Leah's Story

Meet Leah, Head of EnSpire at the University of Oxford. Leah’s work is helping to tackle inequalities in entrepreneurship through the IDEA (Increasing Diversity in Enterprising Activities) initiative, part of EnSpire Oxford (the University’s entrepreneurship hub)) EnSpire and IDEA are part of the Innovation & Engagement in Research Services.

She shared her reasons for wanting to be part of this work and the impact she believes EDI work in entrepreneurship can have. 

Read Leah's full story 

“We need everybody on board, this isn't just about women, or any other groups in particular, this is about everyone…”

Leah Thompson (She/Her)

Head of EnSpire Oxford

Tell us about your journey to this point and what got you into entrepreneurship? 

“I came to entrepreneurship almost by mistake; I'd never thought of myself as an entrepreneur or someone that wanted to be an entrepreneur. But there was this opportunity at Oxford to work with students who were entrepreneurs.  The thought of actually being able to engage with people who had these big ideas, that could impact everything from local area, right up to global change, was something that was really appealing to me. 

“It's such an exciting space to be in. Never a dull moment, never two days the same. But also, I am inspired every day. Often by students and the size of their ambition and their ideas but also by the academics who have been doing this for years, and still keep doing it, and still want to do it because of that desire to make an impact in the world whether the world happens to be their local community or something global. 

“Working for the University, you have the opportunity to make a great impact; there are so many opportunities to help you define your own career path and to do the things that you want to do.” 

What brought you to EDI? 

“Up until about three years ago, I didn't really understand the need for having separate programmes for women. I didn't understand what the problem was.  But once you start talking to people, once you start to understand the issues, you realise how important it is and how the playing field is not level.  

“We need to fix the system, not the women (or any other group).  We know that there are challenges around equality, diversity,and inclusion, and even those that are doing really well, and actually have plans, have to constantly work at it. We cannot be complacent and think that our work here is done."

What are EnSpire and IDEA? Why are they so important?

“EnSpire Oxford  is the University’s entrepreneurship hub, supporting students and staff on everything from entrepreneurial mindset, creativity and opportunities, right through to skills training and even venture creation. IDEA (Increasing Diversity in Enterprising Activities) is a key part of that, which is really about giving people equitable access and making an inclusive environment around entrepreneurship.  

“We know that in entrepreneurship the playing field is not level, we hear all the stories about funding , in particular for women, but also for other underrepresented groups. For example, diversity in venture capital investment is very low, with about 2% of total equity investment going to all-female founding teams and less than 2% going to all-ethnic minority teams. This is a way that we can start to support our entrepreneurs, no matter what background they have, no matter where they come from. IDEA really is about creating a network, from students to seasoned entrepreneurs, to show what entrepreneurship, in all its diverse forms, can look like. We started with supporting women, and those that identify as women, mainly because that it's a group that we know that we can work with to create change quickly, and pave the way for opportunities with other groups.

"Over the past three years we have had so much support and advocacy from all corners of the University. Our senior academic and administrative leadership has been instrumental in supporting us with funding through HEIF and the Strategic Innovation Fund, choosing our first Academic Champion for Women in Entrepreneurship (Professor Kylie Vincent), and being part of the IDEA Advisory Group.  Without this investment of time and funding we wouldn’t be where we are today.”

What are your current priorities?  

“A big priority that we'll be working on is network building. We want to make sure that we are connecting women entrepreneurs together, and the power of a women's network is huge. 

“We've done many events over the last couple of years including a fabulous dinner for women at the Ashmolean Museum. It brings together students right up to senior administrators and academics, and external entrepreneurs in the University and Oxford area. It's an opportunity to meet each other but also to have deeper conversations in a women-only space, which before three years ago, I probably wouldn't have thought was really necessary. Now I see the power of it. The responses have been exactly the same: They all comment on how wonderful it is to be able to grow and develop and make these connections with other women in this space.

"The other area of interest is of course data!  We are analysing the University’s commercialisation data to understand the diversity of those engaging in innovation activities, including licensing and spinouts. This will help us identify where the challenges and good practise is, and how we can better support our students and researchers in this area."

Why is this important to you? 

“This is really important to me because it is about creating a fairer and more equitable world. I think we all want opportunities to feel safe and included, and to know that our voices are heard. We need everybody on board, this isn't just about women, or any other groups in particular, this is about everyone. 

“IDEA is also about bringing people along with us, to get on board, and to take small steps to being more inclusive. I'd rather have a hundred people making one or two steps forward and becoming more aware and interested, than only one person doing it really well. We need everybody to go on this journey together, to work together, to understand. That's how we make a fairer, more equitable world.”

What’s the impact of solving this? 

“We want to change the world and to have global impact. But IDEA alone can't do that, so we need to make sure we're working with partners and that's here in the University and in our community, but also in other universities and other parts around the world.  In order to fix the system we need people in all spaces to step forward and work together.

“My aim and vision are that IDEA continues to grow so that we can connect people here in the University, here in the community, across the UK, and globally, and create a movement where equity and inclusion actually become foremost in everything we do in entrepreneurship.”