SHEEO

We’re all in

In conversation with some of SheEO New Zealand’s Activators and Ventures.

INTERVIEWS JENNY RUDD & MONIQUE BALVERT-O’CONNOR PHOTOS DAHLIA KATZ & SUPPLIED

RIGHT Sue (right) with senior accountant Candace Tana. BELOW Beany’s Papamoa-based cofounder and head accountant Jenny Marklew. OPPOSITE Sue on stage at the global SheEO summit in Toronto.

VENTURE

SUE DE BIEVRE

CEO OF BEANY I ’m an accountant, but I was fed up with the accounting profession, in which women are paid less than men and charging clients by the hour meant that small businesses were always pushed aside for bigger clients with deeper pockets. In 2015, I took a step to the side and redesigned the whole thing. My two superpowers are using technology to solve problems and building teams of great people. I employed both to set up beany.com, an online accountant for businesses that employ between one and five people.

Beany uses technology to dramatically cut the cost of accounting services. And we’ve written code to do cool stuff like predict business failure and success, so our clients can stay on the success side. We’re more accurate and cost less, our clients love us, small businesses make more money and we’re all happy. Tick!

Our team works remotely in pods of about five accountants, who take it in turns to lead the pod. We pay above industry rate, and being kind to our clients and each other is a contractual obligation at Beany.

We have free helplines to answer accounting queries, and I mean that – it’s free to ring up and ask for help with accounting. Our customers never get a bill at the end of the year and our standard services are fixed rate. If you want anything extra – like, say, a cash-flow forecast so you can apply for a mortgage – you get a quote and a time frame up front.

“ I S T O O D U P A N D A S K E D F O R $ 1 . 5 M I L L I O N I N F O L L O W - O N F U N D I N G . W E C L O S E D OUT THE ROUND OVERSUBSCRIBED.”

So we had the business side nailed, and we were growing. In 2018, we needed more capital to keep doing so. We were performing in the top 20 percent of tech service companies globally, but no one wanted to invest in us. I knew we’d appeal to female investors, but we kept getting presented with men who all said no. I was broken. Then Kirsty Reynolds, who’s a SheEO Activator and on the board of angle network Ice Angels, peeled me off the floor and told me to apply to SheEO as a Venture. And everything changed. We got funded alongside Chia Sisters, Hello Cup, The Better Packaging Co and Guardian Angel Security.

At the SheEO summit in April 2019, I stood up and asked for $1.5 million in follow-on funding. We closed out the round oversubscribed. Many Activators invested, thanks in no small part to Theresa Gattung investing immediately; it gave others confidence to follow suit.

Before SheEO, Beany was running out of cash. Now we’re investing in high growth with a new chief marketing officer, planning for expansion overseas and developing artificial-intelligence capabilities that will change the accounting sector forever. We’ll be able to predict financial problems well before a traditional accountant would see them. This gives us the opportunity to help before the client gets into real difficulty.

For the first time in my career, I’ve found my people. This year I became an Activator so I can help other womenled businesses experience the support we’ve had. I’m still an accountant, but I’m not your average accountant.

BEANY.COM

Louise with fellow SheEO Activator Karen Walker.

ACTIVATOR

LOUISE BENTLEY

MANAGING DIRECTOR OF ENERGI

I’m a marketing company owner who has worked in the communications industry for 30 years, so my client base is very diverse and I have many contacts – something that’s hugely valuable in my role as a SheEO Activator .

I’ve been an Activator for two years and see that role involving giving – including giving those I mentor access to relevant contacts. It’s about connecting people. An email can lead to strategising, advice, offers of help… It’s about designing a path to success and this is totally in line with my award-winning marketing business, Energi. I know about systems and processes that are designed for successful outcomes.

Through SheEO, I’ve been helping women with fledgling businesses with things like distribution, networking and strategising. I tell them that positioning their brand in the right way will lead to attraction, which can then lead to transaction. Many of those I assist are product manufactures and service creators. Not many are marketers, but marketing provides the oxygen.

I also coach the women I mentor to elevate themselves. One of my messages to them is: Start being the critically acclaimed one on the global stage. Another is: If you want to be the market leader, then act like it.

I thoroughly enjoy my SheEO involvement, sharing time with other Activators who are experienced women and also radically generous with their time and expertise. We’re not about sitting in a boardroom – we’re a

community of doers and that keeps me energised. Inertia doesn’t get a look in! Individually and collectively we’re also change-makers, and that’s crucial given the action that still needs to be taken around things like pay parity and gender equality. Far too many women founding businesses still face rejection when they seek funding through traditional means. During my time with SheEO, I’ve met some incredible women with great business ideas. They’re women who so deserve to be heard. Thanks to SheEO and its Activators’ commitment to gifting $1100 a year to assist womenowned fledgling businesses, we can help some of those women who meet the criteria with interest-free loans. The women I’ve been helping are incredibly talented and gifted. Like the Chia Sisters, for instance, who have launched a beverage business with a focus on the most nutritious and sustainable juices and seeds. And Pure Peony, the producers of soap, cream and shampoo made using peony root to calm and help heal irritated skin. When I help the women behind these different ventures, I use knowledge that has worked for my own business. For example, my agency recently won a gold medal for unprecedented brand cut through – and sales surge – for Musashi. Strategic insight, differing marketing layers and touchpoints of interaction with prospective customers all came into play. I get a lot out of my SheEO involvement and strongly encourage others to get involved. Get in amongst it! Its creators have absolutely started something and I’m definitely in for the long haul. ENERGI.CO.NZ “ W H E N I H E L P T H E W O M E N B E H I N D T H E S E D I F F E R E N T V E N T U R E S , I U S E K N O W L E D G E T H AT H A S W O R K E D F O R MY OWN BUSINESS.”

ACTIVATOR

DEBORAH PEAD

CEO OF PEAD PR P ead PR is a brand-building communications agency that uses a cocktail of activities to help build and promote branded products and services. We provide media relations, social media, content creation and event activation for a wide range of local and international brands, from BMW to L’Oréal, from Huawei to Xero, from restaurant openings to New Zealand Fashion Week.

I heard about SheEO through Theresa Gattung. The minute she explained it, I offered our support – both as Activators and also with media relations and publicity to launch SheEO in New Zealand. Our door is always open to Ventures who want communications advice.

Pead PR is owned by four women, and female-led and owned business SheEO sits at the heart of our beliefs on enabling women in the workplace. We have zero tolerance for gender disparity and encourage all industry leaders to commit to gender equality in the workplace. The success of SheEO Ventures helps raise the visibility of this message.

PEADPR.CO.NZ

“ I ’ V E W I T N E S S E D M A N Y R A D I C A L A C T S O F G E N E R O S I T Y T H R O U G H S H E E O A N D B E E N B L E S S E D T O H AV E B E E N A PA R T O F I T MYSELF THROUGH SUCH AS ACT”

ACTIVATOR

JOANNE RAMA

CHILDBIRTH AND PARENTING EDUCATOR I first heard about SheEO at a WorldWomen17 event and joined because Theresa Guttang enabled me to. As a solo mum bringing up seven kids, I’ve never had savings and was always just getting by in life. I’ve witnessed many radical acts of generosity through SheEO and been blessed to have been a part of it myself through such as act.

My experience staying with SheEO founder Vicki Saunders in Toronto in November 2017 and meeting many of the original Activators really opened my eyes and mind; it made me realise that the business world could have heart. Having spent my career as a nurse and midwife, I didn’t really have much respect for the business world, but through SheEO, my thinking has changed and I now have had the privilege of being part of something very special that’s inclusive and real. During these challenging times, I feel blessed to know I’m part of a worldwide family whose members really do give a damn about each other.