A clean sweep to success

At eleven years old, Iryna Tsyganok was sweeping floors in the factory where her mother, a qualified nurse, worked as a cleaner. It was a back-breaking task, performed when children her age in Odessa were playing in the park. But this form of manual labour was essential to keep the family afloat. The reason? Iryna’s father died when she was seven, in 1991, just as Ukraine entered its early transition of independence from the Soviet Union – a period accompanied by political turmoil, a rapidly contracting economy and hyperinflation.

The GDP of Ukraine, Iryna explains today, had collapsed by nearly a half between 1990-1994. “There was literally no work and no money, sometimes no food,” she remembers. Many families, she adds, struggled to find their feet in the crisis, but with the loss of her father, young Iryna had to become as independent as possible overnight. “Growing up, I had no stability; you never knew what tomorrow would bring. My mother told me to study, so I could build financial independence and not have to work low-paid jobs, like she did.”

Iryna’s haunting memory of her early years shaped the path she’d take as an adult. Despite the challenging circumstances, she propelled herself forward with education – finishing school with a distinction, becoming the first person in her family to attend university, where she began to study economics, and later, computer science, before going on to complete an EMBA at LBS in 2023. “The work I did at a young age was my near-term strategy to support myself and my mother, and education was my long-term strategy to get out of the rut. I just did what I had to do,” she explains.

Going from sweeping factory floors after school and learning English at night, to a successful professional with her own business is a result of a tremendous amount of work. And now, Iryna is full of gratitude for what she has today, and is excited for where her aspirations will take her.

In 2022, she co-founded Irysan, a company specialising in digital transformation services and AI products. And today, Iryna is passionate about breaking down barriers for women and girls, and has initiated, led and contributed to numerous initiatives at every stage of her career. Her goal with Irysan is that it becomes a successful business, and that in doing so, it enables her to give-back and “leave the world a better place”.

But the challenges for Iryna didn’t end in childhood, and those experiences, too, shaped her. Iryna married and moved to the UK aged 19, in 2006, while pregnant. She attempted to juggle a new baby and her studies, and succeeded at first, but then took a career break. After having a second child, she returned to study computer science, gaining a first-class degree.

But soon after Iryna finished university, her marriage broke down. “I was building my career as a single mother with sole financial responsibility for the boys.” The biggest motivation became her children, she says. “I had to stay laser-focused on my goal of building a solid foundation for us. There wasn’t room for much else.” As she progressed with her career and her earning capacity increased, she was able to give her sons experiences that hadn’t been possible for her at their age. “I wanted them to have the opposite of my childhood.”

As a mature student and a “late-starter” in her career as a graduate, Iryna is also aware of never quite fitting in and having to work harder for every achievement and success. The world is unforgiving of people who take career breaks, she explains, which many women are forced to do. “But I feel it’s our duty to help those women re-enter the workforce.”

Iryna applied to the Executive MBA programme at LBS in 2021. She wanted a postgraduate qualification that would meaningfully and practically complement her degree in Computer Science. “When planning my corporate career, I wanted to reach a CTO level and run my own business, so a degree had to help me reach those goals.” An EMBA seemed a perfect fit. “For me, the school ranking mattered, as well as learning from outstanding professors. If I was going to invest two years of my life into learning, it would have to be from the best.”

During her time on the EMBA, group work was particularly transformative. “It was the most challenging working environment I had ever encountered, but it also taught me a lot about trust, letting go and focusing on the things that matter most.” It’s not an experience she’d have consciously asked for, she admits. “But it made me into a more competent leader.”

Some of her classmates were extremely confident, Iryna explains. Some charismatic, some incredibly hard-working. Everyone had their strengths and weaknesses. “The degree is tough, and we were all in the same boat – managing careers, family responsibilities, businesses, or a combination of all three: struggling together, winning together, doing our best.” In the end, this is the biggest lesson for her – “keeping your eyes on the end goal and doing your best”.

It’s impossible not to be inspired by the teaching staff at LBS, Iryna says. One professor stands out in her mind: Rupert Merson. He’s a person with a “winning combination of deep expertise in building successful businesses, a no-nonsense attitude and humour”, she says.

Iryna was blown away to receive sponsorship from the Laidlaw Women’s Leadership Fund, which aims to attract exceptional women from a diverse range of backgrounds, in particular women who may not otherwise be able to afford a top-tier business education. “An MBA is expensive,” she admits. “For me, it was a choice between investing in my education or putting down a deposit to buy our first home.” The Laidlaw Women’s Leadership Fund allowed her to do both.

It also validated Iryna’s early experiences. “I’d been shy about my upbringing and the later struggles as a single mother. I’d always brushed them off as a small thing. But you have to work twice as hard as a parent, and five times as hard as a single parent, especially if you don’t have other support, so it’s not a small thing at all.” Receiving the scholarship and being considered as one of the “exceptional women” fuelled Iryna to do her best.

Iryna recalls how, during a Laidlaw Scholars meeting, Lord Irvine Laidlaw said that running your own business is the highest form of reward. His biggest hope when he invests into scholars is that they’ll start their businesses. “Those words really stuck with me,” she says.

LBS gave her the knowledge and, importantly, the environment in which entrepreneurship is normalised and encouraged. “It made me realise that there’s never a perfect moment to start a business and that no one is immune to the risk of failure, regardless of how many degrees you have. So if you really want to do it, you just have to start and do your best.”

For the past decade, Iryna has been engaged in the world of Digital Transformation. “I’ve done that successfully for global brands and in complex settings.” She is passionate about the intersection of technology, business, culture and structure in a digital transformation done well. She has worked with many consultancies during her career and is astonished at how often non-technical executives are sold a “digital mirage” – some complex expensive technical solution, which promises to solve all their business problems, which of course, it never does. “As appealing as it sounds – there’s no silver bullet, and the technology will only enable your business when you are clear about your strategy and when you align the technology to that strategy, ruthlessly discarding anything that doesn’t serve you.”

The answer is not always to build new tech – sometimes it’s about eliminating technology or swapping an in-house solution for a stronger or cheaper off-the-shelf alternative. You have to really understand each business and how technology can support its success, she explains.

“Seeing the amount of upsell in consultancies inspired me to build Irysan,” she says. “We’re focused on creating a better outcome for the customer, even if that means that we sell less than we could have done. The rewards are in long-term partnerships and repeated business.”

Iryna has also led and participated in numerous volunteering initiatives over her career, focussed on up-skilling, mentoring and improving gender-equality.

She has long supported children and women through teaching and mentoring. There’s so much talent hiding behind misconceptions, lack of opportunity or lack of confidence, she says. “I’ve experienced how hard it is to balance parental duties with work and how easy it is to let go and stop trying when you’re caught in the middle.”

Now Irysan is partnering with a Ukraine-based non-profit WomenIN, dedicated to supporting female entrepreneurs in Ukraine, who continue to build their businesses and provide employment opportunities. As Irysan grows more successful, she intends to channel more effort and funds into creating opportunities and making the world a better place. “I don’t know if I’d be as passionate about empowerment of women and social mobility as I am, if it wasn’t for where I came from.”

Iryna has achieved her long-held dream: to be in a position to give back, to lift others and build a better legacy for future generations, all while continuing to push herself to greater heights. It all comes back to sweeping floors as a child. “I believe that no eleven year old should have to engage in labour work to survive. It’s up to us to make a difference.”

Iryna’s top tips for succeeding against the odds as a woman

1. Look after yourself the best you can

It is not selfish to prioritise yourself, it’s healthy. I’m serious about self-care: exercise, meditation, my nails, my makeup, a walk with my dogs on Wimbledon Common, a coffee alone, a facial – whatever I have time for that day.

2. Understand and protect your values

My health and my family are above everything else. I never neglected my children for a job, and having that priority brought me to employers and teams that respect and share these values, and steered me away from corporate cultures that don’t. You can be successful and still enjoy your life!

3.Invest a lot of time finding a business partner 

Invest a lot of time finding a business partner who compliments your skills and capabilities, and don’t rush into those relationships. Running a business solo is hard, if not impossible, and a partner can make or break your success.

4. Block out the noise

Women still face so many pressures: you have to be smart, good looking, caring, funny, successful, thin, loyal, present, supportive, independent. A lot is expected of us, but your life is nobody’s business.