Women in Innovation Success Stories: Beren Kayali, Deploy Tech Ltd

Having developed the world’s first ever inflatable concrete water tank, Deploy Tech addresses a broad range of challenges in the water management sector, including climate change, planning and timeframes, logistics and costs. These innovative tanks can be installed in just 24 hours, making them ideal for rural settings, disaster relief and fire mitigation.

When Beren won the Innovate UK Women in Innovation Award, she had already made great strides in developing the business during her time on the Innovate UK Young Innovators programme:

“When I joined the Women in Innovation programme, we were just starting to trade whilst doing R&D in the background. The in-person and financial support was so timely, helping us invest in small but pricey equipment we normally wouldn’t be able to afford at that stage. It also allowed us to take the right risks that would bring tonnes of value.”

Making progress

Beren reached a number of key milestones during the Women in Innovation Awards – starting to sell in bulk, creating a new product and launching marketing campaigns before raising a bridge round of investment.

This led Beren to expand the company and grow her team, which enabled her to think about the bigger picture.

“When we brought in new hires, our manufacturing processes became more streamlined, we ensured quality control was in place and we were able to gain that all-important ISO certification,” Beren said.

As the firm grows, Beren has set her sights on becoming the go-to international brand in convenient and sustainable infrastructure. With a distribution deal secured with one of the UK’s leading home improvement and garden retailers, B&Q, that looks entirely possible. Beren’s successes have secured her a position on Forbes prestigious 30 Under 30 in Manufacturing and Industry list and led her to win the Innovation category at the 70th Women of the Year Awards, which honour exceptional women from around the globe.

A helping hand

Launching your own business is no mean feat, and whilst many founders like Beren are able to make progress on their own, finding support and expertise to help guide future steps can be the catalyst to taking your business to the next level.

For Beren, the Innovate UK Women in Innovation Awards helped to nurture her personal and professional growth.

“I made huge personal improvements on the programme. I learned how to manage my expectations, whilst being more compassionate with myself in order to be more compassionate with others,” she said.

Despite these positive results, Beren’s journey has been far from easy.

“It can be difficult to find like-minded people that you relate to in business, leading you to feel lost at times. I suffered the most from not having a female friend or role model who was on a similar path to me (engineering, manufacturing, construction industry).

“Also, having kids and trying to move mountains with your start-up at the same time is challenging. It’s difficult, expensive, uncertain, quite out of your control and scary. There needs to be more support for women in this position. When you are an immigrant with no family or support system around things can get really tough,” she explained.

By connecting with her fellow award winners and working alongside industry experts through Innovate UK, Beren was able to find the business support she needed.

“The business support helped me more than I thought it would. Sometimes you just need the right advice or someone saying ‘I know how you feel’. I felt validated, I felt heard. That was so valuable. It was like having tailored business therapy sessions.”

Read more success stories from the Innovate UK Women in Innovation Awards.