Commodity trader turned academic Professor Rachid Hourizi MBE is director of the Institute of Coding, a national network of 35 universities, 20 charities and a wide consortium of employers aiming to boost the nation’s digital skills. Committed to widening access to tech, here’s his programme to make it happen.

1. Be stubborn about what you believe in: Conviction is underrated. If you believe in something, hold your ground, especially when others don’t yet see it. Progress begins with quiet persistence.

2. Relevance is a moving target: The most valuable people I’ve worked with never stop being students. Whether it’s reading, retraining, or just asking questions, learning keeps you adaptable — and relevance is a moving target. Never let your last qualification be your final one.

3. Avoiding risk can be the riskiest move of all. Manage it, don’t avoid it. Progress requires courage —but also calculation. Back bold decisions with careful thinking.

4. Hire slowly: The right person can elevate everything. The wrong one can set you back. Hire slowly and only after real analysis of what gaps you’re missing. Skills matter but so do character, curiosity and judgment.

5. Collaborate, don’t duplicate: Although it is tempting, especially at the start of an organisation’s life-cycle, you don’t need to do everything yourself. Build partnerships with those who complement your strengths. Most great work happens in tandem.

6. Absorb from the people around you: If someone in or outside of your organisation is brilliant at something, study how they got there and what makes them brilliant — but don’t imitate them. Learn their approach and then adapt and adopt what works for you.

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