FINALISTS ANNOUNCED FOR THE 22ND EVERYWOMAN ENTREPRENEUR AWARDS

The UK’S most extraordinary female founders have been unveiled as the finalists for the 2024 everywoman Entrepreneur Awards, in association with BGF, the UK’s longest-running recognition programme for women in business. Now in their 22nd year, the awards set out to uncover and amplify the diverse array of female-led businesses, recognising them as influential role models for future generations, and celebrating their economic contribution.

Selected from nearly a thousand entries, the 2024 finalists are at different stages on their entrepreneurial journey, from multi-million-pound empires to those spearheading social enterprise for the greater good, or solopreneurs starting out. They also span diverse industries – from beauty and fashion to medical innovations and hospitality, food manufacturing to publishing houses, to name a few. 

The UK government have an ambitious target to increase the number of female entrepreneurs by 50% by 2030, adding 600,000 businesses to the market and boosting the UK economy by a projected £250 billion.[1] However, the funding gap and lack of female role models has been recognised as a unique and key barrier for women starting, growing, and scaling their businesses.

Maxine Benson MBE, Co-Founder of everywoman comments:

“Sharing the stories of women’s entrepreneurial journeys plays a crucial role in encouraging others to achieve success. Over the last 25 years, everywoman has been at the forefront of the drive to increase the number of female entrepreneurs, working with government, industry bodies and the corporate sector to accelerate the rate of progress and dismantle barriers that remain for women, particularly when it comes to accessing funding, growing and scaling their business.

Of the businesses that entered the awards this year, 51% stated they were going to be seeking additional funding in the next 12 months, 69% were planning to deploy more technology and 83% said they would be recruiting more employees. The everywoman Entrepreneur Awards have a central role to play in highlighting the disconnect between the growth ambitions of female founded businesses and their access to funding. These women are wealth and job creators and the businesses we must be investing in for the growth of UK Plc. 

This programme has created an incredibly unique group of like-minded founders, judges, business leaders and investors, who not only advocate and champion each other, but also provide a business referral and a support network to eliminate feelings of being marginalised and isolated. These annual awards will see these unstoppable female founders gather in London this December, to celebrate this year’s finalists and winners, and to recognise their vital contribution to the UK economy and future of enterprise.” 

THE 2024 CATEGORIES ARE:

THE BALANCE AWARD: Awarded to a woman who founded her business whilst raising a child/children aged 12 or under.

·      Eva Simpson, Founder & Director of ESPR, from London

·      Georgie Coleridge Cole, Founder & CEO of Sheerluxe, from London

·      Karen O’Flaherty, Co-Founder of Pip Organic, from London

ENTREPRENEUR FOR GOOD AWARD – sponsored by Specsavers: Awarded to a woman who has founded a business that contributes to the greater good in some way, whether this is through a social enterprise, diversity and inclusion, a focus on sustainability or any other area of impact. 

·      Laurelle Brown, Director of Laurelle Brown Limited, from London

·      Samantha Trinder, Co-Owner of Bingham Riverhouse Hotel & Members Club, from London

·      Sandra Igwe, Founder & CEO of The Motherhood Group, from London

INTERNATIONAL EXPANSION AWARD – sponsored by Rathbone Financial Planning: Awarded to a female founder who has successfully expanded her product/service to a new geographic market. 

·      Jenny Brown, Founder of Pampeano, from Oxford

·      Margaret Dabbs OBE, Founder & CEO of Margaret Dabbs London, from London

THE NEXT LEVEL AWARD – sponsored by SG Kleinwort Hambros: Awarded to a female founder who has a highly profitable business (above £1,000,000 EBITDA). 

·      Jennifer Davidson, Founder & Managing Director of Sleek Events, from London

·      Julia Senah, Founder & Managing Director of Almond Care and Almond Care Children’s Services, from Nuneaton

·      Lucy Goff, Founder of LYMA Life, from London

SCALE UP AWARD – sponsored by BGF: Celebrates a woman who has founded a company in a period of high growth.

·      Amy Knight, Managing Director of Must Have Ideas, from Kent

·      Kim Innes, Founder & CEO of Humble Crumble, from London

·      Dr Tara Lalvani, Founder & CEO of Beautifect, from London

SOCIAL STAR AWARD: Awarded to a woman who has significantly grown or launched her business using predominantly the power of social media.

·      Arianna Ajtar, Founder & CEO of Mars the Label, from Manchester

·      Lemon Fuller, Founder & CEO of Lemonade Dolls, from London

·      Louise Brogan, LinkedIn Consultant at Louise Brogan Ltd, from Belfast

SOLOPRENEUR AWARD: Awarded to a woman running a business as an independent sole trader.

·      Caroline Hoggarth, Founder of A Fold of Chairs, from St Albans

·      Louisa Payne, Founder & CEO of Brixton Wine Club & The Wine Tap Van, from London

·      Rachel Peebles, Founder & Spanish Teacher of Estrellas Brillantes, from Glasgow

SMALL ENTERPRISE AWARD: This award celebrates an inspiring woman who has founded a profitable business with less than 25 employees. 

·      Amelia Peckham, Co-Founder & CEO of Cool Crutches, from Harrogate

·      Rose Ovensehi, Founder & CEO of Flora & Curl, from Birmingham

·      Sarah Simmons, Co-Founder & Director of British Baby Box, from Essex

TECH INNOVATOR AWARD – sponsored by AddIn365: This award recognises a woman who is creating innovative tech which is creating change within industry.

·      Janice Turner, Founder & CEO of Wren Games Ltd, from Romsey

·      Jenni Riley, Co-Founder & Chief People Officer of ITARMI UK, from Leatherhead

·      Vinita Rathi, CEO of Systango, from Ruislip

Gemma Hamilton, investor and origination at BGF, and a judge at the everywoman Entrepreneur Awards 2024, said:

"I have been incredibly proud to judge the everywoman Entrepreneur Awards this year. The finalists represent the very best of female entrepreneurship, showcasing remarkable innovation, resilience and leadership across a range of exciting and diverse industries. We hope this year’s nominees inspire many more female founders and showcase to the wider investment industry the huge potential for growth that exists in women-led businesses across the country.”

The 2024 finalists were chosen by a judging panel comprising some of the UK’s most successful women in business as well as VCS and investors who are at the forefront of closing the funding gap with their diverse portfolios. Judges include Chrissie Rucker (Founder of The White Company), Susan Allen (Co-founder at Here We Flo), Connie Nam (Founder of Astrid and Miyu), Yvonne Nagawa (Chief of Staff at Black Seed Ventures), Izzy Obeng (CEO at Foundervine), and Libby Gibson (Partner at Piper PE LLP), amongst others. 

To find out more about the finalists and book your place at the awards ceremony, please visit https://www.everywoman.com/entrepreneur-awards/. 

[1] Women-led high-growth enterprise taskforce report (2024)

Ends

Editors notes

About everywoman - Powering businesses to achieve their gender inclusion goals 

everywoman is a global learning and development organisation that drives positive change by empowering women to achieve their professional potential. Established in 1999, everywoman works with leading corporations and organisations, improving productivity and performance through its membership offering and unique tailored blend of products and services which unlock female potential and powers businesses to accelerate their gender inclusion goals. As part of its portfolio, everywoman’s cross-industry awards and forums have created thousands of female role models and inspired generations of future leaders. For more information visit www.everywoman.com  

About BGF

BGF was set-up in 2011 and has invested £4 billion in over 600 companies, making it the largest and most experienced investor in the UK and Ireland. BGF is a minority, non-controlling equity partner with a patient outlook on investments, based on shared long-term goals with the management teams it backs. BGF invests in growing businesses in the UK and Ireland through its network of 15 offices. BGF has been recognised as the most active institutional investor in women-led businesses by the ScaleUp Institute for the last five years. In total BGF has invested over £500 million in women-led businesses and is striving to increase that figure further in the coming years. BGF is a certified UK B Corporation (B Corp), reflecting its commitment to creating a positive impact across the growth economy. See: www.bgf.co.uk