Meet Dr. Janet Cotton, the trailblazing metallurgist and founder of One Eighty Engineering Solutions, Africa’s most widely scoped ISO-accredited materials testing lab.
From pioneering the development of Cromanite™, a high-nitrogen stainless steel, to leading complex forensic investigations across industries, Dr. Cotton is known for solving engineering problems that others can’t crack.
In our latest interview, she shares her bold journey from academia to entrepreneurship, the challenges of being a woman in engineering, and how she’s building a company grounded in integrity, innovation, and excellence.
Read the full interview below and discover how this engineering visionary is redefining leadership in STEM and shaping the future of materials science across Africa and beyond.
As a distinguished metallurgist and materials engineer, what inspired you to pursue this field, and what challenges did you face as a woman in a male-dominated industry?
I was inspired to study engineering because I had always had an interest in all things technical, mechanical and electrical and even had a microscope when I was a young girl and a chemistry set. I clearly had what we call as engineers call the “Knack” from the cartoon Dilbert – The curse of the engineer. This was apparent from a young age, and then interest in things like competitive yachting only strengthened my interest in engineering and a friend from yachting who was a year ahead of me at school went to study engineering. I could not help but be marvelled about what he was studying. It was a big decision it was 1991, and women did not register for engineering. Even in the circles I moved in few women went to University at all let alone to study engineering.
The challenges exist as a woman in engineering, I often find myself to be the only professional woman in a room, or sitting around a board room table, on at a site visit. It’s about how you deal with it internally. If you are self assured I have found mostly men to be quite accepting particularly when they can clearly see you know your stuff. That is not to say that there have not been bullies, inappropriate comments and many fob offs as such, but it comes down again to what is within, and the belief you have in yourself in dealing with this.
In some ways gender issues have popped up in the strangest ways, being the only woman in a meeting, on site, or in room is relatively easy to deal with in comparison with some of the more indirect forms of prejudice. Margaret Thatcher said the most chauvinism she ever experienced was from other women, and I have found this to also be the case. For example, I cannot get past a female receptionist to the MD of company, but I am the MD of my company! I just get past that by getting one of my male engineers to get the MD on the line. I don’t have time to waste on this sort of pettiness. Often I need to get through to the person quite urgently so I just find a way to bypass someone elses issues instead of taking them on as my own.
Another area that has been surprising is employing people. As the company has grown over the years many times I would have to recruit very fast. I have now put together a 5 step interview process with the wisdom I have gained from making poor choices and finding an employee who has only taken up employment to be exploitative. Many male engineers and female engineers or scientists have not seen employment with me as a “real job”. This has reflected in their response to me, when I have had to inevitably give constructive feedback on their work. Then suddenly this discomfort was not part of the deal, and so I asked myself well was what their deal for them, and it could not have been to take employment with me seriously. Further, it is used as a chance to gain experience so that they can get a real job elsewhere. I call it the 6-9 month inflection, it’s a pattern that has repeated itself countless times. Now with the benefit of wisdom I have set up the interview and appointment process to sift out exploitative people, and place only those that truly embrace the companies vision and wish to make a career with One Eighty and positively contribute.
You transitioned from academia to founding One Eighty Engineering Solutions at just 28. What motivated you to take that leap, and what was the most difficult part of establishing your company?
During my Post Doctoral Fellowship after my PhD I noticed that industry would come to the University with all sorts of metallurgical and materials related problems. I saw a business in that. I developed a business plan. I had wanted to study accounting before I changed my mind to engineering, so I always had a strong interest in business. I had read many books on business and was inspired my Richard Branson Michael Dell and many other entrepreneurs at that time around 1998-2002. In developing the business plan I became passionate about the vision I had and I had to be true to myself and take the leap.
The most difficult part of establishing the company was the first day and the first few months. Like all great ventures you take the leap because it looks good in your mind. Then its day 1 and I was alone in the house, with a computer dial up modem and asked myself ok right what do I do first? It was 2002 not many people had websites but the yellow pages still existed. I paged through to engineeingcompanies under E and started at A and cold called, and ended at Z. The hard part was making the pitch to get them to see me. This meant getting past the gate keeper, usually the receptionist who was not interested in putting a female voice through to the boss. However, somehow I broke through this setting a goal of 20 cold calls per day. I got appointments attended them, got requests and so it went. Some of my first clients in that time I&J, Consol Glass, SA Breweries are still my clients 23 years later. I must have done something right. I got better and better with the cold pitch, with each door slammedin my face, and finally broke through. I saw each failure as an opportunity to learn and get better.
Your research led to the development of Cromanite, a high-nitrogen stainless steel. What impact has this innovation had in the industry, and how do you see materials engineering evolving in the future?
There are a few questions here. I will start with Cromanite. This was a new alloy developed by Columbus Stainless on the back of their success of 3CR12. It was a novel high nitrogen high manganese steel. Manganese improves the solubility of nitrogen in the melt. After Columbus was bought out by Acerinox, https://www.acerinox.com/en, the new owners did not want to continue manufacturing this material. However the work fed into the broader research on nitrogen alloyed stainless steels, and today we have a range of Duplex Stainless Steels commercially available. Columbus produce one of the alloy designations SAF 2205. So the work on Cromanite was not entirely lost as it did feed into a broader scope of development and today we have these incredible stainless steel alloys cleverly alloyed using nitrogen to create very high strengths with excellent corrosion performance particularly in a chloride environment, making them the only choice of materials for desalination plants for example.
As we look to the future, development in composite materials, advanced polymeric materials and smart materials are the things we should be staying abreast of.
One Eighty has led forensic investigations across diverse industries. Can you share a particularly challenging case and how your team solved it?
One of the most challenging problems I have faced was the repeated failure of an ozone generator at RCL food group. The ozone generator is used to mitigate odors from the by products plant. If these fail, the whole surrounding area is subject to odors. I had to learn how an ozone generator worked, the development of the plasma, and then how the materials of construction affected the performance of the generator. Glass spray coatings where used on the tubes along which the electricity passed at high voltage, careful sectioning of these tubes showed clearly in several cases the porosity in the spray coating.
The sampling was challenging, due to the glass coating and having to preserve it during cutting and then the preparation (grinding and polishing) for analysis under an electron microscope was a challenge. However, I managed to get to the root cause through this careful investigation and solve RCL Foods problems.
With the increasing focus on sustainability, how can materials engineering contribute to creating more environmentally friendly solutions in manufacturing and industrial processes?
Part of the conference we are hosting in Cape Town from the 11th – 14th March involves laser welding and cleaning. Both are very clean and environmentally friendly processes.
The workshop is on the 11th with demonstrations at the One Eighty offices followed by our grand opening. The use of alternative fabrication processes and embracing these technologies can provide more environmentally friendly solutions.
Women remain underrepresented in STEM fields. What practical steps can be taken to encourage more young women to pursue careers in materials science and engineering?
I am well aware that women are under represented in STEM fields, but it has changed dramatically since I registered for engineering in 1992. Today engineering classes are often up to 30% female. One has to look at the interests of women, and not at the metrics. If 100% of woman interested in engineering are engaging in engineering then we have won the battle and there no longer is a barrier. Interest in engineering will be obvious at a young age, and so I don’t think it should be forced but rather to create awareness of engineering as an option for women, then if they resonate with it, as I did, they should be encouraged to follow the path.
I think it is about awareness and showing young students and learners that engineering is an exciting profession and even if you don’t follow an engineering career studying engineering presents the graduate with incredible skills transfer into business law and accounting. Some of the best investment bankers studied engineering and not commerce! Many go on to complete and MBA and follow a very different path to an engineer who feels that engineering is a calling.
To work as an engineer it has to be a calling because it can be so stressful and often quite thankless, and unless your are self drivenand self assured, and happy with what you have contributed internally, the lack of external feedback will get the better of you. You have to love it to be an engineer, otherwise it is not worth it.
Have you encountered gender biases in your career, and how did you navigate them while building your reputation in the industry?
I experienced gender bias, an example was attending a sales pitch with a male colleague, and I almost started laughing out loud when they would ask him a question and then I would provide the answer, as he did not have the answers. After finishing my explanation the next question would be directed at him, and again I would answer. It was clear that these gentlemen based in South Africa were not comfortable working with a woman on these maters.
I am sure that many of the sales calls that I have done have failed for the same reasons, so I decided to find other markets. I went to Angola, and found the engineers and fabrication industry there to be totally unbiased to gender issues. They have been supportive of the company now for over 12 years. I don’t have any gender bias issues with any company I deal with outside of South Africa.
Within my own country it does exist, but I can absorb it knowing my real market is not with them, and if they take exception to having to work with a woman frankly that is their stuff. I focus on the clients that simply do not have these difficulties within themselves.
As a successful female engineer and entrepreneur, do you mentor young women in STEM, and what advice do you have for aspiring female engineers looking to make an impact?
If you resonate with any field in STEM, go for it. Embrace it and don’t hold back. Woman can be influential leaders, make a contribution and thousands have gone before us. Marie Curie for example who discovered Radium and later developed x-rays for medical science is one of my heroes.
She was denied a Nobel Prize over rumors of her having an affair. A counterpart, a male scientist was awarded the Nobel Prize she was nominated for but he was known for philandering. Marie Curie held on and finally she became a Laurette. She did not take on the issues, gossip and rumors of other people, she carried on with what she believed in and finally was properly acknowledged for her contribution.
I love that she did not give the gossip energy and stuck to her research. As women whether it is a STEM career or any career when you are good at what you do you are a target for gossip criticism and many other negative things, stand firm, follow the course and don’t get side tracked. These negative things happen to men too. It just not called gender prejudice its simply called jealousy and it’s the same thing.
Between running a pioneering company, solving engineering challenges, and being a mother, how do you balance your professional and personal life?
As a business owner I do work life integration. There is no separation for me. My daughter now 18 would know how to deal with a CCMA application made against her, draft a shareholdersagreement, and probably knows as much as I do about the labor act. I grew up with my Dad’s nursery next door to the house, he was always on duty even tho he was not working, and that is the plight of the entrepreneur.
It’s important to take breaks. I don’t believe in working 24/7. It is important to have other interests, for me it is competitive yachting and I have just completed my first offshore regatta this year Cape Town to St Helena on my Farr 38 Mod a 12.5 m racing boat. We covered 1750 nautical miles over 12 days and it was an incredible experience, I learned so much about myself and about leadership during that trip.
I also make time for karate having achieved a Shodan in 2015 and now that life has opened up a bit more for me I hope to start working on my Nidan. Karate has helped me be grounded and shown me that everything I need exists within.
Does your time outside of work influence your problem-solving approach or leadership style in any way?
Absolutely, that is why I say I believe in work life integration. Karate training has helped me stay grounded in confrontational situations. When my integrity has been tested it has helped me to stay temperate. Competitive yachting that I have been involved in since 16 has tremendous amount to teach about team work, chains of command, leadership, discipline, mental strength and so on.
Both sports have transferred skills to me that I have used in business. And there is nothing like a regatta for a day or two to take your mind off all the problems in the office and your life, focusing entirely on winning a race to give you the mental break you need, and when you go back to those problems you come with a fresh perspective that helps you to effectively solve them and work through them without the stress and pressure you might have had by not making the time to take your mind off things for a while.
