Helen Fisher, Managing Director at Context Europe, on Building a Women-Owned Consultancy with Global Impact

I was absolutely delighted for Context to be recognized as a TITAN Women In Business Awards winner and truly pleased for the team, as everything we do is a collective effort.

Winning the award reflects our commitment to our mission of helping companies do better in business and drive meaningful change. It is an honor to be recognized alongside such remarkable women and women-led businesses.

We entered the TITAN Women In Business Awards to showcase the team’s hard work and celebrate the success of our clients and wider network—sustainability is all about partnership, and this was a chance for us to reflect on that and share some of our successes.

What stood out most in our application is that we are a very people-focused organization, both in how we work with our clients and how we support our team. We have deliberately stayed small so we can tailor our services to each client and truly get to know their team and business. We also believe our culture is our greatest strength—since 2022, as Context Europe has grown threefold, we have focused on fostering an inclusive, non-hierarchical team environment.

There have been a couple of significant moments that truly changed things for me. The first was leaving my job at an environmental charity at age 25 to become a freelance consultant.

That transition quickly taught me important lessons about how to be an effective consultant, and I was fortunate to have great mentors, including the founders of Context, who gave me my first freelance role. At the same time, I was a touring musician, and balancing consulting with music reinforced the importance of flexibility and work-life balance—values we now encourage within our culture at Context.

The second major moment was stepping into a full-time role at Context in 2022. At the time, we were navigating several challenges, including recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and difficulties in attracting and retaining top talent. I worked closely with the other directors to identify key areas of focus to get the business back on track.

We set out to build a strong team, expand our client base, and draw on the company’s rich heritage to strengthen our messaging and service offering. This approach helped revitalize the business and positioned us to navigate ongoing global uncertainty and instability.

In our industry, one of the biggest challenges is that nothing stands still for long. Whether it is the language around sustainability, shifting political and economic contexts, or evolving regulations and frameworks, anticipating what is coming next and keeping up with technical developments can feel like a full-time job.

In 2024, for example, we quickly invested in educating our team and pivoting our service offering to ensure we were ready to help clients address incoming EU sustainability reporting regulations. This included developing a proprietary tool to help clients identify and evaluate their sustainability-related impacts, risks, and opportunities.

Then, in 2025, proposed changes to the regulations required us to pivot again to make sure we were providing the best possible guidance. That is just one example, but the benefit of staying agile is that it allows us to adapt and respond to our clients’ evolving needs. And it certainly keeps things interesting.

One thing we are especially proud of is our commitment to adding value beyond our core business. For example, we regularly share website articles, social media posts, and in-depth publications to inform and inspire. Our team also contributes to sustainability discussions through panels and events.

The TITAN Women In Business Awards offer a great opportunity to amplify our messaging and contributions to the world of business and sustainability.

For us, achieving this and other awards this year has been especially gratifying because of the positive responses we have received as a result.

For the Context Europe directors, it is rewarding to see that the principles we strive to instill across the business—including curiosity, collaboration, and client-centricity—are recognized externally. It is also a wonderful way for the team to step back and celebrate our collective achievements.

My fellow directors, Charlotte Smith and Sonya Wratten, have been crucial to this achievement, as we have worked together to revitalize the business and bring a strong team together. Context’s co-founders, Peter Knight and Simon Propper, are, of course, the reason we are here today—they built a great company with a strong heritage for us to build on.

As mentioned before, the entire team is exceptional, and each person plays a part in making Context a success and a great place to work. We are a supportive group, all committed to our work and our mission.

As a UK-based business working with clients of all sizes around the world, one of the key developments we are seeing is how sustainability regulations are shifting, with many regions strengthening their requirements while a few are scaling them back. This is happening alongside an ever-evolving political and economic landscape.

These external changes have kept us focused on what makes the most sense for each client’s business, both in terms of short- and long-term economic prosperity and stakeholder needs. Sustainability is not a “nice to have”—it is a business imperative that supports resilience, risk and opportunity management, retention, team culture, and much more. Approaching sustainability through this lens helps us have more effective conversations with clients and their stakeholders and develop strategies that are the right fit for each organization.

Another key trend for us, and for businesses everywhere, is artificial intelligence (AI). AI presents a significant opportunity for organizations to address complex social and environmental challenges, while also introducing its own sustainability considerations. We enjoy working with clients to use AI responsibly and harness its potential.

If you are looking to build a career in sustainability, chances are you are passionate about the environment and helping to create a fair society. While starting out in any field can be challenging, sustainability is often filled with resilient and driven people. If you lead with passion, authenticity, and optimism, you will likely find that others respond well.

A willingness to step outside what feels comfortable, along with the curiosity to connect ideas and see the bigger picture, are also valuable qualities in this sector. As more specialized sustainability roles and disciplines emerge, the ability to take a systems-focused approach will only become more important.

A strong submission should be authentic and include specific, recent, and impactful examples of your work. Steer clear of vague, AI-generated language and make sure the submission reflects your own voice and perspective.

Context’s mission to help companies do better business is, and will remain, our north star. We will stay focused on this while continuing to explore ways to strengthen our offering through our in-house processes and tools, as well as through strategic partnerships with like-minded organizations.

Sustainability can be a challenging field to work in at times, but it is crucial to remain optimistic and keep the “why” in mind: sustainability is a business imperative and a foundation for building a thriving, equitable, and resilient society.

It is also important to consider what kind of world we want to live in and take steps toward that future through innovation and a solutions-based approach, rather than focusing only on what stands in the way.