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Your views on the North East’s next step forward

Richard Baker, Head of Strategy and Policy at the North East LEP, Invites comments on the refresh of the North East Strategic Economic Plan (SEP) through the publication of an engagement paper and opportunity to comment online.

Today marks an exciting moment in our ongoing refresh of the North East Local Enterprise Partnership’s Strategic Economic Plan (SEP).

We are seeking comments on the work we are coordinating with the North East Combined Authority to refresh our SEP.

We have already published our economic analysis paper, which reviews the current position of the North East economy, and a progress review, that details the delivery of the SEP priorities between March 2014 and March 2016.

We can now share with you with our engagement paper, which summarises the economic analysis and progress review, and also poses key questions for discussion and feedback, including your thoughts on the potential impact of the UK’s decision to leave the European Union and the prospect of a devolution deal.

To make it easier for people to contribute, we have published our questions via Survey Monkey so responses can be made online. Your feedback is key to shaping the refreshed SEP and I hope colleagues across the North East LEP region will contribute their thoughts and ideas.

You can access the survey here. THIS SURVEY IS NOW CLOSED

Your feedback will help shape our refreshed vision for the North East. This is your opportunity to help us reach the ambitious target of creating an extra 100,000 more and better jobs by 2024.

Thank you in advance.

Richard Baker
Head of Strategy and Policy
North East Local Enterprise Partnership
[email protected]

Home / Innovation / Page 16

ENGIE North East innovation event a great success

Innovation is certainly where the conversation and the action are at.

On Wednesday 8 June 2016, as part of ENGIE’s global Innovation Week programme, the company hosted a high-profile ‘Creating the Cities of Tomorrow’ conference and exhibition at the Cobalt Business Park, looking at the future challenges facing our cities and citizens, and how innovative approaches are needed to generate sustainable solutions.

Gathering together businesses small, medium and large, local public sector organisations, academics and investors, including North Tyneside Council, North East Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), Newcastle University, Ctrl-Shift, Arjuna and Blue Prism, the day proved to be a genuine inspiration for innovation, according to Mike Hedges, Partnership Director at the ENGIE/North Tyneside Council partnership.

Over the course of the day, respected national and international speakers held a range of workshops and masterclasses for over 150 delegates from across the region, on topics covering developing personalised services, to minimising environmental impacts.

Hans Möller, Innovation Director at the North East LEP, spoke on Innovation and a Healthy Economy and how organisations need to bring in ideas from outside the business and bring together people from a variety of backgrounds to encourage disruptive innovation. The LEP’s vision is for the North East to become one of Europe’s innovation hotspots and has earmarked £100m for innovation.

Delegates heard how innovation is rarely the result of one big thought from a single corporation or lone individual. Instead, it is usually down to collaboration among organisations, communication between different people and combinations of technologies.

Putting its money where its mission is, ENGIE is investing more than £1.5bn over the next three years to support and promote innovation. It is also investing hugely in building effective partnerships that foster the collaboration, communication and combinations, which drive successful innovation.

In the North East, ENGIE UK is a key member of the local innovation network, and is working closely with North Tyneside Council, the North East LEP, Newcastle University’s Cloud Innovation Centre, Northumbria University and Newcastle City Council, among others, on regional innovation programmes to help create a bright future for the area and its citizens.
At its conclusion, delegates confirmed that the cities of tomorrow event had already established important new relationships – that is innovation at work.

For a round-up of the day, go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTuwR9nFavo

On Friday 10 June, the final day of Innovation Week 2016, Hans Möller along with Patrick Melia, Chief Executive of North Tyneside Council, supported ENGIE’s showcase event held at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills in London at which Ed Vaizey MP, Minister of State for Culture and the Digital Economy, gave a speech on innovation in front of an audience of around 200 innovators, intrapreneurs, investors, influencers and industry representatives. Hans and Patrick shared ideas and contributed to the debate, gathering further inspiration for innovation to bring back with them to the North East.

Home / Innovation / Page 16

Professor Alan Lowdon, chair of Innovation Board

Having been a member of the North East LEP Innovation Board since October 2014, Professor Alan Lowdon has been appointed as Chair of the Board.

Alan is Chairman of the Durham University Energy Institute Advisory Board, has more than 30 years’ experience in the international energy and utilities markets working for multinationals including Shell, Suez, British Gas, Rolls Royce Industrial Power, Mott MacDonald and SKM as well as heading up three university spin-off companies and leading on technology and innovation for Narec (now the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult). He currently acts as an advisor on energy to the UK and US governments and various UK universities and is a visiting professor at the University of Durham.

Alan takes over as Chair of the North East LEP Innovation Board from Professor Roy Sandbach.

We asked Alan about his thoughts on innovation in the North East and his plans for the future of the Innovation Board.

How innovative are we in the North East?

We have a great platform to build on, as the North East has historically been very good at innovation. In terms of innovation in manufacturing, energy and transport, the North East set the bar and we have a legacy of innovation which other UK regions simply don’t have.

Now, we need to continue to be flexible and to adapt as a region. We’ve got lots of skills in our colleges and universities and there is some fantastic work going on across the region’s colleges, universities and catapults. We need to give new talent an opportunity to flourish via innovation and to have a platform on which to base innovation and entrepreneurship as without innovation we risk becoming stale and uninteresting – we need to make sure we stand out as a region.

What are the priorities for the Innovation Board?

We have to be focused in what we do and prioritisation is key which is why the LEP has identified four smart specialisation areas: passenger vehicle manufacturing; subsea and offshore technology; life sciences and healthcare; and creative, digital, software and technology based services. The Board will influence at a regional level the overall innovation agenda in these areas, playing to the region’s strengths and simplifying processes.

It’s vital that we look at access to public and private capital to make sure that programmes are funded and that we identify alternative sources of capital to help bring innovative businesses out of the starting blocks.

One exciting development which will come to life over the next few months will be the Innovation Observatory, based at Durham University and developed in partnership with Newcastle, Northumbria and Sunderland Universities. The Observatory is designed to identify good innovation practices, patterns and trends, helping secure more opportunities for North East businesses in the global marketplace.

What are some examples of great innovation in North East business?

We have so many businesses using innovation in different areas of their work. PDL in Hexham is an engineering design consultancy which has drawn on its skills to accelerate into the renewable energy sector. They’ve established a presence in the USA and Asia, in areas which are getting heavily involved in the renewable energy space. PDL has an innovative approach to recruitment and retention of its staff which has paid off.
Newcastle’s Reece Innovation and IHC Concept have both used innovation to strengthen business areas such as design, manufacturing and production, while programmes such as FinanceCamp are applying innovation to the funding sector.

Why is innovation important for the North East and the region’s economic growth?

Innovation is just one part of the spectrum of activity which is carried out at the North East LEP as it works to create more and better jobs for the region. It’s important to show how innovation sits within and strengthens all the other strands of activity, including skills, funding and business growth.

Innovation isn’t just associated with research and development and we need to help people see how they can fit into the innovation landscape. Innovation sits within all kinds of business areas – processes, skills, delivery, manufacturing and funding, for example.

We can give people opportunities through mentoring, facilitation, building regional capacity and confidence in doing things differently.

What are the key ingredients of innovation?

People with the right skills and attributes create an environment where innovation flourishes. Without them, the connectivity, buzz and energy we need to accelerate forwards doesn’t exist. The key ingredients for me are open mindedness and a willingness to take risks. People who are successful innovators also generally have a propensity to be really good networkers. I call them ‘dot-joiners’ – they join other individuals together to form relationships where they can see there’s a mutual benefit in relation to abilities and skills.

In an environment where risk and failure are tolerated, and success is applauded, innovation can flourish.

Find out more about the North East LEP Innovation board here

Home / Innovation / Page 16

New Invention Boasts Made in the North East

A new innovative filtration system has been created here in the North East and is set to revolutionise the manufacturing industry.

After two years in the making entrepreneur Richard Baker has launched his new product, the Pure Pull Mobile. The breakthrough invention which is powered solely by compressed air, filters out fumes generated by machines and chemicals within the workplace leaving the air clean and breathable, and has the added benefit of being easily transported to any work station.

Richard has provided technical support to industry for over two decades, and is a specialist in pneumatic control. Having received start up advice from the North East Business and Innovation Centre (BIC) in 1994 Richard decided to launch his company, Pneumatics Northern, from a base at the BIC. The onsite support continues to be as valuable today as it was back then. Richard explains where the idea for his latest invention came from:

“Like all good ideas they come from listening to the needs of your customers. It’s been a long process but we now have something which is high flow and high filtration.

“It’s very satisfying to have invented a product that can be manufactured in the North East of England, this is why the product has a Union Jack on it, Made in Britain, is something I am very proud of.”

Assembled by an engineering company in Cramlington, who also machine the specialised parts, Richard sees the product becoming European wide, he continues:

“The intention is to break into UK market first, and get the product established, and then grow an international customer base from right here at the BIC. We are going to market with the Pure Pull Mobile first, and then we will introduce a static version that we have also developed called a Pure Pull Bench.

“I truly believe this is an innovative product which will hopefully lead to the development of further projects in the future.”

Director of operations at the BIC, David Howell added:

“When Richard first moved to the BIC it was a far cry from the bustling business community we have today. It is true to say that the BIC and Pneumatics Northern have grown up together and to witness Richard’s continued success and appetite for developing innovative products in the North East is inspiring.”

For more information on Richard’s company visit www.pneumaticsnorthern.co.uk

To view the space available at the North East BIC contact Donna Surtees on 0191 516 6066

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Innovation programme reboot for North East businesses

A programme designed for businesses to unlock their innovation potential has been relaunched, building on the success of the first North East SME Innovation Programme, which ran until August 2015.

The North East Business and Innovation Centre (BIC) has received £820,439 of funding from the England European Regional Development Fund as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020.

The Fund will assist businesses in the North East to become more innovative, allowing them to increase their competitiveness and exploit more opportunities, bringing benefits to the region.

Over the next three-years, the programme will support over 60 SMEs, providing the funding required to outsource help from innovation experts, enabling them to produce new products, services or processes to the business and/or the market.

Innovation manager, Elizabeth Shaw said: “I am delighted to announce that following the highly successful SME Innovation Programme delivered to NE businesses and the appetite in R&D expenditure for the benefit of increasing innovative activity, we now have the opportunity to continue to help businesses unlock their
innovation potential.

“Each SME will receive access to third party expertise in the innovation process and, as a result, will gain an understanding of the knowledge and skills required to undertake further projects within the business.

“In order to prosper, businesses must innovate and whilst most would agree with the sentiment, it can be difficult to know where to begin. This project will enable us to work with individual businesses to diagnose potential development opportunities and make vital connections.”

For more information on the programme call the team on 0191 516 6035 or email [email protected]

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A refreshed SEP to reflect changing times

Richard Baker, Head of Strategy and Policy at the North East LEP, gives an update on the refresh of our Strategic Economic Plan.

The North East Strategic Economic Plan – or SEP for short – is the region’s road map to economic success.

It is our medium-term economic plan for the North East LEP area.

It sets out clearly how the LEP and the North East Combined Authority support economic growth and details the advice we give to Government about the most important investments needed for our area.

The SEP focuses on the sectors and areas that make our regional economy tick: innovation, business support and access to finance, skills, employability and inclusion, economic assets and infrastructures and transport and digital connectivity.

Like all plans setting out a course of action to reach milestones further down the road, it needs updating to reflect changing times.

The original SEP was unveiled back in March 2014.

It was born out of the evidence base of the Adonis Review of 2012 – and the data which underpinned that report was from two years previous.

The economic data in the current SEP is based on a period when we emerged from recession rather than where we are at now.

A series of new policy documents will impact our future economic planning and decision-making – a national innovation plan, new national infrastructure commission and an emerging devolution deal.

In the light of these shifting sands, the North East LEP board has agreed with the North East Combined Authority that now is the right time to look again at parts of the SEP, taking into account new evidence of the region’s economic position and evolving public policy environment.The SEP refresh is just that.

Not a rewrite, but a look again at how we reach our ambitious target of creating an extra 100,000 more and better jobs by 2024.

We are hard at work on this process.

We are examining with sharp focus our opportunities to be competitive nationally and internationally in the smart specialisation areas and growth sectors.

These are passenger vehicle manufacture, subsea, marine and related advanced manufacturing, life sciences and health and creative, digital software and technology based services.

We are looking to see high levels of productivity in these areas and to work out our position within the Northern Powerhouse to ensure we have the strong profile our region needs to seize maximum advantage from the opportunities it presents.

The views of stakeholders are crucial to our refresh work. They will contribute substantially to the evidence base, credibility and application of the SEP.

We’ll be seeking the views of business, the public and third sectors at a series of workshops running either side of the EU referendum during the summer.

There will also be an online survey for people to feed their views into the refresh process.

Details of how stakeholders can take part in the SEP refresh will coincide with the launch of our engagement activity in June and more information about how businesses can input will be available soon.

These views will be fed into the work to create an updated SEP which will be unveiled later this year.

Two other important pieces of work will support this refresh.

One is an economic analysis paper, which has been independently verified and looks at where we are now, compared to then back in 2014 and the next steps the region needs to take. We would encourage businesses to get in touch if they have more research or evidence to strengthen the economic analysis paper we have produced.

The second is a progress review of SEP delivery to date to show what has been done set against the SEP’s original plans.

The progress review looks right across leadership and governance structures, programme development, resource acquisition and investment.

Our aim with stakeholders is to provide the North East LEP area – from County Durham to the Northumberland – with an updated strategic economic plan which better reflects today while future proofing for tomorrow.

Richard Baker

Head of Strategy and Policy

North East Local Enterprise Partnership

[email protected]

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Chancellor announces funding for Newcastle smart data institute

Newcastle University will establish a new £30 million institute to unleash the potential offered by big data, as announced in the Budget.

Digital data explosion

The new National Institute for Smart Data Innovation (NISDI) will bring together industry, the public sector and world-leading academics to develop the skills, ideas and resources needed to exploit the opportunities offered by the explosion in digital data.

Led by industry and benefiting from Newcastle University’s internationally-renowned research in computing science, NISDI will enable businesses to extract value from smart data and increase competitiveness.

Based in a new building on the Science Central site in Newcastle, NISDI will focus on realising the potential of big data to address specific challenges in areas including health, automotive and manufacturing.

Professor Paul Watson, Director of Newcastle University’s Digital Institute, said: “As the volume of big data increases, organisations face real challenges in unlocking its value: the new Institute will help them to achieve this.

“Newcastle is already home to one of the fastest growing digital clusters in the country. By providing world-class facilities and expertise all under one roof, NISDI will act as a beacon for Smart Data innovation, accelerating innovation and helping the region, and the rest of the UK, to become global leaders in this increasingly important sector.”

Driven by industry needs

Councillor Nick Forbes, Leader of Newcastle City Council, said: “It is great news that Science Central will host a unique facility which brings together industry, the public sector and universities to create the skills, ideas and resources needed to exploit the commercial opportunities provided by Smart Data. It was identified in the North East devolution agreement as a priority for the region and this outcome is a testament to the partnership working that went into developing the proposal.

“Local people will benefit from the creation of over 1000 jobs in the city’s booming digital tech sector, helping them to develop the skills of the future. The institute will make a big contribution to the economic growth of the city and the wider region. It will have national and international significance, cementing Newcastle University’s role as the country’s leading centre for research in computing science.”
The new institute will be driven by the needs of business, and a key partner will be Dynamo, the industry-led initiative set up to grow the technology sector in the North East.

Charlie Hoult, Chair of Dynamo, said: “This is great news for the region. Dynamo has always placed the region’s strengths in technology in a wider context and it’s testament to the strength and depth of support for innovation and collaboration that the Institute will provide a further platform to engage both nationally and internationally.

“The institute will also be a beacon for the up-skilling needed for this IT revolution, if we are to succeed in areas such as smart cars, cybersecurity, government digitisation or cloud innovation.

“Our region needs to be at the forefront of this so NISDI is great for the region, great for the University and great for the future.”
Richard Baker, Head of Strategy and Policy at the North East Local Enterprise Partnership, said, “We are delighted that the Chancellor has confirmed funding for the new National Institute for Smart Data Innovation and congratulate Newcastle University, and partners from across the North East who came together to make the proposal, in securing this investment.

“The North East has a strong profile as one of the UK’s leading digital economy hubs and this investment is recognition of the region’s potential to provide national leadership working with big data applications. The Smart Data Institute will provide a national and international focus for new skills, ideas and resources in a rapidly growing part of the global economy, with a current annual value of $125bn.”

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How to deliver North East economic growth through Life Sciences innovation

Dr Peter Simpson, N8 Research Partnership and Life Sciences lead on the North East LEP Innovation Board, and Geoff Davison, Bionow

The North East Local Enterprise Partnership (North East LEP) Innovation Board members have been working on a new strategy to grow the North East’s Health and Life Sciences sector.

The North East LEP has identified Life Sciences as an important strategic area of economic activity in the region, and so the LEP Innovation Board’s experts are keen to develop an industry strategy and action plan to foster growth of the Health and Life Sciences sector in the North East. This represents a great opportunity to generate economic returns from more and better jobs if it is embraced by key partners.

The North East is already a great place to do Life Sciences, and a great place to live and work. But we feel there is so much more potential to unlock. Over recent months, we have sought your views on a range of possible priorities that we had scoped to help achieve this. For those of you who filled in our Life Sciences survey, a huge thank you – and congratulations to Julie Wright, Commercial Manager
at Data Trial Limited; winner of our Kindle Fire prize!

This feedback has been incredibly helpful in sharpening the vision and directing the prioritisation of actions. From analysing your feedback, the Life Sciences working group has agreed three key areas for prioritised LEP support and additional opportunities.

Areas we have identified as possible priority opportunities include:

• Fully leveraging nationally important assets and centres – within the region and beyond – to help local companies.
• Enhancing specialist funding opportunities – to ensure that innovative regional companies have access to the funding and support they need to thrive here
• Facilitating strong linkages to academia and other external innovation sources
o Creating the conditions to build a cluster economy in Health in Development & Ageing
o Enhanced Health Grand Challenges Programme

In order to support these priorities, support and grow the business base the team have also been working through ways for the LEP to ensure:
• A long term plan for provision of specialist health and life sciences company accommodation
• Sector-specific specialist skills sector plans
• Effective strategic leadership & coordination for the region
• Promoting the life sciences sector nationally and internationally
• Growth of our distinctive assets and niches
• Improving the Scientific, Technical and Leadership Skills base

The Life Sciences working group and the North East LEP Innovation Board are doing this work as volunteers – because our passion is for the growing the economy of the region together.

So thank you again for your input, and we look forward to sharing with you an update on the LEP response to our proposals shortly.

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Women and Innovation – what’s going wrong?

On International Women’s Day, 8th March 2016, HSBC announced the shortlist in their recent business competition. Of the ten people short-listed, there was just one woman- and that’s out of over 1000 applicants to the competition.

This could have been a one-off, but similarly, last summer, in the Virgin Pitch to Rich competition which attracted multiples of 1000s of entries, yet again, the shortlist of ten was nine men and one woman (http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/pitch-to-rich/). What is going wrong here? Why is it that business ideas presented by women are not chosen as winners? I can’t believe that the quality of the applications from women to both competitions was so much lower that it caused them to be so under- represented in the short-lists. I’ve used these business competition examples as a proxy for women’s engagement in innovation, which is perhaps misplaced, but having searched my networks (which are mainly North East England based) and tried to uncover women who are innovating, it is clear that there are women in senior positions in supportive /facilitative roles in innovation environments, but it’s hard to find women who are openly ‘innovating in business’.

At this point I should declare my interest; one is that as a former secondee to the North East Local Enterprise Partnership Innovation team, but secondly, (and my major prompt for this article), is I am particularly irked as I entered my invention to both competitions. Now naturally I feel my innovative business deserves to be up there in the top ten(!) (in a nutshell, I’ve designed a new baby’s cotbed, (see http://www.karekot.com/) which systematically reduces the hazards I faced with my baby in a traditional wooden-barred cot). I’ve followed all the due process rules of product development, including spending thousands on intellectual property, but for whatever reason I have not yet managed to get it ‘over the line’ and get it to market. Karekot was inspired by my daughter when she was a baby- she’s now six and a half and it’s getting embarrassing that it has taken me so long! There are mitigating circumstances however, and rather than brooding on my own bitterness, which I admit I’m good at (!), I’ve tried to understand why it is that women are so under-represented in innovation:

The investment network is imbalanced

I’ll start off by saying it’s great that we have a female investor network here in North East England http://www.gabriel-investors.com/, but most of the investment opportunities still require pitching to a majority of men. I have recently been recommended to approach a North East based investment network and did some research on their members – all 16 of them listed are men! Whilst I have no fear of pitching to this audience, and have done it with some success in the past, for some women with great ideas and creativity, this can really be off-putting. From the investor perspective, (and indeed in any grouping of similar types of people), they will naturally associate with those who are like them. But, wouldn’t it be great if there could be a more diverse mix on our investment panels resulting in a more diverse mix of businesses funded? It’s interesting (and quite sad really) to note that an investment platform called CircleUp uses data to select potential investment businesses, rather than a human, to avoid bias see http://www.fastcompany.com/3057844/when-data-not-humans-guide-vc-funding-more-women-win but it is with some success, as 35% of its funded companies have a female Chief Exec or Founder compared to the usual rate of traditional VC investments being less than 10%. And there are examples of where investments in female led businesses pay off; First Round Capital reported female founders performing 63 % better than investments made with all-male founding teams (http://thenextweb.com/insider/2016/03/11/961528/). Village Capital (http://impactalpha.com/social-enterprise-leveling-the-investment-playing-field/) found that female-run companies outperformed male-led firms by at least 20 percent in revenue earned and jobs created while raising less capital. Now these examples are from the USA- what might we do here?

Women present their ideas/opportunities differently and with less confidence

I’ve noticed that women are much more humble, to the point that they are apologetic about their idea/invention when presenting. It seems to be a natural default position to accept any criticism, implied or otherwise, rather than legitimately challenge it. This is about belief and confidence I guess. Avril MacDonald wrote a fabulous report about the different approaches boys and girls take in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) environment (https://www.wisecampaign.org.uk/uploads/wise/files/not_for_people_like_me.pdf) and has done some very interesting work on the different approaches that men and women adopt when applying for jobs: When it comes to for example, the ten essential criteria that the job requires, potential female and male applicants might have just seven essential skills, but at this point the female will reject it out of hand as she does not have the full set of essential skills, whereas a male will just go for it anyway and probably get the job– well good on him! In my recent experience I was speaking to an excellent financial advisor about what would be reasonable to pitch for as a salary for me to potential investors; my default position was around minimum wage, his advice was to almost double it as in the past investors had not baulked at the Chief Executive taking a reasonable, but not exorbitant salary!

Innovation is perceived as “techy” but truly great innovation sees unarticulated needs and women are often better at identifying these as product or service opportunities

Innovation is ‘sciency and techy’ ?– No its not, it certainly can be, but innovation can apply to every aspect of our lives. However, looking at the on-going imbalance of women who study and work in the STEM industries and the perception that innovation predominates in these industries, this might again partially explain why there is an under-representation of women in innovation in the workplace. An article published on International Women’s Day : http://www.information-age.com/industry/uk-industry/123461066/international-womens-day-2016-10-things-you-need-know-about-women-tech#sthash.Z5BDLfkL.dpuf cited just 7% of girls currently taking up computer studies A-level courses. At University only 17% of those studying computer science in higher education are women, which is the lowest percentage in any field except for engineering and technology. In these subjects women make up just 15% of the enrolments. Of that small percentage of women who take STEM subjects, only half (51%) actually go on to do STEM-related jobs. But, women are good at seeing problems and creating solutions to them. The nursery industry is a really good example of where mums especially come up with new products because what they have experienced simply didn’t work well enough.

Women still remain the main carers

‘Mummy, you’re always working!’ – how can that plaintive wail from a cute as chips six year old not tug at your heart strings and not take you away from that important aspect of your business plan? I regularly get this and I constantly feel the guilt as I juggle to keep her sweet, the house in a state of reasonable tidiness and progress my business, in effect, in my spare time. And school run and school pick up always mean that I’m one of the last in work and one of the first to leave so, those breakfast meetings and dinners in swanky (and not so swanky hotels!) are off the agenda. This is, I know, where many informal, but productive conversations are had.

And finally, the pearler!:

‘It’s a lifestyle business’

WHAT??? When recently speaking to a potential investor about my business, this is the comment I received from him. Why is there an assumption that because you are female you naturally fall into the ‘lifestyle business’ category? – the conversation ended pretty soon after that!

So, that could appear to be quite a subjective rant, and whilst I know a lot of men want to see change I do feel a little better for it! If this article provokes responses of women (and men!) who can challenge my assumptions and relay different experiences great – but even better if they are actually doing it, let’s shout about it and get it out there!

Katharine Paterson
Founder and Director at So To Company Ltd