‘With patience and determination, you can turn a vision into something that impacts society’

Ana Rubio, CEO and Founder of Malta-based start-up datalitiks, has highlighted that through patience and determination, a vision for a business can eventually be turned into something tangible that brings changes to society.

She was commenting as part of MaltaCEOs.mt’s end-of-year series, where she touched on her first full year as a CEO, together with the increased focus that businesses are giving to environmental, social and governance (ESG).

Ms Rubio founded datalitiks in 2022 with the aim of utilising data to help businesses measure and improve their ESG efforts. She is also a Data Consultant for the United Nations (UN), where she uses her data analysis and visualisation skills to drive positive change and impact, advising various departments.

Speaking to MaltaCEOs.mt, she remarked that 2023 was a “challenging, but also rewarding and exciting” year for her.

“This year meant turning our idea of doing data for good into action, building the foundations in terms of getting the right people on board, and building a scalable platform while raising the required financial support at the same time,” she explained. Finding the “right balance to progress on those different fronts” has proven to be challenging, yet as she looked back on the past year and seeing what datalitiks has managed to accomplish, Ms Rubio said that it was an “exciting and rewarding journey at the same time.”

Ms Rubio is a first-time entrepreneur, yet in her relatively short entrepreneurial career she has found it fascinating how with “patience and determination”, one can turn their vision into “something tangible that can have an impact on society.”

“Seeing datalitiks grow from an idea to what it is today. When I see how our customers use our solutions to embed sustainability in their decision-making, that is when reality hits me, and I am very proud of what me and my team are achieving,” she continued.

In this respect, she expressed gratitude tose who have believed in datalitiks’ mission and have contributed in one way or another to shape what the company has become today. Ms Rubio added that she is grateful for her team, and also for those individuals who have helped her become a leader, encouraging her as a solo Founder to “keep iterating, building, and improving” at datalitiks.

This year, the area of ESG underwent a massive shake-up as the new European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) came into effect on 1st January 2024. These new rules will require large companies and listed ones to publish regular reports on the social and environmental risks that they face, together with how their activities impact people and the environment.

This will undoubtedly have an effect on datalitiks, and Ms Rubio remarked that while she believes “we should look at the integration of ESG beyond regulations”, this added pressure to be compliant shall bring both challenges and opportunities to “adapt and move forward to the new times.”

2024 will also be the year that datalitiks will aim to find “more sophisticated ways” of using and applying generative artificial intelligence (AI) through the available tools.

Fast-forward to 12 months’ time, Ms Rubio said that she sees herself being proud and happy with the team for launching a platform that allows organisations, both locally and overseas, to “create positive change towards sustainability, doing data for good, while having addressed some of the aforementioned challenges.”

From a more personal perspective, Ms Rubio said that this year, she also aims to keep learning more languages.

“In 2023, while I was working in Geneva for the UN, I had the chance to polish my French. For this year, I want to experiment with Arabic. I have always had it on my list to learn a language that has a different alphabet to ours, and with the technology available nowadays, I think it is time to take on this challenge,” she explained.

Additionally, she is determined to make one crucial change to her daily routine: quitting smoking.

“I have that ugly routine where every time I take a break, I go outside, listen to some music, and smoke a cigarette. I want to leave the cigarette out of the equation,” Ms Rubio said.