Eastbourne woman finalist in prestigious global award

A woman in Eastbourne has been shortlisted for a global business award out of 250 nominations.
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Victoria Vasiliauskaite, who lives in Eastbourne with her family, is the co-owner and head of operations at Roadways based in Hailsham.

She’s been shortlisted as a finalist in the Woman in Construction and Engineering awards.

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A spokesperson for the awards said, “Women represent only 11 per cent of the construction workforce in the UK and most of these jobs are office based and only two per cent work in manual jobs.

“When it comes to women in engineering only nine per cent of UK engineering professionals are women, 18 per cent in Spain, 26 per cent in Sweden and 20 per cent in Italy.

“The aim of the awards is to make these industries more enticing to women. To create role models for women considering a career in these sectors, while encouraging companies to employ and train more women in these industries.”

Victoria is an expert in business transformation and has led projects for a multitude of different companies across the world.

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She achieved a Master’s in Engineering at the Vilnius Gediminas Technical University in her home country of Lithuania, followed by a Master’s in International Business Management.

Victoria then completed two Executive Master of Business Administrations – a type of management qualification.

She worked at executive level in various traditionally male-dominated sectors like agriculture, insurance, technology, and healthcare.

Victoria has been a senior auditor and a lecturer at the International School of Law and Business in Lithuania. She has also been Lithuania’s representative to the European Commission in Brussels and Courts of Auditors in Luxembourg.

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Five years ago, Victoria and her partner bought a long-established road construction company – Hailsham Roadways, now Roadways.

It has since become one of the largest employers in East Sussex with more than 70 employees and is a regional leader in road construction in the south east.

Roadways works with local authorities, Highways England, developers and architects across the south.

A spokesperson for Roadways said, “Victoria has proved that gender, language, background and class are no barriers to achieving what you want to do – if you work hard, plan and organise appropriately, are flexible, reasonable, and have a good sense of humour, anything is possible.

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“People rarely expect a civil engineer, company owner, and highways construction business leader to be relatively young, blonde and female.

“She takes great pleasure in seeing their faces when they realise it’s her.”

In 2019 Roadways won the employer of the year category in the East Sussex Women in Business Awards.

Victoria is also an Enterprise Advisor for East Sussex County Council’s Careers Hub, supporting Hailsham Community College, providing strategic advice on skills, employability and young people’s careers – encouraging young girls and women to consider careers in science, technology, engineering and maths.

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Victoria said, “It’s a great boost to my confidence. It also confirms that Roadways is walking the talk and running the business in the right way.

“I’m so happy to be shortlisted. It was a real surprise as these prestigious awards are global and it certainly puts Hailsham and Sussex even more on the map.

“My pride and focus on innovation, environmental concern, health and safety, and the wellbeing of our staff – these are all being acknowledged and recognised.”

The awards ceremony, which is usually in held in May, is yet to be confirmed due to Covid restrictions.

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