Think Equity Diversity Inclusion
The story behind
The Inclusion Revolution!
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In 2023 our founder Sophie Mason started ThinkEDI with a single mission: 'make inclusion tangible'.
Lived-Experience
As an autistic woman with complex disabilities that meant she often needed to use a wheelchair.
Sophie was met with barriers extensively. For example:
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Lack of access to buildings and opportunities.
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Having to repeat needs to every new service provider and employer.
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Having to write long letters from templates that weren't accessible.
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Having to wait for replies that often didn't come, or were late.
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Wanting to be open about diversity but still fearing discrimination.
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Being exhausted from having to personally hold everyone else accountable for their duties under the Equality Act 2010.
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She noticed these stresses were negatively impacting her health.
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Professional Experience
As an HR project and change manager, Sophie also witnessed the struggles that organisations had in removing these barriers.
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They didn't truly know their employees' or customers' diversity data.
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'Prefer not to say' rates meant strategies and actions plan progress weren't measurable.
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Their data was disjointed because of inefficient processes and policies.
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There was no way to hold employees accountable for being inclusive.
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Without employee accountability the whole company is held responsible.
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There were no systems to monitor and communicate agreed adjustments.
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It was a constant pressure to be authentic with wellbeing offerings.
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Staff and customers felt let down and left.
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There were complaints and grievances which meant more staff had to be taken on.
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Diversity and Inclusion became so tough to manage that it was seen as a 'nice to have' rather than an essential.
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This was costing them a lot of money and damaging reputations.
"There's an odd misconception that people who face these barriers are 'less able' to do things.... I say that those with lived-experience of these issues are often more innovative and resilient because we face these barriers and innovate our way past them anyway.
I didn't want to change one workplace or service at a time. I envisioned The Inclusion Revolution to change them all - because inclusion can be tangible and measurable." Sophie Mason (CEO and Co-Founder)
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Navigating as a Start-up
Only 2% of funding in Wales currently goes to female founders and there are no statistics for founders with disabilities, let alone tech founders.
As a social entrepreneur, Sophie received grant funding and mentoring from UnLtd which enabled ThinkEDI to diversify and build its training, coaching and consultancy arms to bring in revenue that supported the development of the app without investment.
"We are so grateful for UnLTD's support and thank you to all our loyal service customers who continue to be a huge part of the grass-roots of ThinkEDI" Sophie Mason
In January 2024, co-founder Merryn Roberts-Ward, a Global HR Executive Consultant, joined ThinkEDI full-time, setting up ThinkGlobal HR - a global HR Consultancy for SME's who are looking to expand internationally and need bespoke HR solutions.
"I love the work we do - we help businesses grow and expand AND we know that we're funding a much-needed societal change at the same time."Merryn Roberts-Ward, COO and Co-founder
The ThinkEDI testing phase taught us a lot about what businesses need and how best to support our users.
We are so pleased to announce our upcoming release of ThinkEDI subscriptions for customer service and employment in December 2024. The app is in creation with the talented team at WeGetDesign who already feel like family and every day the vision becomes more of a reality.