Pink Shoe Summer Soirée

The Summer Soirée was held at the House of Commons by kind invitation of Loraine Midda, PSC founder member and Officer of the House. 



The event was hosted by Helene Martin Gee and Jill Pay, with a wonderful group of Pink Shoe members and friends. 

Special welcome was given to Guest of Honour HH Princess Shahnaz Husain, as well as greeting many old friends plus some new faces whom we shall hope to see again. 

A balmy summer evening was enlivened by guests attired in their glamorous summer clothes to enjoy prosecco, Kent pear juice and a lavish buffet of seasonal goodies.




We were treated to an enthralling talk from House of Commons Librarian Melanie Unwin and Archivist Mari Takayanagi on sufragette Emily Wilding Davison whose centenary was in June.

Melanie outlined the suffragette movement itself and the many activities that suffragettes undertook to fight for the right to vote. 

We learned about the different areas of Parliament linked with these valiant suffragettes and were each given a useful map to plot these for ourselves. 

Mari then gave us an insight into just how much was done in this cause, with some amusing anecdotes such as hiding in a Parliamentary broom cupboard for the night of the official Census, to the horrific treatment of the women in prison when being force fed. 

Guests were able to view displays of historic documents, and had the option of taking a tour of Parliament afterwards to visit all the places mentioned.

The party then continued far later than planned, with guests captivated by fabulous food and fizz along with the great company of other members and friends.

Helene thanked the excellent speakers Melanie and Mari, and all the lovely guests, especially Princess Shahnaz who most generously gave each guest a special gift bag of her wonderful Auyervedic beauty products to take home.

We are delighted to announce that Princess Shahnaz will be sharing tips of her inspirational success. HH has agreed to give a special talk on her hugely successful international business exclusively to Pink Shoe members this autumn. 

Commonwealth Business Council Debrief

Helene Martin Gee and Jill Pay represented Pink Shoe Club along with Sue Lawton, Global Advisor to WEConnect International, at a Debriefing on the Women’s Affairs Ministerial Meeting, following the Women in Business roundtable at the Commonwealth’s 10th Women’s Affairs Ministerial Meeting in Dhaka, Bangladesh this June.

The International Federation of Business and Professional Women (BPW International) and the British Association of Women Entrepreneurs (BAWE) are working together to create a roadmap for women’s economic empowerment which will be put to the Commonwealth summit meeting in Sri Lanka this November. 

The 3 key areas of focus, are i). women on boards and  executive positions; ii). women in trade and procurement; iii). women’s access to finance and skills.

A report has been published by the highly respected Dr Shaheena Janjuha-Jivraj of Henley Business School. 

Speakers included Nicky Morgan MP; Parliamentarian Rushanara Ali, and Arif Zaman, Adviser, South Asia and Corporate Governance and Chair of Commonwealth Businesswomen (CBW).

It was wholeheartedly agreed that women's economic empowerment is firmly on the

Commonwealth Ministerial agenda for the first time. 



As Nicky Morgan said ‘empowering women is a highly effective method of tackling deprivation and encouraging a strong economy’.

The Commonwealth theme for 2013 is Opportunity through Enterprise: unlocking potential with innovation and excellence. See:

http://www.commonwealththeme.org/2013/opportunity-through-enterprise/

Global Entrepreneurship Monitor at House of Lords

The All-Party Parliamentary Group for Entrepreneurship (APPGE) hosted the announcement of results from the GEM annual survey (2012) at the House of Lords. 

The event was well attended with delegates from academia, policy, the professions, third sector organisations, enterprise support and entrepreneurship, including Pink Shoe Club ambassadors.

GEM is the most comprehensive survey into entrepreneurship and data will also feed into the new Enterprise Research Council. APPGE Founder and Vice Chairman Lord Ahmed welcomed everyone to the meeting, which was skilfully Chaired by Professor Mark Hart.

Some highly interesting facts were revealed in the GEM study.  Of particular interest to Pink Shoe delegates, Mark Hart announced that the study shows ‘there is an increase in female entrepreneurship from 2010/2011’.

Delegates heard from Jonathan Levie about the generational effects of migration on TEA Rates in G7 countries. He told us: ‘those who have at least one immigrant parent are more likely to have higher ambition’ while inward migrants also have higher rates of entrepreneurship ‘you are more likely to be an entrepreneur if one or both parents are immigrants and are in business’.

Erkko Autio of GEDI explained how the entrepreneurial ecosystem supports start-ups. We also heard from leading entrepreneur Princess Shahnaz Husain about her inspiring passion for business and what an opportunity it offers. After an interactive Q&A there was networking over a light lunch.

Isabella and Quasim from Lord Ahmed’s office tweeted key points from the discussion.

Inspiring Enterprise in Manchester

Truly inspiring and exciting ideas came out of the four roundtable discussions of interprise:13 at Great John Street Hotel, Manchester. Our third 'Pop-Up' event in the city was again supported by Berg and was the first stage of interprise, which will be followed up in November during Global Entrepreneurship Week.

After introductions from PSC Founder Helene Martin Gee, the event opened with a captivating and informative talk from Sara McKee. Sara outlined her fascinating background working for major companies, including with highly successful entrepreneurs. She gave us excellent tips on running a business and reaching the top. Sara has often seen men are readier to take opportunities as they come, whereas sometimes women spend too long considering the situation ‘Don’t wait for the tiara to be put on your head!’

It’s often said women don’t put themselves forward unless they’re sure they have all the necessary requirements, while men will more likely take a chance.  Sara is confident to explore opportunities: ‘I’m the 70% woman! If I have that much of the ask I’m willing to give it a go – you can always learn the rest’

Then onto the debate, as women from the North West, London and further afield discussed four key questions on how we could help to inspire enterprise and ‘Take a Step Forward’ the theme of the 2013 Global Entrepreneurship Week.

How to provide a launch pad for more women to start the businesses of tomorrow

How we encourage successful women to back female entrepreneurs and invest in women-led businesses

How to inspire people over 50 into setting up a business

And finally, female representation on boards and in public life.

Each group was randomly allocated a question and after animated discussion within the four groups, each chairman brought conversation to a close as the group decided upon an idea to put forward to the whole audience. There was then a debate on the ideas, chaired by Jill Pay.




As the group chair presented each idea to the wider audience many excellent suggestions were made. These included a ‘talking heads’ road show for successful women entrepreneurs and business leaders to act as role models for other women and inspire more business start-ups. This to be both virtual via the internet and actual, to visit different regions.

Another idea was to create an interactive central hub where business owners and emerging entrepreneurs could collaborate and share resources and experiences, to support and encourage each other. With match funding for business ideas from those already in business.

Education was much discussed, with emphasis being upon bringing entrepreneurial thinking into the curriculum at a much earlier age. It was agreed to be key that knowledge is shared between generations. This was also explored by another group who suggested an Ideas Forum, everyone bringing something to the forum such two-way coaching and mentoring, seed corn or expansion funding. 

This Think & Do Tank was mirrored by the final group who put forward the idea of the ‘Give it a Go’ Foundation where businesses, Government and business people all work together to encourage and support start-ups and growing businesses. 



After a vote, it was clear the overwhelming majority voted ‘Give it a Go’ the winning idea. Although as Helene said many aspects were included in each conversation. Along with all the brilliant ideas from each discussion, outcomes will be published shortly.

Addidi Inspiration Awards

Each year Anna Sofat, founder of Addidi Wealth hosts these prestigious awards to celebrate inspiring women from the present day and from history. 


The theme for 2013 was social enterprise and from the four extraordinary women the winner was Dame Elizabeth Cadbury and her Champion Benita Refson OBE, CEO of Place2Be. 

The other nominees were Annie Besant, championed by Suzanne Biegel founder of Cataylyst at Large; Josephine Butler nominated by Dr Jane Davis MBE of the Reader Organisation; and Beatrice Webb for whom the champion was Shauneen Lambe of Just for Kids Law.

As ever, this was a very special event charmingly co-hosted at Tavistock House by Anna & Janardan Sofat.

G20 Young Entrepreneurs at the House of Lords

The international G20 YEA annual Summit brings together young entrepreneurs from many different countries. This year it was the turn of Russia to host. The UK delegation is jointly organized by the Young Brits Network and Youth Business International. After attending the send-off for the G20 Young entrepreneurs at the IoD before their trip to Moscow for the 2013 Summit, it was great to be able to co-host their triumphant return!

Lord Ahmed welcomed guests to the House of Lords and told of his own business journey from a market to his own fish & chip shops and now into property. 


We then heard from some of the excellent young entrepreneurs as well as the G20 President Alex Mitchell and Lead Delegate Glynn Peglar. Glynn said it’s not simply about knowledge exchange which is great in itself, but also about making excellent connections - as a result of attending previous summits he’s now launching his business in Mexico.

The young entrepreneurs fund their own trips and all were both inspired by what they got from the trip, and inspiring to us, as they told us a little about the Summit and their own growing businesses.

Owen Campbell-Moore energized us with his energy and passion for technology. Nathan Cornish of Timto set up his gifting platform to allow people to group together to buy gifts while also supporting charity. Elin Rees is a PR dynamo and already has international clients, providing PR for major music festivals. Nick Proctor of Amber Energy took full advantage of the occasion to suggest his green energy could be ideal for new commercial property sites!

After the presentation guests enjoyed networking over lunch with officers of the APPGE and some of PSC’s entrepreneur members.

Vistage Open Day with AmyK

An amazing event to end the business week on a high! At the St Pauls Etc venue, a half day seminar as part of the Vistage Open Day series. Vistage is a great organisation that provides a peer group for leading CEOs and company founders of mainly £20-50m turnover mid-level businesses. Each group has an experienced chairman and they meet monthly at members' organisations and share ideas about business issues, triumphs and challenges with others in a similar position. Vistage now also has a division for early-stage businesses.

AmyK Hutchins of Ignite Brilliance swept onto the stage and gave us a truly awesome session on leadership. With innovative and practical ideas there were lots of must-do takeaways, not just new ideas but ways to change our thinking and become more effective. Unlike some training days that leave one energized at the time but slow to act, we were inspired to go back to our businesses and implement the ideas with vigour!

Thanks to Amy K and Vistage for a memorable day. Also to Etc Venues for providing a lovely location and wonderful food that was both tasty and healthy.