Sarah Singleton hadn’t always planned on starting her own business, but a missed opportunity seven years ago gave her the window to do so. 

“I was working in law abroad at the time; my family approached me about buying a chemical cleaning business that was for sale in the area with the proposal that I would run the business on behalf of the group,” she explains. “Unfortunately, that deal didn’t go ahead, but I decided to start the business from scratch instead!”

And so, she launched Azure Liquid Solutions. The business manufactured and sourced a range of turnkey liquid solutions – from cleaning products to printing materials – for domestic customers and commercial clients in industries including automotive, cosmetics and engineering, as well as offering customers own branding and drop-shipping solutions on certain lines. 

Sarah grew the business from a start-up to a thriving enterprise, making her mark every step of the way: “I was involved in every area of the business, from product formulation to marketing, to production. Luckily, I had a good management team to assist me, but that took time to achieve, and there wasn’t an area of the business that I hadn’t at some point been the lead on.”

When the first wave of Covid-19 hit the UK, this hands-on approach came into its own. “Straight away I was out in the factory helping formulate alcohol hand gel,” says Sarah. “I am always trying to diversify as soon as there is a requirement.” 

Sending out the first large order of hand gel in 2020 was a “painstaking process” but also one of Sarah’s proudest moments. “I specifically remember one night the team was working late and we just could not get the product to work. After hours of trying I had to say ‘enough’ and send everyone home for a good night’s sleep. We came in the next day refreshed and ultimately resolved the issue. I believe that sometimes you just need the headspace to regroup and strategise.” 

The team have used the last year to expand their cleaning and hygiene product offering as well as developing their e-commerce platforms, which have seen a boost as more people have been shopping from their homes. Sarah says her key learning from this period is that it’s important to remain as agile as possible: “If the market changes, you have to be ready to change.”

Last year, Sarah was able to sell Azure Liquid Solutions to a private investor. While working with the new owners through the transition, she is excited to begin a new chapter and has some new business ideas that she’s excited to run with – so watch this space.

For other women looking to launch their own business, Sarah’s most important piece of advice is: “Stop worrying about what other people think.”

“Women can often put so much pressure on themselves because they are worried that other people will see them as a failure if something doesn’t turn out to be successful,” she says. “They are constantly thinking about what their family, their friends, their colleagues would think. But what they need to remember is how brave they are, and that those other people actually think they’re brave too. I think women need to take the thoughts of other people out of the equation when they make decisions – they need to decide what is best for themselves and their business.”

Sarah says she has often found being a female business owner in an industry that is traditionally male-dominated quite isolating: “It is difficult to find like-minded women on a similar path. So I’m not only over to the moon to have been selected as a winner for the bank and Getty Images’ Female Focus competition; I’m also now proud to be part of a project which aims to bring diverse women together. It truly feels like a turning of the times.”

Learn more about the winners in the experimental Metaverse virtual gallery.