to reflect the people and the diversity of people that you're providing those products and services for. They have to reflect the diversity in the society that you are, you are developing solutions for, and so it's so important that the people at the table who are coming up with the solutions, right, reflect the thinking of society. And so that's what I do. I spend time with people, I help Innovate UK, chair sessions. I help host conferences as well.

I speak to people, I do a lot of connecting the dots.[00:22:00] I spent time with the leadership as well. In terms of being able to say, actually, this is what I'm hearing. We need to work on, this is what people are sending us feedback to us, in terms of, potential improvements in different areas, pretty much.

Chris: Wow. Yeah. That's amazing. An amazing pitch on, on Innovate UK. That sounds like a fantastic organization. I've always said that, when it comes to sustainability and the environment and with a lot of the challenges that there are in the world, of course, governments have a role to play.

Of course, nonprofits have a role to play. But fundamentally, I think it will be solved by the private sector. And if you can create mechanisms like this, where, you almost have by the private sector government, the private sector and that's where I think you could have some real impact. On the, the issue of sustainability and climate change. We obviously being an engineering and tech recruitment firm, we tend to work right on the cutting edge of innovation, we look for companies [00:23:00] with high amounts of investment, we look at high growth startups. What excites me about the future is just the amount of investment and visibility those projects are getting. Like, they're almost the vast majority of the most high growth, exciting companies that we work with have a mission around one of those topics. It's such a hot topic in the world right now.

And it's great to say such a focus because 10 years ago, that wasn't the case. There was no real spotlight on it. But what things I think is really unique about your background is you obviously interact with a ton of incredibly innovative people through like a variety of different things.

You must speak and engage with some of the most innovative minds, in the UK and maybe in the world. In your opinion, what makes these people different? What makes a truly innovative person and what separates those game changes from, kind of the rest of the [00:24:00] pack.

Yewande: That's a great question, and it's something I'm always kind of on the lookout for as well. The one thing that is consistent is innovators are doers, they, they literally, they don't see the barriers that a lot of people see. They're not also looking for perfection before they start anything.

They go, actually, I've got an idea. I can see how this idea will bring impact to people's lives. I'm going to orchestrate, something around this idea. And by that, they go, actually, what, I'm going to go speak to 1 person here. I'm going to have a meeting with somebody here. I'm going to contact that university to see if there are any students who are working on a similar project.

They just [00:25:00] explore possibilities. They follow through. Sometimes, a great idea pops into your head and you kind of talk yourself out of, out of doing anything about it, right? Because you're like, oh, yeah, I'm sure somebody else is doing it. Or, maybe it's not so relevant, but they just go, it's an idea.

I'm going to speak to at least 5 people, before I shut the idea down, I'm going to, spend the next two months exploring where it could potentially go before I shut the idea down. And then, if the idea is right, if it really has the purpose within it that they have envisioned, what tends to happen is to happen the idea and the person and the innovator just then attracts, they attract support, they attract, [00:26:00] investment. They attract, the right people, they attract, people who want to work with them, they attract the right students, and it just then starts to become this thing that is on its way to becoming an actual thing. Innovation, and it's really beautiful to see,. There's also, there's also resilience.

Sometimes, I, I see a lot of resilience. I mean, sometimes I see impatience, but then I see a lot of resilience as well, and that's always quite nice to see.

Chris: Yeah, well, that's that's amazing. And, I think that theme is pretty common to some of the things that I have spoken to people about on this podcast like that.

I think the ability to do is such a differentiator. Like, people think innovators are thinkers and creators and a lot of times they are, but the key element is, is the doing piece and the execution piece. I think there are so many people that come up with ideas and ideas and ideas, but they don't put them into practice.

Through what [00:27:00] you said, either, they think it's been done before, or they don't have the confidence, to do it and they just to shut it down. I think for anyone listening that wants to truly innovate, that's a great advice, right? Speak to 5 people about your idea and, and execute on it.

I always think, again, if you pan out worst case scenario, or the amount of Ideas I have had that, I have executed on that didn't work, considerable, but the journey and the learning process and everything is so incredibly valuable. But, you will gain so much more than shutting it down immediately.

another question sort of semi related. If you were talking to either a CEO or a business leader who wanted to really foster a culture of innovation within their company. What things do you think, what would you would advise them to do?

Yewande: Right. So I would say, it is not enough to claim that you're an innovative company.

Being innovative is organic. And it [00:28:00] really, requires you to put those mechanisms in place. The first one being, a platform that enables you to hear what your employees are actually saying to, encourage them to share ideas without fear of being shut down. I would say it's. Important to recognize that innovation and an inclusive environment go hand in hand.

And so it's so important that you create an inclusive inclusive environment. And so you are pretty much. Then building a culture where people feel that they can be the best versions of themselves. And when people are the best versions of themselves, they operate at their very best. They bring the very best ideas to the table.[00:29:00]

They have a sense of ownership. As well, the company's success is their success as well. So I would say, definitely diversity and inclusion right at the heart of the organization's operations as well.

Chris: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think, how, how you receive that innovation, I think, like, like you said, making sure that, everyone feels comfortable to, to share their opinion and, if someone shares an opinion, like, yeah, cool.

That's a good idea. Maybe we'll explore it in a year or so. There's no way they're coming to you with another idea, right? If you receive it with incredible positivity, and then you back it and say, cool, all right, let's let's run with this. And, again, even if it doesn't work next time, they will still come back, with with those ideas.

Yewande: Sorry, just to add Gian, find the software that helps you track people's great ideas. Right. If they can type a great idea into a [00:30:00] system that then goes through a process where the peers can listen to those ideas, you as a CEO can work out if you have some of the infrastructure in place to be able to test those ideas out.

 You can set up, small focus groups with potential clients as well. Yeah, those very intentional practical mechanisms really need to be there.

Chris: Yeah, no, absolutely. I mean, I couldn't agree more. And I think one of the points you made was, listening to everyone in your organization.

I think that. It's sometimes a misconception that, all the innovative ideas come from all the people at the top. When I look at some of the best ideas that we've had as an organization, they've come from people who've worked with us since the beginning. There was a couple of people that have worked with us for 4 months and, 22 years old.

I think if you have a mechanism to make sure that everyone's voice is heard because to your point earlier people represent different consumers and, I'm a 35 year old [00:31:00] male and a lot of my innovative ideas will probably be through the lens of that consumer whereas actually some of our consumers are, 22 year old females and I could not think of maybe innovative ideas that reflect that.

So having that kind of mechanism to really listen to people, regardless of, how long they've been with the organization, regardless of how senior they are. Like some of the best ideas that we've ever had come from people that didn't necessarily sit on our, senior leadership board.

But, but they are just, an innovative person and, and yeah, but they've come up with some ideas that, really positively impacted our organization.

Yewande: Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah.

Chris: Awesome. So tell about you had a, great career and a relatively varied career.

Tell about, some of the challenges that you think you faced in your career. And if you were giving advice to someone, either your younger self going through that or somebody else that was facing a similar challenge, what advice would you give?

Yewande: Oh, wow. Okay.[00:32:00] So if I start with the challenges, I mean a black female's face is not the face that comes to mind when you think about engineering for most people, right?

You know what I mean? Like you don't think black woman, and so like, like throughout my career, there's so many times, I've rocked. Doctor meeting and people go, oh, gosh, okay. Okay. Are you, are you the engineer? Are you the chance of engineer? And, at the very start, I, I used to really, it used to really bother me.

It's my superpower right now. So I would say for anybody who is, like myself own your superpower, own the fact that, you are changing the game changing as well, the face of, excellent engineering. I would say to my younger self, and, for people who are juststarting out on the journey, I'd say there's, you, you are living in super [00:33:00] exciting times where the world really is your oyster. You can be anything that you want to be. And I'm not just saying it, you really can be anything that you want to be. I would say choose your battles. Decide what is worth your time and effort.

I would say spend a lot of time developing your skills. Diversifying your skills, working on varied projects in different parts of the world certainly have a global perspective on the world because our world is shrinking and it's shrinking very, very quickly. I would say. Find what makes you happy.

It's so important that throughout your career, you're actually doing either the one thing or the many things that make you happy. [00:34:00] Because it just means that you are showing up every single day, powered by the passion. Powered by the fact that you are having a good time. And so when those challenges come, why you're doing what you're doing, you are able to sprinkle a little bit of fun over it as well.

And you have a bit more in terms of resilience to be able to get you to the next level. It's like this, you've got your peaks, your troughs, you've got the high points and the low points, the low points will help you grow. They'd be uncomfortable. They would help you grow, , strive to survive them because that is what growth is about.

And don't forget to celebrate yourself. Celebrate the small bits of success, the big ones. The Difficult times that end up in [00:35:00] relief, celebrate those moments and finally, I would say live a life of purpose as well, because that just always then helps you understand why you do what you do.

Chris: Very, very well worded.

I absolutely love that. Yeah, I mean, the purpose thing, I changed my perspective on, on working life and life in general. When I, I read Simon Sinek's book, start with why and, my, my why is to build the best company to work for in the world. I worked for a company for a long time that treated their employees very poorly.

And it was just a real passion of mine. I love business. I love being an entrepreneur, but creating an environment that everybody wants to work for. And our production as a company, when that I kind of had this realization off the charts because it was because I was focused on my why, rather than You want to make money or you want to grow a business.

I really focus on on the why. But that's amazing. One final question. [00:36:00] We're, we're running out of time. This has been an amazing episode. So I'm probably we're almost at the end already. You obviously work on the cusp of innovation. So there must be a load of things that you're excited about and you're kind of really looking forward to.

Tell me something that you're most excited about for for the future.

Yewande: Oh, gosh, where do I start from? Where do I start from? Oh, okay. So I'm, I'm involved with a number of organizations and I see lots of, very varied things come through. And one of the organizations that I'm connected to, so it's the Royal Academy of Engineering.

It runs lots of incredible programs to really just highlight the excellent work that lots of engineers are doing. And actually, sorry, I, I, this, this is my preamble. What I'm, what I'm seeing is that those [00:37:00] traditional Ways of engineering, like those, lines, those kind of boundaries are kind of pretty much like disappearing.

They're dissolving pretty much. And what we're starting to see is this mariage of technology and engineering, in a way that is allowing us develop completely new products, I completely disrupting the ways that we do things as well. So a few weeks ago, I presented some awards to a group of a group of actually 5 engineers who have are just working in very, varied things.

One of them. Is looking at data storage in crystals. Okay.

Chris: Alright. Wow. I know. Yeah. Random. Alright. I know, right?

Yewande: Another person has been modifying and developing ventilators so that [00:38:00] it's so applicable for, for babies as well as, adults, as we, as we saw, over the pandemic and the key to all of, I guess.

 The incredible innovation is being able to optimize, technology is allowing us to run simulations and optimize and find the right materials and find the right number of cycles that something needs to operate, to be able to perform at its optimal performance.

And that for me is so exciting. So it pretty much is saying. We use technology in a way that allows us to use the right materials that allows us to reduce the materials that we use to also then find the right and optimized solutions for [00:39:00] society for the people that we're designing the solutions for. And it's so exciting.

It really is. So, yes, we still need the clunky, big, massive engineering solutions, but actually, we are now able to find much more efficient ways around, which is incredible.

Chris: Yeah, no, that is amazing. And I've spoken to a number of engineers right on the cusp of innovation, and that's so common. They said so much of engineering is optimization.

Like, a lot of the time, I mean, you look at things like electric vehicles, right? We have, the solution now, but the question is, how do we. Optimize that to a point where, the footprint is is absolutely, minuscule. And I think that's that's the way that the world is going.

So yeah, you want me. Thank you so much. It's been an amazing episode. I'm sure all of our listeners we're going to take a I turn away from this and thank you not just for being on our podcast, but also, the [00:40:00] hard work that you're doing around such really, really important topics that I think will, in the long term, what will save the world.

So thank you so much for everything that you do.

Yewande: Thank you very much. And it's been a pleasure to spend time with you as well, Chris, I'll come visit you sometime.

Chris: Absolutely. Cool. All right. Well, thank you, guys. That's all with the time we have today. Thank you for listening.

Thank you so much for listening to today's Her Success podcast, brought to you by Engtal. We hope you enjoyed our first season. And don't forget to keep an eye out for season two coming soon.