People Behind The Future: Oz Alashe MBE

Level39 member Oz Alashe MBE, the founder of CybSafe, doesn’t let introspection get in the way of success. “I must confess I’m not kept awake at night. But I don’t sleep a lot because we have a lot to do. We have an amazing opportunity and I’d hate to look back and think we missed that.”

Considering this year has seen record levels of cybercrime and increasing accusations of government-sponsored cyber attacks, protecting the world’s largest organisations from them is no easy task.

The significance of his work provides Oz with the motivation required to scale his company, seek investment and hire talent. “We’re working to create a world where everyone takes responsibility for their own personal online safety, security and privacy. More importantly, we want people to feel empowered online and believe everyone has the right to feel secure.”

People are at the heart of Oz’s business, which educates companies about how to improve the cyber awareness of their employees and reduce vulnerabilities by addressing behavioural traits, and measuring the impact of their activity.

Oz puts the success of the company down to the quality of the team. “This is an amazing company but we’d be nothing without the people within it. I’ve been really fortunate to find myself surrounded by innovative and talented people.”

The last 12 months have seen CybSafe raise £3.5 million, and more than double the size of the team. According to Oz, this growth reflects the wider ambition that can be felt across the technology industry. “I think the tech sector, UK and global, is an exciting place to be right now. You’re seeing the potential for technology to solve some really big global challenges and do that at scale and at pace.”

Despite concerns around market uncertainty, political turbulence and familiar struggles of start-ups around access to talent, Oz remains bullish about the future of the capital: “London is a hotbed of people from around the world, with global reach. A city with global impact and influence, and a global perspective. As a tech start-up, if your aspiration is to reach as many people as possible there is no better place to do that than from a city like London.”