Hoje, o centro do centro de Liverpool nos negócios sediará um dos meus eventos favoritos do ano, o prêmio anual de mulheres em negócios. e a agenda de diversidade mais ampla que tem sido o foco de tantas notícias negativas ultimamente, seria fácil ficar um pouco deprimido com a falta de progresso que foi feito nessa arena. Tivemos uma enxurrada de indicações para selecionar também, e esse nem sempre foi o caso. Isso não apenas levou a uma relutância em empreendedores femininos que se apresentam por prêmios, mas no passado encontrar femininos para eventos muitas vezes tem sido um desafio. O Conselho da Cidade de Preston, Lorraine Norris, está entre os mais inspiradores dos colaboradores do programa de eventos do centro da cidade já este ano. No próximo mês, damos as boas -vindas a Commonwealth Games Champion Diane Modahl, o empresário de Birmingham Deb Leary e o fundador da Moneypenny Rachel Clacher para encabeçar nossa conferência "ilimitada". Bottom-line. Existem muitos relatórios de que você pode pesquisar no Google que mostram evidências estatísticas sólidas sobre as empresas de melhoria financeira que adicionam mulheres talentosas à sua equipe. Nós desfrutamos do nosso ano de maior sucesso de todos os tempos. Coincidência? Acho que não. Downtown in Business
Yesterday, of course, it was International Women’s Day, so it is great that we can celebrate the best female business talent in the city this afternoon.
Reflecting on the women in business agenda, and the wider diversity agenda that has been the focus of so much negative news of late, it would be easy to get slightly depressed about the lack of progress that has been made in this arena.
However, I would prefer to focus on the positives, and explain why I am optimistic about greater equality and opportunity for women in the future.
The nominees that we have had for today’s event are phenomenal. We had a flood of nominations to select from too, and that hasn’t always been the case.
A challenge that women have traditionally had is that, unlike men, they tend to hide their light under a bushel. This has not only led to a reluctance in female entrepreneurs putting themselves forward for awards, but in the past finding female speakers for events has often been a challenge.
That women are now gaining in confidence is clear and is great to see.
Joanne Roney, the chief executive of Manchester City Council, Ruth Turner, the founder of Big Issue in the North and former adviser to Prime Minister Tony Blair, and the chief executive of Preston City Council Lorraine Norris have been among the most inspirational of contributors to Downtown’s events programme already this year. Next month we welcome Commonwealth Games Champion Diane Modahl, Birmingham entrepreneur Deb Leary, and the founder of Moneypenny Rachel Clacher to headline our ‘Limitless’ conference.
The more successful females put themselves out there, the more role models beyond the WAG and TOWIE stereotypes emerge.
Where females in business really make a difference though is to a company’s bottom- line. There are umpteen reports that you can Google that show solid statistical evidence about the financial improvement businesses who add talented females to their team make.
From personal experience, we have, more by chance than design, created a team at Downtown over the past twelve months that has resulted in a 50:50 male/female ratio for the first time in a long time. We have enjoyed our most successful year ever. Coincidence? I don’t think so.
If there are any people out there who believe that the female agenda is a fluffy one, I would simply say to them – wake up – it’s the economy stupid!
