Winter Soiree

Our final event of the year is always a special occasion. Members and their guests enjoyed a fabulous evening at the House of Commons with sparkling rose and wonderful food in excellent company. 

Here are some images from the highly talented Sharron Wallace, Pink Shoe Photographer-in-Residence as a reminder of an enjoyable evening rounding off an incredible 2016.

Women in Parliament

As partners of Parliament Week we held a fascinating roundtable with some of the amazing women working in Parliament. 

The event was chaired by former Serjeant at Arms Jill Pay, along with Sarah Chapman, Loraine Midda, Catherine Fogarty and Melanie Unwin.

Global Entrepreneurship Week

For the ninth year running Pink Shoe held an event at Parliament to celebrate Global Entrepreneurship Week. 

Hosted by The Earl of Erroll and chaired by Katherine Corich, founder and chairman of Sysdoc, we met at the House of Lords. 

The event was held in partnership with WEConnect International and the topic under discussion was 'Start-Up to Scale-Up'.







Pink Shoe founder Helene Martin Gee opened the event with praise and thanks to Lord Erroll for his untiring support for entrepreneurship over many years. 

Merlin then warmly welcomed delegates and spoke of the vital importance of female enterprise and how good it was to see so many successful women business owners present.

Katherine Corich inspired everyone sharing her own route to success and how she has grown Sysdoc to a global business. Clearly Katherine's vision has been vital to this growth. She attributes her achievements to building an amazing team and having a strong ethical basis to everything the business does. 

Maggie Berry Diector of WEConnect Europe then outlined how women business owners are able to engage with major corporate clients and become registered as an official WEConnect business to facilitate the many opportunities available.

Women's Business Council Awards

Jill Pay, Chairman of the Pink Shoe Senate, represented Pink Shoe and the Economic Blueprint at the Guildhall for the Women's Business Council Awards 2016.

#FQ3 at The Shard 2016

Pink Shoe, together with the Enterprise Research Centre (ERC), organised the third International Female Quotient Forum (#FQ3) at The Shard in central London on Wednesday 26 October 2016. 

This well attended event provided the ideal forum to advance the discussion for opportunities for women-owned businesses (WBs) in a complex and post-Brexit economy with representatives from the City, corporate, public sector and professional industries.  

The key conversation during #FQ3 was focused on how to harness female talent to drive economic growth, reinforcing Prime Minister Theresa May’s vision on the contribution of women-owned businesses in the UK today. Facts such as “only 20% of SMEs are WBs” from a UK population where “51% is female” set the scene for the forum agenda.  

Team EB!

#FQ3 at The Shard 26.10.16

#FQ3 Forum To Discuss The Growth of UK Women Owned Businesses  

October 2016, London UK. 

Pink Shoe, together with the Enterprise Research Centre (ERC), is organising the third International Female Quotient (#FQ) Forum at The Shard in central London on Wednesday 26 October, 2016. This forum will advance the discussion for opportunities for women-owned businesses in a complex and post-Brexit economy with representatives from the City, corporate, public sector and professional industries. 

This third forum is a milestone in a 5-year programme that will see the development of the first-ever UK Economic Blueprint (UK EB) for women-owned businesses (WBs). It follows on from last year’s successful #FQ2 forum, also held at The Shard, which marked the launch of the Economic Blueprint and the Ten Point Plan underpinning its delivery. Since then, Team EB with seven supporting work streams has defined the vision, mission and scope of the overall programme, as well as the individual work stream plans which will bring this innovative and unique platform to fruition.

#FQ3 takes the conversation surrounding the growth of UK women-owned businesses to industry representatives, corporates and public sector, discussing the positive impact these businesses have on the economy and the emerging opportunities for global collaboration, especially in the light of a post-Brexit economy. The programme includes keynote speeches, presentations and panel discussions on various topics, including the development of the UK Economic Blueprint for Women, the impact of gender parity on economic growth, the Brexit effect for women-owned business and the global picture for female enterprise, showcasing international case studies. 

Confirmed delegates include industry leaders and representatives from the City and public sector, as well as international corporates, business owners and organisations that represent women business owners, influencers and policy makers.

As Jill Pay, Chairman of Pink Shoe Senate, remarked, “#FQ3 is an important milestone in our overall strategy and plans. Last year’s conference, #FQ2, was Day One in Year One.  We are now in Day One of Year Two, and all the seven work streams are steaming ahead to define the requirements and bring to life the technology and collaborative platforms that will underpin the Economic Blueprint. We are now working with corporates, business owners and national organisations to reach the largest possible number of women-owned businesses.”  

Helene Martin Gee, Founder and President of Pink Shoe, continued, “Today, the UK Economic Blueprint is more than just a concept. In the last year, we have defined and developed the project framework that will deliver the Economic Blueprint and digital platform.  The seven work streams are all engaged in developing plans to bring it to fruition. The Blueprint has strong support from Ministers, MPs and Peers and via the All Party Parliamentary Group for Women and Enterprise and leading other All Party groups. We are also forming strong partnerships with corporates and national organisations. We will continue to use advocacy and influence to seek policy and economic solutions to improve opportunities for women-owned businesses and with the assistance of our international and UK partners and supporters, we are confident that we can achieve our goals.

Ends

For all media enquiries please contact:

Noreen Cesareo

Market Accents
M: +44 (0) 7787 555651

Team EB plan for #FQ3

Thanks to our wonderful event partners the Enterprise Research Centre and Warwick Business School, along with our generous sponsors Addidi and EY,  Pink Shoe is back at The Shard this October for its 3rd International Forum.

A key element will be updating delegates on progress with the UK Economic Blueprint for Women, so key Team EB members led  by Jill Pay met to finalise the plans and prorgramme.

Women and Enterprise at Parliament

Craig Tracey MP, Chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Women & Enterprise hosted two excellent events on Monday 12th September. 

Firstly, a fascinating panel debate in a committee room. 

This was followed by a reception in Portcullis House sponsored by NatWest to launch their recent report on female entrepreneurs. 

Keynote speaker was Parliamentary Under Secretary of State Caroline Dinenage MP.

Members of Pink Shoe joined other distinguished guests from as far afield as New Zealand and the US.

The Earl of Erroll joined us for the reception and visited the stands where successful female entrepreneurs highlighted their businesses. Guests were able to sample fabulous chocolates and admire wonderful leather bags!

Pink Shoe Summer Soiree

A selection of images taken by Pink Shoe's Photographer in Residence Sharron Wallace from our fabulous summer soiree at the House of Commons. 

Pink Shoe celebrated its 9th Birthday and paid tribute to an inspiring and very special Ambassador, the late Úna McBride.

For great images from Sharron see www.sharronwallace.co.uk 
A huge thank you to Sacha & Davaa who looked after us all so brilliantly!

Chatham House EY W20 International Policy Forum

This international event leading up to the next G20 summit in China focused on empowering women for international growth. Supported by EY along with Citi, Mastercard and others it featured a range of inspiring speakers. 

To view a video of the forum please go to:

https://www.chathamhouse.org/event/empowering-women-economic-growth-the-smart-choice-g20