For the second year running, Havas Village Australia (Host/Havas, Havas Media, Red Havas and One Green Bean) is supporting startups and entrepreneurs with its Havas Hustle initiative.
Last year’s Havas Hustle focused on supporting those who had been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. This year, the aim is to level the gender playing field by helping women entrepreneurs and founders.
The Havas Village team will provide access to free advice and support via a one hour online meeting with one of forty specialists from across the Havas Village’s breadth of capability, including strategy, creative, media, design, PR, social, influencer, experiential, innovation, UX, CX, tech consulting, experience design, production, digital, SEO, e-commerce, retail/shopper, sponsorship, brand partnerships, data and analytics, management, commercial and contractual matters, finance, HR, and more.
CEO of Havas Media Group, Virginia Hyland, sat down with B&T to explain the importance of this year’s Hustle.
“[For] female entrepreneurs, if you look at 2020, they only received 2.3 per cent of venture capital funding. That’s a fairly poor, paltry amount when you look at what women need from a support perspective to actually get their businesses flourishing,” she said.
“They’re obviously having to work harder to build and grow businesses. As three female CEOs for the Havas Village (herself, Laura Aldington, CEOHost/Havas and H/Commerce, and Simone Gupta, CEO Havas PR Australia) I think it’s really important that we can use our knowledge collectively to really help these women build their businesses successfully.”
Havas’ ultimate goal for the Hustle is to “help build a strategy for women to build success in their business.”
“In the past, I’ve helped a lot of female entrepreneurs build their businesses. What’s exciting this year is that being part of the Havas group means that I can bring great specialisms to these businesses: in SEO search, in content creation, in how to engage influencers to talk about your business,” she continued.
“What I’m most excited about this year is to help them take what they’ve created so far, give them the tools and the confidence to be able to build their businesses to the next level in the coming years.”
One of Hyland’s intentions, not just as a CEO but as an individual, is supporting other women in business.
“As I was growing up in the industry, I had people who believed in me, people who supported me to get to where I had to go to launch my own business, to grow it, to put that business to be then acquired. I think it’s incumbent on me to really help share the knowledge,” Hyland said.
“I think every female at all level, no matter what level they’re at in business, can actually support and help other females grow higher. The reason I think females have a challenge is that [we] sometimes lack confidence to actually really put ourselves out there and to be bold.”
“When you’ve got friends who are females at the same level, or you’ve got leaders who are females, and even males as well who can say ‘you’ve got this, give it a go’. What’s the worst that can happen if you try and it doesn’t succeed? You just learn from that experience.”
From founding and running her own business, Hyland Agency, to overseeing its acquisition by Havas and being named CEO of Havas Media Group, Hyland is a great example of why it’s so important to support female-led start-ups.
Reflecting on advice she’d give herself at the start of her career, Hyland said: “I would tell her not to worry so much about the unknown. When I started my business, you know, you’re caught in your own bubble. You’ve got a lot of chatter that goes through your head every single day: Will this be good enough? Will I be good enough? Can I really do this? I think my advice to my younger self is just to be bold, and be brave. Really get out there and just try your best.”
Apply for Havas Hustle at havashustle.com.au
