38 | SEPTEMBER 2020
Business
Read online at www.proinstaller.co.uk
WOMEN IN INDUSTRY
SEXISM? WHAT SEXISM?
Rhonda Ridge was working as financial controller at a small but successful
window and door installer in Wiltshire. The year was 1995: John Major’s
short and unremarkable term as Prime Minster came to an end; commuters
faced attacks with Sarin nerve gas on the Tokyo subway; and a
computer operating system called Windows 95 changed the world.
Windows 95 marked a new
way of working with personal
computers, introducing the Start
button, the Taskbar and it also
simplified access to the Internet
in an acknowledgement of the
importance the World Wide Web
would have on our day to day
lives.
1995 was also the year that
Rhonda Ridge realised that, with
such emerging technologies, all
of the manual and computerised
systems by which her employer
ran their business, could be
simplified and unified into one
seamlessly interlinked tool.
Rhonda’s formal training had
included banking and computer
programming, skills that of
course would lead to the creation
and success of AdminBase: “All
too often one hears about skills
learned early on that have no
bearing on business or career
success in later life,” said Rhonda.
“For me the skills I learned
through formal training remain
at the core of what I do now, the
success that I and my company
Ab Initio have enjoyed.
“The stroke of good fortune
was that I ended up working for
a home improvement company
that sold and installed windows
and doors. I had no affinity
for the industry when I began
although I became quite passionate
about it early on, not simply
because it gave me a business
opportunity but also because the
people I contacted, that became
our customers, responded positively
to my skill set, to what we
offered as a company.”
When highlighting successful
women there is an inevitable
inference that they have become
so against a tide of gender bias
and male chauvinism. Rhonda
denies that she ever faced such
pressures, although she accepts,
with a smile, that may be due to
what she describes as ‘having a
rather strong nature’. It may be
that Rhonda’s skill set helped: “It
was certainly true when I first
began working in the window
and door industry in the mid
Nineties – and still largely true
now - that the window and door
industry was driven by entrepreneurs,
people that ran their
businesses by the seats of their
pants. Their skills were in sales,
or installations…they were not
accountants or MBAs running
these businesses and, although
many owners showed exceptional,
intuitive business management
skills, they needed people
like me to provide structure for
them. When I was managing their
finances and in due course, more
of their business, my role was
clear, and I was good at my job.
They didn’t feel the need and
probably didn’t feel qualified, to
question what I was doing or try
Apps were launched last year that took AdminBase into the home
to tell me what to do. That may
have helped too.
When asked if she sees the
UK fenestration industry as a
‘boys club’ Rhonda rolls her eyes:
“Seriously…what decade are we
in?!” she says exasperatedly. “But
whilst I say that I have not been
adversely affected by such things
I do accept that other women
may well have done, and I do
not want to dilute their concerns.
When ability is stifled for any
reason other than their talent,
their ability and their suitability
or not for a role, then everyone
loses out. But neither do I believe
in positive discrimination. The
balance has to come from societal
changes, however long that
takes.
“When I started Ab Initio and
launched AdminBase in the late
‘Nineties we also had a young
family and that was a testing
time simply because there were
not enough hours in the day. But
I was convinced that I had the
right product, it was being well
received when I pitched it to
potential customers and indeed,
many of those who put their faith
in me when I began, remain loyal
customers today.
“That in itself was a great motivator:
I worked all hours, fitting
everything in around a young
family of course – though so too
did my husband Mark – but I
was driven, determined that this
would work. And actually, any
resistance I may have found was
simply commercial – we have
always found that our main competitor
was habit – ‘we do it this
way and have always done it this
way’ – not any notion of bias.”
When asked about her proudest
moments perhaps it is not
surprising that AdminBase comes
close to the top, though with
her family leading. But such is
the passion for her product and
business, that a more casual
conversation might suggest
otherwise: ‘I might
be accused of being quite
obsessed about my business,”
says Rhonda, “but I believe that
may be better described as ‘passion’.
Family is first in everything,
but as we are privileged to be
largely in control of both, I am
able to balance my attention to
both.”
Reflecting on the business,
would Rhonda have changed
anything? “Actually, nothing really
significant,” she replies. “You
can consider that as being either
very lucky or perhaps we have
generally done things the right
way, made mostly the correct
decisions. But actually, I do
not believe that there are many
totally right or totally wrong
decisions, just some that might
be better than others. And, where
we are today is the sum of that I
believe.
“By that I believe that I am
now able to take a more strategic
view of the business, looking at
the bigger picture, howe we may
improve key aspects for our customers,
look at new technological
innovations such as Artificial
Intelligence, advanced interfaces
to look at how we may input
data, talk to our machines and
so forth, to make the AdminBase
experience better, to always move
forward. But I am as motivated
as I have ever been…because I
genuinely think that we are better
than we have ever been….as
a business, but also as a family…
But I am far too young to consider
retirement,” Rhonda says with
a flourish.
We asked Rhonda what advice
she would give herself at the start
of her career? “Cliches I know,
but I would tell her – and more
to the point perhaps any young
person today - that it is all about
hard work…and belief,” responds
Rhonda. “Belief in yourself, in
Rhonda Ridge
created AdminBase
your product and in your ability
to bring it all together, to make it
happen.”
AdminBase has achieved the
status of being the UK window
and door industry’s most prolific
window and door installer back
office management system,
something that offers Rhonda
immense pride. But what is next
for AdminBase? “In just the past
year alone we have introduced
mobile tablet-based apps that
take AdminBase into the customer’s
home for the salesperson,
the surveyor, the installer and the
remedial engineer for when they
go to sign the installation off.
Those added a huge dimension
to the system.
“And recently AdminBase
became available as a web-based
version, allowing users that
require it, convenient and secure
remote access to their company’s
data, at any time. This allows
installers to effectively run their
businesses from anywhere in the
world, although actually, it brings
the flexibility that our restricted,
lockdown-threatened businesses
need to prosper.
“Our lives have been changed
forever with the disease that has
stricken our planet this year.
What we are doing is as relevant
as it ever was, though perhaps
now with a fresh imperative,”
concludes Rhonda.
The right thing at the right
time then; just as it was in 1995.