International Women’s Day raises awareness of women’s rights. This year’s theme #BreakTheBias shines a light on the gender inequality that still permeates our world, especially within the workplace. Future Space is dedicated to helping women succeed in the sectors most known to be dominated by men and male voices – STEM.
90% of our core team are women, so we know that one of the best ways to support other women is by giving them a voice. To celebrate IWD2022 we have invited some of the most inspirational women we know to join us for a live panel discussion in our hub on the day.
Here, we share the stories of other female founders who have found a supportive home at Future Space.
“I feel passionate about seeing women in leadership roles who have a chance to chase their dreams. And if women want to stay home with their children, they should have that option. We should celebrate all of the choices that women make. Not push them into what we think they should be doing.”
Amanda Nurse, Co-Founder, Carterwood
Amanda has helped to build Carterwood into a multi-award-winning consultancy dedicated to social care. Her experience in the sector spans nearly 30 years’. Born in the north and comprehensively educated, she initially trained as a chartered surveyor.
“I was the only woman to graduate in my intake. I was everything you wouldn’t expect a chartered surveyor to be – so I’m used to being different. I have personally never seen being female as holding me back, so I think I’m lucky in that respect. My business partner Ben has a private education, and he is a man, but we have both gotten to the same place in our careers.”
While gender hasn’t played a role in Amanda’s personal outlook, she admits to seeing gender inequality around her. “Around 60% of the meetings I attend I’m the only woman in the room. Only 10% are all female.”
As a member of the group Women in Healthcare, Amanda is passionate about supporting other women to succeed. “I feel passionate about seeing women in leadership roles who have a chance to chase their dreams. And if women want to stay home with their children, they should have that option. We should celebrate all of the choices that women make. Not push them into what we think they should be doing.”
If she could go back and give herself one piece of advice it would be to “have gotten a mentor at an earlier stage in my career. I would encourage women to seek each other out and help further each others’ career.”
“It’s hard to know if we would have been worse or better off if we were men. Obviously there is bias, but you might also get support you wouldn’t have gotten otherwise because you’re an all-female team and people want to be inclusive.”
Sian Fussel, CTO & Founder, Albotherm
Sian was carrying out research for her PHD at Bristol University when her and her now business partner Molly discovered technology that allows the properties Sian was working with to turn from transparent to white when they heated up.
The discovery has led to the creation of their business Albotherm, which offers glass coatings that allow buildings and greenhouses to regulate their temperature without electrical input.
“I was working on the science side and Molly is interested in business”, Sian explains. “We’ve been working full-time together on the business for a year now trying to get investment and it is often one of the first things investors comment on. They say it’s rare to talk to one female founder, let alone two. We’ve met loads of female founders so I don’t think it’s that rare, but from the investment side it seems to be”
Albotherm won an Innovate UK grant in 2020, and received match funding to bring this up to £600k. Their team has grown to three, with another lady joining them on the science side of the business. “We’re lucky that our main investor is very supportive of the fact we’re all women. But of course you get the stereotypes around women being less likely to take risks and that we don’t sell ourselves enough. We get that feedback a lot.”
Sian feels the team has received a lot of support, but doesn’t know if this is because they are women, or if it would have been different if they were men. “It’s hard to know if we would have been worse or better off if we were men. Obviously there is bias, but you might also get support you wouldn’t have gotten otherwise because you’re an all-female team and people want to be inclusive.
“That said, the conversations would have probably been different and there wouldn’t have been as much focus on the fact we’re all women. We haven’t gone out of our way to be an all female team, it’s just how it is. We don’t think we should use it necessarily to sell our business. It’s good to highlight that there is an imbalance and it’s amazing that we’ve achieved what we have, but it would be good if it was just impressive because it’s impressive – not extra impressive because we’re women!”
