King's Entrepreneur innovates ethical fashion

Josephine won with her app Sojo, which connects customers with local Seamsters and provides a delivery service ensuring they can get their clothes altered, repaired or upcycled with a few simple clicks.

We caught up with Josephine about what it's like to be a young woman starting out in business today, and why it’s important to recognise International Women’s Day.

What women inspire you and why?

So many women inspire me for different reasons. Predominantly, I am inspired by successful black women who have overcome truly monumental barriers to achieve success. These black women, who despite the odds and such adversity, persist with their excellence and pave the way for the rest of us. Maya Angelou, Ava Duverney, Serena Williams, Oprah - the list goes on. By being one of the greatest Writers of all time, one of the most important Directors, one of the most decorated Athletes or one of America’s billionaires, they show me that black women are incredibly strong and powerful. Imagine starting a 100 metre race with white men 75m in front of you and still winning? That is what it takes to be a successful black woman and that magic inspires me.

What challenges have you faced as a woman at the beginning of your business career?

Fortunately, I've found that so early in my business career I have not faced many issues based on my gender. On the contrary, the Women’s Entrepreneur Programme at Kings’ Entrepreneurship Institute has done the opposite - their entire mission is to specifically help female entrepreneurs succeed through workshops, events, talks and weekend retreats. Having said that, wider society is not the Women’s Entrepreneurs Programme and given a society where only 0.0006% of VC funding has gone to black female founders since 2009, I definitely think there will be challenges to come. But I am hopeful- as I’ve said and as those before me have proved, black women can still succeed despite the odds.

Why do you think it’s important to celebrate international women’s day?

It’s important because given everything women have faced and still face today- it’s crucial to have a day that celebrates their achievements, resilience and strength and power. I love the day because it’s a chance to appreciate, a bit more than every other day, how sensational women really are.

How can women overcome these challenges?

I think overcoming any challenges that we face as women really relies on your support network. That means having close and supportive female friends but also there are many groups, accelerators and funds specifically to help female entrepreneurs who face challenges, so it’s important to take advantage of them- their mission is to help you.

What role or impact would you like to play in relation to women's rights, today?

For me personally I was really horrified by how unethical the fast fashion industry was when it came to, predominantly female, garment workers- modern slavery, sexual violence, unsafe working conditions and deaths. By supporting brands like H&M and ASOS and Zara I realised I was endorsing their unethical practices against women and that that was completely against my feminist beliefs. By creating an app that facilitates more second-hand shopping through making clothes altering easy, I hope to have a small impact in steering money away from those companies that take advantage of women in developing countries and take advantage of our planet – hopefully contributing to forcing them into making a change.

Also, given that 5% of leadership positions in the tech sector are held by women I’d love to be a part of a much-needed change by founding and running a successful tech company as a black woman. I intend to create a company that is focussed on hiring women and marginalised groups as well as having a supportive company culture – for example for working mums etc. It may not be a huge impact on women’s rights but it’s what I think I can do as an individual.

What advice would you give young women who would like to start their own business?

The first piece of advice I would give is to wholeheartedly make the decision that you’re going to do it – and then pursue it without doubting yourself. It can be really easy to decide to go for the security of a graduate job or to think that you can’t do it, but we need more female entrepreneurs and now is the perfect time for you to go for it. Going to all the events that are hosted in London to do with entrepreneurship really gave me the confidence and assurance that I could do this.