International Women's Day feature with Caroline Wilce, CFO of Black and White Hospitality

Tell us about your involvement in Black and White and how you got to the position you’re in now?

Involved in the initial set up of the company establishing Black and White Hospitality in 2013 with Nick Taplin and Marco Pierre White undertaking the role of CFO.??A significant shareholder in both Cadbury House and The Cube my background spans 35 years in Hospitality and Finance. Previous roles were FD at Sanguine Hospitality, which employed over 900 people in the UK and had a portfolio of properties where I was appointed as a director managing assets of more than ￡200m. Prior to this I was Hotels FD at Macdonald Hotels and Group Financial Controller for Forte Heritage.

I am very proud of what we have achieved in the 9 years since the company began its journey with two very successful businesses within the UK. The first was the business venture restaurant franchising in partnership with Marco Pierre White with whom we own the master franchise rights to eight MPW brands. The principal objective was to introduce branded restaurants into hotels and to convert non-profitable dining spaces into busy profitable restaurants. Since launch the business has expanded its portfolio at a rapid rate and quickly became known as the F&B solution for hoteliers. Working?alongside some of the world’s leading brands including InterContinental Hotels Group, Hilton Worldwide, Wyndham Worldwide, Accor Hotels and Marco Pierre White. We currently have 32 restaurants open across 6 brands with a strong pipeline.

In 2014 we acquired Cadbury House Hotel to add to our existing Hotel Indigo in Birmingham and?with that Black and White Hospitality Management was born with the aim of delivering excellence in hotel management specialising in the management of both branded and independent hotels to deliver optimum profits to hotel owners. The portfolio today spans from limited service hotels through to luxury full-service hotels with conferencing, events, health clubs, spas and restaurants.

Why do you think International Women’s Day is important to celebrate and recognise??

It is a day?where we recognise the amazing social, cultural, economic and professional achievements of women. Whilst also continually campaigning for equality for all.

It sets the scene for key challenges such as gender equality and equal pay (with focus on the workplace), as well as many other factors in day to day life. It is something to celebrate and realise just how much progress we have made. There have been many achievements over the years, but there is still work to be done.?

Women still face challenges on a day to day basis, the more we discuss these things in the workplace, around friends, with family, the more we will make a difference. Without conversations from differing viewpoints, change won’t happen.

Do you think there’s a change in how women are now seen in business??

There has been major progress since I began my career in 1990, where there was a serious lack of women in the board room. Today a third of all board positions in the UK’s FTSE 100 companies are held by women, meaning a key target of the government backed review has been met almost a year early.??However this number falls when it comes to the top position such as CEO to one in eight, it’s clear that women continue to face barriers to success, whether that’s through promotion to key roles or how they are treated by colleagues.

Despite the major in roads in the last 30 years in the workplace women believe they are paid less than their male peers at a similar seniority. At the same time, men are almost twice as likely to become entrepreneurs. Businesses must do more to tackle these issues and support to continue through world leading reforms to workplace rights. The forthcoming Employment Bill will seek to better support women in the workplace. Including measures to enhance protections from pregnancy and maternity discrimination and subject to consultation, making flexible working the default.

There still is a barrier to female entrepreneurship, with clear evidence that access to funding prevented women staring their own business. 40% of female entrepreneurs said they expected to be turned down when seeking funding. Low expectations of this kind have caused women looking for funding to start out with an average of 53% less capital than men, putting them at a significant competitive disadvantage.

In response to this we are now seeing the emergence of investment platforms specifically for female founders. Recently the UK Enterprise Fund has been unveiled. This will be a joint initiative between NatWest-owned private bank Coutts and the Business Growth Fund (BGF) with the aim to bridge the biggest barrier faced by female entrepreneurs, and create better access to capital.