Fife woman scoops funding to support innovative contribution to hairdressing industry

Tracey Aitken, co-founder of HairTracker, received the grant from Innovate UK, the UK’s Innovation Agency, to support her to grow her business idea, which aims to create digital record cards for hair stylists to keep track of the work they’ve done with their clients.

Building on the success of Innovate UK’s targeted programmes, like Women in Innovation and Young Innovators, this latest funding is designed to find and support the fresh innovation talent the UK needs.

Tracey is among the 233 high-potential innovators who have been awarded a £5,000 grant and £10,000 contribution to living allowances. She will also receive 12 months of tailored business support and personalised coaching and mentorship.

Tracey’s app HairTracker will make life easier for hairdressers. She believes that paper record cards are outdated so she and her partner created an app for herself, and she now wants others in the hair and beauty industry to benefit from it. By being able to deliver a more personal and professional service whenever someone visits the salon, as well as taking good care of clients data, Tracey is already seeing the benefits of digital record cards and is excited to share this innovation with her fellow stylists.

Tracey said: “I feel very blessed to be awarded this funding. I’m particularly grateful for the additional support and mentoring that Innovate is providing. I hope that my journey from hairdresser to technology entrepreneur can inspire others in this area to give their dreams a shot. I’m not from the tech world myself, but the support and encouragement I’ve had has given me confidence to step into a new chapter in my career.

“I know from experience that many people in the Hair and Beauty industry are dyslexic and this can make life hard when you’re having to deal with names and phone numbers, or trying to remember colour formulas from one visit to the next. I’ve designed HairTracker to be dyslexic friendly and to support the needs of a busy stylist because I believe will make things better.

“Scotland is really investing in entrepreneurship right now, especially for women, so there’s never been a better time to give it a go. I’m thrilled that Innovate has selected HairTracker. I think it sends a great message for Leven and for Fife. There’s a lot of resilience and untapped potential in the area and I’d love to see more people step forward and find out what they’re capable of.”