Cholmondeley Room Reception

For Pink Shoe Aperitivo we met in Parliament Street for pink fizz and an informal catch up.







We then moved across to the Cholmondeley Room for a reception held in support of the Stanley Baldwin Memorial Statue appeal which was very well organised by Beth Rowley.

Team EB Update

The first Team EB meeting of 2017 opened with presentations on three of the innovative and exciting EB projects.

Firstly we heard from Sandy Meadows about the unique 'Know & Grow' business assessment tool.

Then over to Ishreen Bradley for an update on the collaborative portal which will enable WBs to cluster to win contracts.









Finally Anna Sofat shared with us the digital platform that Addidi has developed to link their investment club members with potential businesses seeking capital.



After these inspiring presentations the meeting reported positive progress being made by each group as workstream leaders updated on achievements to date and plans for the coming year.

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.