Women who have smashed through the “glass ceiling” in the UK oil & gas industry are as rare as hen’s teeth, unlike Norway, where women in senior posts are commonplace by comparison.
It is not for the want of trying, but Emma Perfect, managing director of Lux Innovate, a research and development micro company, is the first woman to submit to In The Boardroom.
Perfect, who has an Oxford first and who hails from Edinburgh, was quick to clock the gender imbalance when she started attending oil & gas industry conferences.
By contrast, women dominate at Lux Innovate.
“There are eight of us, seven of whom are women. But we’re quite unusual,” she told Energy.
Perfect is a life scientist. She comes across as a focused, serious individual who has gathered around her equally serious, committed women.
So how is she viewed by the male-dominated, at times chauvinistic, oil & gas community?
“Most people say nothing, or at least not openly. But it’s not something I focus on. I’ve never been held back in anything I’ve tried,” said Perfect.
“I’ve never felt like I’ve missed an opportunity because I was held back – not once. Whether that could change should I try to move within the industry to a different role . . . it might be different.
“I’ve been very fortunate in that the people I’ve met in the course of my career have always helped me to take the next steps. Those who helped me during my degree at Oxford were the ones who perhaps saw some potential and, as a result, assisted me towards a PhD.
“And, when stepping from doing my PhD to joining a small company – that was Lux six years ago – again, there was a network that I was able to make a lot of use of.
“It’s the same thing with the Lux Innovate board; lots of help. When I was chief scientific officer at the company I sat on its board for maybe a year-and-a-half without a directorship.
“I think they recognised that I could do more in and with the firm, so when I became managing director it was with the support of the investors.”
Listening to Perfect, it quickly became clear that she understood the value of having a good network from university days.
She agreed that many people, including relatively senior managers, seem not to understand that value and therefore don’t make the effort.
“It’s essential. That’s one of the things I’ve changed in the company. Before, it is fair to say that we didn’t have much presence in Scotland, within the sector that we operate in. But since I joined I’ve spent a lot of time trying to make people aware of who we are and what we do. That’s a big change.
“The network is crucial as much of our business comes through word of mouth and presentations.”
When Perfect joined Lux Innovate in December 2003, why did she take such a risk and what did she find? What attracted this life scientist who perhaps had the pick of the marketplace?
“Lux was certainly very small. I was the fourth person into the company. There was the founder, who was a scientist, a CEO who was a scientist by training but who had been a consultant, worked in other industries and had just completed an MBA. He had joined to give Lux commercial drive.
“I was fortunate in that, though science-based, the company has always had a commercial aspect, which is what I joined it for. I wanted to be with a small company where I could make a mark.
“I was lab-based at first but wanted to do marketing, understand the finances and learn the accounts and how to run a company.
“It’s where I’ve always wanted to go. As a life scientist I could have joined a big company and worked in a lab, stayed in academia, could have gone into publishing . . . I had lots of options.”
Perfect admitted that she had made the riskiest choice.
“When I joined the company, it had raised equity finance. But even then it was risky. Some people gave the firm a couple of years at most. But that sort of thing has never overly concerned me. I’m not particularly risk averse.
“The difference now is that I feel the responsibility for a team of people who are dependent on the company for their jobs.
“But I believe that, in order to make companies like this work, you have to go full-out. There’s no point in being quiet, inhibited even. To make a mark you have to get out there, invest the time, invest the money and go for it, otherwise you won’t realise your goals.”
When Perfect joined Lux it was focused on the development of biosensors, fungal-based organisms that light up when they come into contact with something in the environment.
It was a very specific product but it crossed a range of industries. So Perfect and her team worked in pharmaceuticals, environmental testing and oil & gas.
“But, by 2005 we recognised that the company’s product future wasn’t in fungal biosensors, rather it was our ability to solve problems using light-based technologies.
“We changed Lux by becoming a technology development house. We were approached by companies that had problems, mainly in chemicals monitoring, also disease monitoring, and sought solutions to those problems using light-based technologies.
“In 2005 we worked in the environmental, health, oil & gas and a variety of other projects. So we were very broad. I became chief scientific officer to run the R&D projects. We had spread ourselves across several industries to reduce risk, though the longer term aim was to eventually focus on one single industry, if possible.
“Last year, we decided that oil & gas was where we wanted to be, so we refocused the business, at the same time reducing our staff from 14 to eight.”
She told Energy that the firm’s investors, board and even those on the laboratory floor, collectively drove the change. It had become clear that a broad strategy was difficult to sustain, especially in recession-hit Britain.
“We weren’t advancing fast enough in any of the target industries. As a small company with finite resources, we had to be more focused and move faster.
“The oil & gas industry was the one where we felt we could make the greatest inroad.
“There was a near complete change-out in the company, and that included the board.”
So was this crisis-driven change?
“Yes, there was a crisis,” admitted Perfect.
“The investors realised that things needed to change, but at the same time, they had a lot of faith in the company. Indeed, they invested a further £400,000 to help the switch to oil & gas only.
“We had to make the changes. But we were unfortunate in that we tried to commercialise a lot of our technology in 2008-09. It was a very difficult time for us, as it was for many others. We wondered whether we were going to survive.”
Turnover in 2009 was around £500,000. That’s not much. “Everyone in the company was earning buttons, not uncommon in micro-firms trying to get off the ground.”
In some ways, the crisis was a good thing for the Lux team. By Perfect’s admission, it made everyone re-evaluate what they were good at and where they ought to switch.
Does that mean life at Lux is getting brighter?
Perfect thinks so.
“We’re all going in the same direction. We know what we need to do and I was given the chance to lead the change; an opportunity to put my stamp on the business.”
There is a saying that a new boss has 90 days to make the impression that’s going to carry. Is that how Perfect has found it?
“”I always gave myself 90 days, to be honest; only because that’s how long I felt it would take me to bring about some of the changes I wanted to make in terms of where the company needs to be going.
“In reality, I think one has slightly longer than that. I’m in the fortunate position of having been in the company for some time. The investors already knew me and I suppose I had slightly longer than 90 days.
“But 90 days was the point in my mind where I felt I had to have made improvements.”
And the most difficult decision was?
“Refocusing the business meant a smaller team, keeping only those people who would be relevant to the business going forward. But I also knew that everyone was very highly qualified and should have no difficulty finding new jobs. I would have kept them all if I could. But that wasn’t possible.”
Perfect has been boss for the thick end of a year and, despite the necessarily lean environment, she reckons it is the best thing she’s ever done. Hard work – but finally starting to pay off.
The R&D focus of Lux Innovate means that its R&D tends to be funded by the operators and large contractors.
“They’re our main clients. We don’t take on a project unless there’s a strong collaboration approach where the client gets directly involved.
“One of the projects we’ve had was to do with oil in water; that was an ITF (Industry Technology Facilitator) co-ordinated Proof of Concept project and has led to other related projects.
“In fact we’ve worked in the oil & gas industry since 2005. However, we still have a lot to learn in terms of what the problems are and the ITF is a great way to find out just what’s going on in the industry and what the problems are.
“However, we have just as many projects that haven’t been through ITF, so it isn’t the be all and end all.”
Lux Innovate still needs investor support. According to Perfect, turnover for this year will be around £500,000; and the same for 2011, but on a lower cost base due to thinning out staff.
“I don’t want to go back and have to raise money again to support this business. I want to show that Lux is viable. This year’s about focusing, taking technologies that have qualified into field trials; to commercialise the ones we’ve already developed, in order to create a solid base for going forward to start new projects.
“So this year is about proving that we have something to offer that can be sustained and built on.
“And, although we’re an R&D-focused company, there is the possibility that we could build ourselves into a larger service provider.”
Meanwhile, Perfect has a tiny team to lead to success and that means no one should be too proud to tackle anything.
Who makes the tea?
“We all make the tea, we all wash up.”
