Meet the Hot 30 Women #BreakingtheBias in Energy & Mining
Today marks International Women’s Day - a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women.
This years International Women’s Day theme is #BreaktheBias. The call to action is to imagine a gender equal world that is free of bias, stereotypes and discrimination. A world that's diverse, equitable, and inclusive. A world where difference is valued and celebrated.
In the male-dominated industries of energy and mining, International Women's Day is particularly important. Not only does it give all of us an opportunity to further raise awareness of the current inequality of women in the industry, it also gives us an opportunity to celebrate the work and achievements of those companies and individuals who are already breaking the bias.
In March 2022, CORE Innovation Hub announced the Hot 30 Awards, which for the first time acknowledged individual awards, including the Women-Led Innovation Award. This award was designed to highlight companies either founded or led by innovative women in Australia. Each of the women acknowledged in this award category have demonstrated fearless leadership, dedicated passion and commitment, and have built their businesses from the ground up, all facing and overcoming a number of inherent bias within the industry.
Meet the Women Breaking the Bias
Brigette McDowell - Founder and CEO, Cheeditha Energy
Based in Karratha in regional WA, Cheeditha Energy is not just working to transform the Pilbara region through renewable energy innovation, the team led by Brigette McDowell, is working to break the bias on multiple levels by driving change within the sector both for women and by bringing Indigenous business to the forefront.
They have set the standard for First Nations innovations and participation in the energy sector. They are challenging the status-quo of energy consumption and driving renewable energy uptake in the Pilbara and under the leadership of Brigette, have consistently doubled their business year-on-year for four years.
With the country’s focus on renewables for the future, we believe there is significant opportunity for continued growth and look forward to seeing the boundaries Brigette will break next. Find out more about Cheeditha Energy here.
Philippa Faulkner, Co-Founder & Business Development Manager, Envirocopper
Philippa Faulkner is one of the founding partners of EnviroCopper Ltd, established to solve one of Australia’s lesser-known exploration and mining challenges. There is more than 49.5Mt of copper in Australia that can't be mined conventionally. In 2017, Philippa and her geologist husband Leon decided to research potential advances in low impact InSitu Recovery techniques that enable extraction of copper resources without digging and blasting, no rock movement, less noise nor requirement for tailings dams.
The Adelaide-based company is helping to shape a new future for copper mining in Australia by aiming to increase the productivity and output within the sector by allowing for previously stranded assets to now be mined economically using ISR methods.
Philippa’s commitment to driving change within mining industry and breaking the bias is helping to set a new standard and create a brighter, more inclusive future for other women to step into. Read more about Philippa & the work of EnviroCopper here.
Natalie Hurtado - Founder and CEO of Arteh
ARTEH aims to empower organisations, investors, shareholders, and customers to make climate-safe decisions, by helping businesses transition to the net-zero future.
Natalie’s vision for an inclusive and sustainable future is what led her to found a profit-for-purpose business that looks beyond just the bottom line.
Arteh is breaking down bias and helping to shape the industry of tomorrow by focusing on community development initiatives that tackle environmental challenges, placing equal importance on such outcomes as economic outcomes. Within inclusivity at the heart of how the company operates, such initiatives follow the participatory development practice and are to be designed with Indigenous Peoples in Australia and Latin America. Find out more about how Arteh is breaking the bias here.
While this is in no way an exhaustive list of innovators breaking the bias within our ecosystem, we are so proud to promote these women as leaders and change makers.
To hear from more women breaking the bias in our ecosystem, RSVP to our members-only Tech Talks: Female Entrepreneurs session happening on March 15.