Female-focused competitions, programs and funding opportunities are fantastic and necessary ways to encourage women to join tech and business fields. But sometimes all it takes is a quick email blast and a few bottles of wine to get the ball rolling.  

That’s how a recent all-female meet-up came together a few weeks ago in Newfoundland.  

Sarah Murphy, who handles business development for Harbr, a Halifax company that's created an app for construction companies to track milestones, was travelling to St. John’s and decided to ask the female team members in Killick Capital’s portfolio to meet up.

In the end, 13 female team members from companies such as HeyOrca, SequenceBio and Celtx met at the SequenceBio offices. It was an opportunity to connect and build personal networks, which Murphy feels is an invaluable tool for women in business.

“People often hire through their own networks,” said Murphy. “All of this spurred as an opportunity to meet each other and connect.”  

Murphy said that female-focused initiatives, no matter how big or small, are especially important for areas like Newfoundland, which is geographically isolated. So, “if companies are not attracting women, then they have cut themselves off from 50 percent of that already limited talent pool.”

She added: “At a certain point when a company grows, if there are two women and 30 guys, that is an impediment to hiring more women. It’s just not comfortable, it’s weird. It’s strange to walk into a room with 20 or 30 other people and be the only woman in there, that can be a daunting environment.”

Studies have shown that people tend to surround themselves with people who look like them. But that doesn’t excuse the gender imbalance problem. There are a lot of folks in the startup and innovation community, both women and men, who are putting in the work to tip the scales toward gender parity.

The company Murphy works for, Harbr, last year announced it had achieved and will maintain a gender balanced staff. Because, after all, study after study has shown that diverse teams improve overall performance.

Beyond a gender balanced staff, the “ small things” that foster an inclusive business culture include; neutral language in job postings to encourage diverse applicants, ensuring women speak on panels, and, just as importantly, gatherings like the one in St. John’s.

“We’re not trying to solve the problems of the world,” said Murphy. “But we are sharing how we can attract new talent and small things, like how do we hire and make sure we’re doing this in a good way.”

Murphy said Killick plans to host the next meetup. They are talking about holding another one as soon as September.