Doing it her way

Nandini Jolly is the president and CEO of CryptoMill Technologies which provides advanced, innovative data security solu-tions for enterprises, small and medium-sized businesses as well as individual consumers.

Think of her as a secret weapon for consumers of technology products. “We believe that security, like freedom, is everyone’s right,” says Jolly, who foresaw the development of security solutions to tackle both external and internal threats to confidential, sensitive and personal information.

CryptoMill’s products are used by a number of organizations world-wide including HP and Motorola, as well as law firms in the US and Canada. Jolly and her team of engineers, who refer to themselves as the Cryp-tonites, spearheaded the design of an exclusive product for HP Worldwide that is built into HP desktops, laptops and tablets, and shipped worldwide on over 40 million devices in 34 languages.

With a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from the London School of Business and Finance and a Masters in International Finance, she served as senior vice president of Global Treasury Services and Financial Risk Management for Bank of America. She was also a director at Deloitte and Touche.

Did she face challenges raising funds, finding clients? Did she meet people who did not take a woman – one with no engineering background to boot – seriously?

“Of course there were ups and downs. There still are. But I never paid attention to my gender. I never woke up thinking about the challenges of being a woman, I never allowed myself to go down that route. I believe the glass ceiling only exists if you look up. I am too busy looking forward, learning and improving. It was important for me to know my stuff. My engineers taught me and I learnt by osmosis.”

Jolly fosters a culture of collaborative learning and mentorship. Co-op students from engineering and computer science departments at a number of local academic institutions are active members of the CryptoMill team.

She was named one of Canada’s 100 Most Powerful Women for her ground-breaking work in a sector that is predominately male, for fearlessly navigating through new territory and for her ability to lead by example. She was featured by the government of Canada’s Status of Women Canada as one of Canada’s Businesswomen – a growing economic force – whose entrepreneurial spirit has influenced the business world and who serves as a mentor to other women. As a senior member of Women in Capital Markets, she has volunteered as a mentor to young women in high schools.

“I believe in empowering women. I am on a journey of improving myself and I want to convey that no challenge, no setback is so big that you can’t get over it. I am excited by the opportunities we can help present to youth, both men and women. I want to build a sense of self-worth. “What stops us is our fear of failure, our own what-ifs.”