Hover UAV founder Jackie Dujmovic is successfully harnessing the potential of drone technology and, in the process, helping to challenge preconceived notions of male vs. female careers. Here she shares her journey from lift off to present day.
Starting a commercial drone business isn’t an obvious choice of second career, particularly for a woman who’s recently embarked on motherhood. But Jackie Dujmovic is proving that when you embrace technology with passion and purpose, the sky literally is the limit – regardless of gender.
It’s just four years since she launched Hover UAV after a career in the maritime industry, and already she’s cemented her position in a male-dominated sector, partnering with government and clients like Google on some of the largest drone programs in Australia and receiving recognition as an industry innovator.
As with any start-up founder, especially one operating in an emerging field, Dujmovic has had her share of ups and downs. What appears to have made all the difference to her success, however, is a readiness and ability to adapt at every turn.
The lure of technology
Explaining her career move, Dujmovic says she had been travelling the globe working on super yachts and settled back in Port Stephens, NSW to welcome the first of her two sons into the world.
“Working at sea was no longer a practical option. I was aware of the applications of drones and could see their potential; a friend of mine lost their life at sea and I’d always thought ‘could a drone have saved them?’”
She bought her first drone to experiment with and was instantly hooked. “It was not so much the flying aspect that I fell in love with, but what it could do and how it could help people. I made a split decision that this is what I was going to do and the next day went out to get my UAV license and started setting up in business.”
Carving her niche
In the early days, Dujmovic admits to making a common start-up mistake. “These shiny, amazing things had so many uses: imagery, surveys, site inspections, surveillance – and there was always new technology coming out, so I kept trying to do everything,” she says.
Tapping into free business advice helped her to define her offering and this was a big turning point. “My partner and I had all this maritime experience as well as a passion for marine conversation. We re-positioned ourselves as the experts in this field, which led to our involvement with the Australian government’s drone shark surveillance trials.”
Set up in response to an increase in shark attacks in NSW, these trials proved successful at keeping water users safe and providing a more marine-friendly alternative to nets. It’s an area Dujmovic is particularly proud of and Hover UAV still plays an integral role in the government’s shark mitigation research program.
Understandably, this has led to more opportunities in marine conservation. “We work with research organisations monitoring whale sizes and collecting DNA samples and on marine debris programs, looking at ways to help solve our plastics problem.”
A commitment to innovation
Having a clear area of expertise has also provided scope to innovate. For instance, through her shark surveillance work, Dujmovic recognised the need for a better way to alert people in real time when a hazardous shark was nearby. “Often lifeguards hadn’t started for the day and we’d run down the beach waving our hands shouting ‘get out of the water’,” she says.
“I designed and commissioned a shark alarm that could be installed on any UAV platform. I’m not an electronics expert but I had the idea and I knew how it could work with drones,” she explains. And it’s an initiative that helped earn her a place on the global 2018 Women to Watch in UAS List.
Hover UAV has also partnered with other businesses to improve the way UAVs can be utilised in lifesaving, developing drop mechanisms to deliver buoyancy aids to water users in distress. “A large part of our growth has come from collaborating; recognising that we can’t do everything and aligning ourselves with companies that have the same values.”
Staying one step ahead
Today, her team numbers 18 and Hover UAV is engaged with a host of other sectors beyond the maritime sphere. “We’re assisting large enterprise and governments with systems management, helping them integrate drones into their existing workflow, keeping them compliant and developing training packages so they can focus on being great at what they do,” explains Dujmovic.
She highlights the energy, agriculture and construction industries as significant growth areas, and last year her business partnered with Google parent company Alphabet on a new drone delivery initiative in Canberra. “We manage the flight operations for Project Wing delivering coffees, burritos and pharmaceuticals daily,” Dujmovic says, and she predicts we’ll see more drone deliveries and even urban mobility, from the likes of Uber Elevate, within the next five years.
Continuing to add value in this rapidly evolving environment is no easy task, but Dujmovic says that making the most of opportunities to learn is key. “There are so many resources out there for small businesses, such as the NSW Business Chamber, and so many amazing people and companies. We try and listen and learn as much as possible, not just about the technology but about the problems we’re looking to tackle.”
Levelling the playing field
When quizzed on her most important learning to date, “never give up” is Dujmovic’s simple reply. “If you have passion for something don’t worry what other people think, just go for it,” she says
It’s a philosophy that has clearly paid off. The recognition she’s received to date, including as a finalist in the 2018 NSW Businesswoman of the Year Awards, acknowledges both her contribution as a business leader and to addressing gender disparity in her field.
“The under-representation of women was definitely an issue for me at first but just because this job involves a lot of technology it doesn’t mean there’s any reason women can’t do it, or that men are any better at it,” she says.
These days, while overseas expansion is definitely on the cards, a big personal focus for Dujmovic is working with school groups and sharing her story more broadly to showcase some of the myriad opportunities new technologies provide, inspiring women and girls to follow in her footsteps whatever their chosen field.
And with role models like her, there’s no doubt we’ll start to see not just the Australian drone industry, but STEM fields in general, inch that bit closer towards gender parity.
This article was first published on the Business Australia website (formerly NSW Business Chamber) in Aug, 2019.
