'I quit well-paid job while seven months pregnant after men said I didn't understand - now I'm a CEO'
Just 18% of companies in the UK are led by women, and while data suggests female entrepreneurs are on the rise, men still receive more funding and are entrusted with higher average loans to get them started.
In a new series every Tuesday,Money blog reporterJess Sharpspeaks to women who are bossing it in their respective fields - hearing their stories, struggles and advice for those who want to follow in their footsteps.
This week, she has spoken toJenn McGarrigle, the co-founder and chief executive of Cyd Connects.
"I look back and I'm like, 'What was I thinking?'"
The beginning of Jenn McGarrigle's entrepreneur journey wasn't exactly conventional.
"I was pregnant at the time and leaving a full-time job."
The mother-of-two officially set up her women-led sustainability consultancy company in late 2020, while seven months pregnant.
"We kind of started and did a few projects, and then we properly kicked off after I had my baby and went on maternity leave," she tells the Money blog.
The 40-year-old had spent most of her career working in the health and beauty industry, dealing with brand strategy and communications for some of the biggest names in the business, including Clarins and Liz Earle.
Along the way, and after being given the work "nobody wanted to do", she discovered a "big challenge" for brands: the need to constantly adapt their sustainability practices.
That's where the idea for Cyd Connects came from.
How did it start?
Jenn began feeling like she needed a change while working for a supplements brand called Liberty.
"I was kind of hitting my ceiling in my role," she says.
"I was also six months pregnant, so I was like, gosh, what do I do here? Do I stay and get the maternity pay and then just figure it out? Or do I have another option?"
She spent weeks going through her finances, talking to her husband and working out how much she needed to save to figure out if leaving her job was even a viable option.
"We've been told by society that once you're pregnant you're at a disadvantage for so long that we believe it ourselves and we don't move from our careers," Jenn says.
"But saying that, we all have responsibilities. I have a mortgage to pay. I have another child. I can't just quit my job, I'm not a millionaire."
She looked at what she spent "down to the penny", calculated the minimum amount her family needed a month and saved 10 months of mortgage payments.
"It's really important to know that because when you have a family and a mortgage, you need to manage your own life as well and when starting a business, it's really important to make sure you have all of those optics clear," she says.
Ultimately, she decided to take the leap with her co-founders, Aisling and Mica, and the trio started hustling.
"We were all at different crossroads in our life and wanted to do more good for the world," Jenn says.
"We wanted to help business make a better impact."
'I delivered my last project days before birth'
Jenn worked right up until she gave birth in February 2021 and after a few months, she was back full-time.
"We set the business up in December 2020, and started our first project as a team. I was giving birth in February 2021, so I had a timeline, but I delivered my last project five days before I gave birth," she says.
So far, the company hasn't taken any outside investment and Jenn still hasn't drawn a salary matching what she used to earn.
"We're going on a slower trajectory at the moment but finances are always tough on your business," she says.
"You get these waves of great business, you're making money and then you have your downtime, so it's about starting and making sure you review your finances enough that you understand when those waves are going to happen."
Four-day week and championing women
While focusing on sustainability, Cyd Connects has also centred itself on building a working environment built for women by women, and has invested in a four-day 32-hour work week for all staff.
It also offers discounts to companies that are majority owned by women or an under-served group.
"I faced a lot of barriers in my career because I'm an Asian woman and people don't realise they're being biased towards women," Jenn says.
"If the majority of your workforce is women, but then all of a sudden senior leadership is not, there's a reason why that's happening.
"A lot of businesses aren't really willing to face that yet, and we really wanted to become a champion for women. It's really important for me. I have a daughter, I want things to change for the future."
The challenges
Like any business, setting up Cyd Connects has come with its challenges, and Jenn says being a woman was part of that.
"I think a lot of women have imposter syndrome. When I started the business, I didn't even call myself CEO at first," she says.
"I was like, should I call myself a CEO? I really had to take that thinking away and say I am running this business. I am a CEO."
Another obstacle came from the bias around women's financial knowledge.
"I had worked in marketing for a long time, and I was often told by the CEOs and finance directors that I didn't understand the finances well enough," Jenn says.
"I think women are often told that they don't know them and that is a kind of bias against us because we can understand finances as well as anyone."
She adds: "You don't realise that it's happening in the moment... But actually, when I look back, I realise that it was just an easy thing to say to me, to not promote me into a position."
Jenn's advice
While every woman can run a business, Jenn says, those who are successful need to have a real passion for what they're doing - and be realistic.
"It's a lot of work. It's hard and you're not getting paid for that hard work," she says.
"No one starts a business and is just making tonnes of money."
Another tip is to be prepared mentally and organised in your personal life.
"You can definitely do it, you just need to get yourself ready for it," she says.
Lastly, part of the process means you have to just "go with the flow".
"Things are going to go up and down. It's going to be quite a journey," she says.
"But as long as you are realise that's going to happen and you're open to it, I feel like you can really fly with starting a business."
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