The type of support women business owners need

can be different to traditional networking. Alexia

Santamaria meets the women working to give female

entrepreneurs the opportunities they need to succeed

WOMEN

IN BUSINESS

Female entrepreneurship is growing year on year in New Zealand and according to the MasterCard Index of

Women Entrepreneurs 2018 (research undertaken across 57 economies across the world) one in three business

owners in New Zealand are women, making us the fourth strongest country internationally in that category.

When you consider women’s second-class status in many other nations it’s not surprising we have a slightly easier

road than others, but there’s still a long way to go. So who do these women turn to when they need help and

advice? There are many business support networks but in more recent years, new organisations have appeared

providing exclusively female assistance. We talked to three women running some of the biggest of these

organisations, providing support for the growing number of female entrepreneurs in our country.

Rachel Lewis willproudly tellyoushe’s

never had a ‘proper job’ in her life.

Butthetruthis farmoreimpressivethan

that.Aftercompletinga politicalscience

degreeshewenttoLondonwitha friend,

wheretheybothfoundworkasnannies.

It wasa jobtheyexcelledat,andsoonthey

were beingasked for recommendations

for other nannies. “We thought ‘Why

don’t we start an agency here?’” says

Rachel,whoco-foundedKiwiOzNannies

withherfriend.“Wehadalwayswanted

tostarta businesstogethersothisseemed

a goodtimetotry.”

Whiletherewasa needforwhatthey

were providing, it wasn’t all smooth

sailing.“Oneofthemainthingsforus–

perhapsbecause we were in London –

wasthatwewere too afraid to ask for help.

Wewerejustso intimidated by it all.”

Theventure turned out to be successful,

but Rachel has never forgotten that

feeling of intimidation. “It was always

becauseweweren’t earning big money in

thosedaysand were too embarrassed to

networkwith what we perceived as ‘real

businessowners’. We didn’t feel worthy of

help.I feelthere were so many things we

should have been doing from much

earlier, which we would have known if

we’djustasked for help from those who

hadbeenbefore.”

WhenRachel returned to New Zealand

in2014, shedidn’t want to commit to a

full-time job, as her and her husband

were trying to start a family. “We had a

long road with IVF and I still owned

KiwiOz in London. I ended up feeling

a bit stuck in my career.” Instead,

she decided to start a Facebook page

called The WE Network [Women Entre-

preneurs] to help women starting out in

business and offer some support,

“especially for those with no idea of what

they were getting themselves into”.

Rachel wanted to ensure other women

didn’t feel as intimidated as she did in

the early days of starting a business.

There was support at the higher levels but

Rachel wanted to reach any woman on

her business journey from two days to

f

RACHEL LEWIS – SHE OWNS IT

68 NEXT / SEPTEMBER 2019