Entrepreneur of the Year 2024: C.O.D.E. Initiative co-founder Bahar Heravi Moussavi is working to diversify the tech industry

THE KICKOFF: As a teenaged Bahar Heravi Moussavi listened to an EA Sports panel at Electronic Arts, two things were computing: first, she wanted a career in the tech industry, and second, she’d have to get used to being one of the only girls in her class. Within a buzzy audience full of rambunctious high schoolers, only three were girls. “That made going into tech a bit of a harder decision,” she remembers. “I felt empowered, but also, like—is this going to be my reality?” Later on, her UBC computer science cohort had a similar gender breakdown. Moussavi, along with colleagues Felicia Chan and Mikhaela Torio, decided to host a free youth community workshop as a small but meaningful effort to support diversity in the industry.

ACTION PLAN: While the funding process wasn’t perfect (they sold doughnuts at a Skytrain station “which, in hindsight, is apparently illegal,” Moussavi says with a laugh), the workshop was a success, and soon grew into the C.O.D.E. Initiative. Many of the nonprofit’s online workshops, day-long events and summer camps are tailored specifically for neurodiverse students. “I’m neurodivergent, and going through the education system was hard,” Moussavi explains. “If you don’t fit within the mould, you get really discouraged.” C.O.D.E. partners with local businesses in the tech sector (like Vancouver engineering consultant RAM) to put on its educational programming, keeping registration costs low and ambition high.

CLOSING STATEMENT: Since its founding in 2017, C.O.D.E has impacted over 2,000 participants and built a team of six employees and 50-plus dedicated volunteers. In 2023 alone, the organization hosted 190 online workshops and distributed $60,000 in scholarships to students in need. It’s not exactly the kind of work Moussavi thought she’d be devoting her career in tech to—it’s better. “I’ve never looked back, honestly,” she says.

Q+A

What’s your most-used app?

Notion. It’s become an indispensable tool for organizing both my professional and personal life, helping me stay on top of tasks, projects and ideas.