At SocietyWorks we’re proud to have a small but incredible team of people using their skills and experience to support our public sector clients and help our parent charity mySociety achieve its ambitious objectives.
In this series of blog posts, we speak to the people behind SocietyWorks to share their stories.
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Onyeka Onyekwelu is an expert in inclusive and sustainable design and strategic delivery of public services. She leads digital transformation projects with public and private sector and multilateral organisations at Public Digital.
Before this, she led strategic engagement for the London Office of Technology and Innovation (LOTI) and was appointed as one of seven inaugural No.10 Innovation Fellows.
Her passion for improving the inclusion of marginalised communities shines through in her work as a Non-Executive Director for SocietyWorks. She joined the board in November 2022, bringing with her a truly incredible breadth of experience in digital strategy and stakeholder engagement.
Like all of our board members, Onyeka gives her time and extensive expertise to SocietyWorks voluntarily.
Do you want to start by telling us about yourself and what motivates you?
Onyeka: I’ve always questioned ‘power’, and why society is structured in the way that it is, to favour so few. That’s what motivated my early career aspirations to be a Barrister.
Fast-forward to leading the Young Bar’s response to digitising Youth Courts, and I found myself asking the same questions again…pivoting to digital in an attempt to answer it. I’m still trying to do so now. It’s a sticky problem.
What does a typical day look like for you?
O: An average day for me looks something like this:
Pre-9am Daily Deposit
This is “me time” when I commit to self development like journaling, reading or walking.
9-5 Working Hours
Consulting with clients from Public Digital. This could look like anything from facilitating workshops to coaching leaders and building multidisciplinary teams. I like how varied the work is, and the context-switching keeps me on my toes.
5-9 Off-Duty
Usually spent on my broader professional development. So you can either catch me at a networking event, or working on my experiment as an inaugural member of CPI’s The Collective.
9-11 Wind Down
I end the day gratitude journaling, praying and then reading a pre-released copy of a book (I’m a nano influencer on the side) for review.
What brought you to SocietyWorks?
O: The honest answer is: Amelia (SocietyWorks’ Commercial Director) and Angela (SocietyWorks’ Managing Director)! I was approached by both of them to apply and I was confused at first as I only really knew about mySociety. After researching SocietyWorks, I was all in!
I’d heard nothing but stellar reviews about the team and their products during my time at LOTI, so I was humbled to have been approached.
I had just stepped down as Vice Chair from a Governing Board of a local school, so the stars were aligned.
What are you hoping to achieve in your position on the SocietyWorks board?
O: I’m loving learning more about the products (old and new), and ways of working. What I’d love to see more of, and contribute to, is thinking about how we engage with potential clients differently. There’s definitely scope to support that in the current strategy.
What does being a board member for a social enterprise belonging to a non-profit organisation mean to you?
O: Being a Non Executive Director for a non-profit like SocietyWorks means bringing both care and challenge to the table. It’s about ensuring the organisation is delivering impact for the people it’s here to serve, and ensuring that the needs of the most marginalised are considered, while also providing strategic oversight and asking the hard questions that keep us honest and ambitious.
I see my role as a steward of trust: offering my skills and experience to support the awesome leaders and team, safeguarding the organisation’s values, and making sure decisions are inclusive, ethical and future-proof. I also believe representation matters. Executive boards should reflect the communities they serve, so I try to take my role in broadening perspectives seriously.
Thinking about the challenges facing the public sector, how important is the work SocietyWorks does?
O: Where do I start? From shrinking budgets, rising expectations, digital inequality, and fractured trust, the challenges are complex and deeply human. That’s why SocietyWorks’ products and services are so important.
In a climate where doing more with less is the norm, SocietyWorks proves that people-centred digital delivery isn’t just possible, but it works. At its heart, SocietyWorks helps councils and public sector organisations to deliver services that are efficient, and also accessible and accountable to the people they serve.
By designing digital tools that are intuitive, inclusive, and user-centred, SocietyWorks supports the kind of quiet, everyday innovation that makes a meaningful difference. It’s not just about tech; it’s about building public trust. Creating services that work well for everyone, especially those often left behind, is a powerful way to show that local government can be responsive, empathetic, and modern.
Thanks so much for talking to us, Onyeka!
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Connect with Onyeka on LinkedIn, or if you would like to learn more about SocietyWorks and what we do, drop us a message.