Re-Post: Growth Capital: All-girl team to put your house in order

We talk to Jo Behari, the entrepreneur behind tradeswoman business Home Jane

DIY women

Lucy Tobin

14 May 2012

Most Londoners have spent the past few weeks moaning about living through the wettest drought on record. But for Jo Behari, the deluge has been very good for business.

Behari is the entrepreneur behind Home Jane, a tradeswoman business that hit revenues of £320,000 last year. And the rain is causing a surge in the number of clients booking her female plumbers to fix leaks and overflowing gutters. “Everyone seems to have leaky houses in London, which is great for business,” she explains.

“We rely on internet advertising, so when it started pouring we changed our Google Adwords from ‘female plumber’ or ‘female electrician’ to ‘roof leaking’ and ‘damp patch appeared’. It means anyone typing that into Google is directed to our plumbers, and business has gone crazy.” Home Jane was born in 2006 when Behari had what she thought was her dream job, working in marketing for an accountancy firm. “I thought it would be amazing, taking me all over the world. But I hated the long hours for very little reward. I became disilusioned and decided to start my own business.”

A few months later, she was having electrical work done on her bathroom. “I had to phone an electrician three times before he came, and when he finally did, he made such a mess in my flat,” she says. “Then he started asking if I lived there alone, and I felt a bit uncomfortable. I started thinking about being in a vulnerable position by inviting strangers into my home to get work done. That’s how I came up with the idea for Home Jane.”

(Funding opportunity) Women in Clean Energy Program for United States

The U.S. Department of Energy has announced a three-part plan to help implement the Clean Energy Education and Empowerment initiative or “C3E” – a Ministerial program aimed at attracting more women to clean energy careers and supporting their advancement into leadership positions.   

This new program, pursued in partnership with the MIT Energy Initiative, is designed to translate the goals of C3E into concrete, meaningful action in the United States.  

“The Department of Energy is committed to advancing American leadership in the global clean energy economy and capturing the new markets and jobs of the 21^st century. We will be more successful in these endeavors if we harness the talents of all of our citizens,” saysEnergy Secretary Steven Chu. “Through the U.S. C3E initiative announced today, we are excited to join with MIT to ensure we are leveraging the skills and experiences of women nationwide to help solve important national and international energy challenges.”

MIT President Susan Hockfield, highlighting the importance of this partnership says “Inventing a sustainable energy future represents the defining challenge of our time.  To make progress against a problem of such scale, complexity and global scope demands the fullest range and depth of talent, ideas and commitment; by definition, then, women must play essential roles in the drive toward transformative energy innovations. MIT is pleased to join with DOE to help develop and implement the C3E Initiative, and to sponsor both the Women in Clean Energy Symposium and the awards program this fall.”

The new components of the U.S. C3E action plan were announced  this week at the Clean Energy Ministerial, a global forum of the energy ministers and leaders of 23 governments, joining together to promote policies and programs to advance clean energy technology, share best practices and lessons learned, and encourage the transition to a global clean energy economy.  Sweden’s Minister of Information Technology & Energy, Anna‐Karin Hatt, and South Africa’s Director General of Energy, Nelisiwe Magubane, delivered keynote addresses at the C3E event, followed by a moderated panel discussion on the policies and programs that have been effective in increasing women’s participation in the clean energy workforce. 

These new activities help deliver on the U.S. commitment to C3E, launched by nine governments at the first Clean Energy Ministerial in July 2010. Australia, Denmark, Mexico, Norway, South Africa, Sweden, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and the United States each committed to undertake meaningful activities to advance women in clean energy and close the gender gap in their own national contexts and link their efforts wherever possible.  Each country is developing its own implementation plan, tailored to its unique workforce and industry needs and talents. 

Retrieved from: http://www.buildings.com/News/IndustryNews/tabid/3290/ArticleID/13970/Default.aspx

Celebrate Labor History Month with Tradeswomen Coloring Books

To paraphrase Boston Councilwoman Ayanna Pressley, "In order for children to reach their full potential, they have to see it's possible". Women working in non-traditional/male-dominated trades is represented in this coloring book for youngsters.

Published in 1986, this book contains illustrations children can color as they read about the women working in trades such as plumbing, firefighting, and electrical work in three languages.







Retrieved from: http://www.laborarts.org/custom/color/color.htm


See this book on Amazon