Why more Asians should join ‘fantastic’ data analytics sector
BANGLADESHI PIONEER SEEKS TO LEAD BY EXAMPLE
BRITISH ASIAN students have been urged to look at market research and data analysis as a viable career by the head of one of the leading organisations in the sector.
Dr Parves Khan was last month named as the directorgeneral and CEO of Esomar, the largest international research and data association, with more than 40,000 professional members and 750 corporate members in 130 countries.
Khan is the first woman to lead Esomar in its 75-year history, and is also the first south Asian to do so. One of her first targets will be to improve the number of ethnic minorities in the sector, she said, adding that historically they have been “grossly under-represented”.
“We are seeing more south Asians going into that field of data science, but it’s very new, the numbers are still quite small,” she said.
“What I’ll be doing is looking at that talent pipeline, to understand why we’re not seeing more come through from colleges and universities into this sector.”
Khan explained that cultural issues could be a factor. “South Asians often have very blinkered ideas about what they want their children to do. You have to be a pharmacist, an accountant, a doctor, a lawyer.
“As Asians, we need to be a bit more open about the kind of career choices our children can make.
“It’s not an obvious career choice – going into the research and analytics – because the career trajectory is not generally linear. If you go into accountancy or pharmacy, it is quite clear, you do a degree in it. Research is much more low entry – you can do any degree; sometimes you don’t even have to have a degree.
“It’s not always clear how you get that job. We need to do a better job of articulating why somebody should join this incredible sector.”
After completing a degree in political science at the University of Wales in Cardiff, Khan did her PhD in European Union Integration at the University of Bristol. She said this is when her interest was sparked in data and market research.
“My PhD was all research. It was interviews and a few surveys and this is how I got interested in the tools of research, how you go about collecting information.
“Anybody who’s really curious about the world, about human behaviour and what makes us tick, is going to be interested in research. It’s a fantastic profession to go into, if you are that kind of person, as you would like to constantly learn all the time.”
After working as a research fellow at the University of Portsmouth and the University of Southampton, Khan spent eight years as the head of research and development at Tourism South East. She then founded her own company, TSE Research, which she led for six years. She has also been on the executive boards of several other research organisations.
With more than 25 years’ experience of driving business growth and building teams in the insights industry, she now heads the market leader in the sector.
“Esomar does a number of different things. It’s a regulatory body and produces all the standards and governance and code of conduct for the industry.
“We work in collaboration with the International Chamber of Commerce, to create the code of conduct around any research that’s done or any data that’s collected.
“It provides training and certification programmes for professionals in the sector, in terms of their career progression.
“It’s also an advocacy body. We’ve worked closely with the government because they say data is the new oil and is the engine of our societies. But it needs to be used ethically. We need to ensure we’re protecting people’s individual privacy when we hold the data on them and that it is not being misused,” Khan said.
“We advocate on behalf of governments to make sure they are enforcing the rules, particularly against big tech companies, because they hold so much information on consumers. It’s ok to monetise data, absolutely no problem with that, but it has to be used ethically.”
Khan said companies needed to embrace research and data or cautioned that they will be “left behind”.
“Most companies will have researchers. Corporate organisations and public sector organisations will have somebody who does trend analysis and surveys their customers, looks at non-customers and competitors. That insight is incredibly valuable to an organisation, both from a commercial perspective, but also to any public sector organisation that’s looking to change behaviours. They need all that insight,” she said.
“Every company is struggling to either retain market share or grow its market share. One of the key ways to do that is by understanding current customers and any potential new customers better than your rivals.
“They must also be anticipating change. They need to be looking at the market and looking at how consumer behaviour might change in five years. Otherwise, they’re not going to be prepared for any dramatic change that might be happening. To future proof an organisation, it’s imperative for firms to constantly track both their consumers but also the wider marketplace.”
Khan hoped she could be an inspiration for more south Asians to be CEOs of global organisations. While there are a number of Indians leading influential firms, such as Sunder Pichai (Google), Satya Nadella (Microsoft), Parag Agarwal (Twitter) and Leena Nair (Chanel), those from a Bangladeshi or Pakistani heritage are non-existent in such roles.
As the daughter of first-generation Bengali immigrants to the UK, Khan spoke of her desire to see more leaders from her community.
“It’s an important role I have because representation really matters. It’s the old adage, you can’t be what you can’t see. Unless you see more people who look like you, in those leadership roles, things aren’t really going to change.
“I’m not one of those people who were from the top caste of India, or southeast Africa. My parents were very poor Bengalis. And if you look at the statistics, you know, Bengalis and Pakistanis often are in the lower ranks of society in terms of the top jobs. Indians and Chinese [immigrants] tend to be much higher,” she said.
“Even within the south Asian community, there are differences in terms of how well we perform and the opportunities available to us. It’s critically important they see a Bengali woman rising to a very senior position, leading an organisation which is 75 years old. It’s the first time ever that a nonwhite person is leading the organisation. That’s incredibly important to me, for people to see that.”