Women Entrepreneur Closing Regional and STEM Gender Gaps

Household names such as Booktopia, Carmens Fine Foods and Cellarmasters started as AFR Fast 100 companies. Now a Dubbo entrepreneur closing regional and gender gaps has earned her place on the list, as one of the country’s fastest growing businesses.  Meet Juliet Duffy of Regional Enviroscience.

Nine years ago Juliet Duffy started this business from a garage in a rental property in Dubbo, NSW.  Now, with offices in Dubbo, Wagga and Tamworth and recently in Maroochydore, Queensland, her business employs over 25 people, including 17 professional staff.

Regional EnviroScience is an Occupational and Environmental Hygiene consultancy with specialties in asbestos, pollution incidents, meth lab clean-ups, contaminated sites and air, & water monitoring.  EnviroScience protects the health of people and the environment through detecting and monitoring a range of contaminants in the air, water, soil and materials working with a range of public and private clients including state & federal departments and tier one civil, manufacturing and mining companies.

‘Being regionally-based,’ says Juliet Duffy, ’we understand the uniqueness of our natural environment, infrastructure and communities.  Living in the towns where we work, our team has the connections and support to get the job done quickly and efficiently, and recognition of our innovative approach to meeting legislative and safety requirements has amplified our growth’.

The company also specialises in naturally occurring asbestos which is prevalent in regional NSW, detecting and testing samples at their Dubbo-based NATA accredited laboratory.

Typically a male dominated industry, the EnviroScience team includes two young women who are both science qualified and Licenced Asbestos Assessors, mentored by Juliet. ‘Being a woman in STEM is not without its challenges – especially with perceptions, however it has never really been a problem with on-site work’ says Juliet, ‘all of our team, contractors and clients support each other in day to day operations. It has been easy and thoroughly enjoyable to grow the business to where it is today, and without their support we wouldn’t have been able to achieve this extraordinary growth. I thank them all.’

The growth over the last four years can also be attested to Juliet’s sheer tenacity.  A recent breast cancer survivor, Juliet knows how to put up a good fight and is a champion for regional businesses and the untapped expertise in regional areas. ‘Often the education and experience that lies within the regions is overlooked by decision makers in capital cities, adding great expense and additional resource use to manage projects.’

‘I hope EnviroScience’s national recognition can contribute to breaking down some of the false perceptions that being a bush-based organisation is some sort of barrier to talent.’ Says Juliet.

For the future Juliet is keen to develop new products, technologies and staff that will help keep people safe from environmental hazards, both in Australia and internationally.  ‘Every day new hazards are being identified, and we strive to be on top of the impacts they can have on the communities where we live and work’.