International Women’s Day and a year of AllBright

Today is a big day for AllBright. It’s International Women’s Day, which also marks exactly one year since The AllBright Rathbone opened its doors in London – and what a year it has been. The past 12 months have seen us build and support an ever-growing global sisterhood throughout their career journeys, but there is still a lot of work to do.

This morning saw the release of the Alison Rose Review on advancing female entrepreneurship in the UK. Commissioned by the HM Treasury, and aided by contributors such as myself, the findings of the review demonstrate that there is a long way to go to create a real change in the business landscape, and never before has there been a more pertinent time to empower women to enhance their work life and careers.

Key findings from the report include:

– The UK faces a significant challenge to achieve gender parity in entrepreneurship: 33% of entrepreneurs in the UK are women compared to 40%+ in peer countries (e.g. the US, Canada, Australia). Women are half as likely as men to start a business, female-led businesses are half as likely as men to reach turnover of ￡1m-￡50m despite women expressing similar growth ambitions for their businesses as men. And Women account for less than 25% of entrepreneurs in the five most productive sectors (e.g. Financial services, IT & Communications, Manufacturing and Transportation)

– There are five key challenges that influence women’s ability to start and scale businesses relative to men: 39% of women are confident in their capabilities to start a business vs. 56% of men. Women are less aware of funding options available, yet have a higher awareness of risk. VC are overwhelmingly male (only 8% of VC investors are women). And there is a real lack of mentorship and role models.

– ￡250b GVA could be contributed to the UK economy if female entrepreneurs started and scaled businesses at the same rate as UK men, equivalent to four years of natural GVA growth.

The Alison Rose Review offers both reassuring signs of change and evidence of the work that remains to be done. As outlined in the review, in order to build positive change, there needs to be a focus on expanding networking opportunities, helping create more entrepreneurial platforms and supporting funding received by female entrepreneurs.

These are all areas being addressed by AllBright in our mission to create a global sisterhood. And the tangible impact we have made in our first year confirms my conviction that empowering networks that support and champion women is the only way we can enact meaningful change across the business landscape.

In the past 12 months, AllBright has hosted eight Pitch Days. The monthly events, now presented in partnership with HSBC Private Banking, represent our ongoing commitment to female entrepreneurs who are looking to raise funds and our direct efforts to redress the balance when it comes to the funding allocated to women in the UK (and beyond). We invite female-founded businesses to present to our network of experienced angel investors, high-net-worth individuals and business leaders.

We have also onboarded and upskilled thousands of women through the AllBright Academy. Our free 10-week digital programme addresses the gender confidence gap, offering two specially designed courses designed to equip women with the practical tools, network, motivation and approach to achieve their goals. ‘Doing it For Yourself’ is aimed at aspiring or early stage female founders whilst ‘Smashing the Glass Ceiling’ is for women in businesses large or small who are looking to develop professionally.

At the heart of what we do is our private members’ clubs, designed by and for women. Following the success of our first Rathbone Place site, we have two new club openings coming in 2019 – The AllBright Mayfair and The AllBright West Hollywood. They are elegant spaces offering a home away from a home to put the work in, network, unwind and be inspired. The environment of connectivity and support creates new opportunities every day, from serendipitous meetings to programmed events designed to bring our members together.

The clubs play host to our eclectic events programme – including our official International Women’s Week schedule (here at AllBright, we’ve dedicated more than a day to the cause) – which includes talks and professional development workshops, debates and self-care seminars by leading industry experts. Plus film screenings, live music from female DJs and emerging artists, comedy from Hysterical Women and member Power Hour networking drinks. Our aim is to create thoughtful, nuanced events that look at women’s careers and lives in unexpected and original ways.

And today, on International Women’s Day 2019, we are launching our new mentoring programme, AllBright Mentors. With matching facilitated by our membership team, mentees are offered career guidance and role modelling, whilst mentors are encouraged to share their knowledge, skills and expertise; helping other women to take the next steps in their careers. We are also celebrating the launch of our inaugural print magazine, featuring 50 game-changing women including our first cover star Jameela Jamil.

During our first year, we have learned some valuable lessons; ones that continue to inspire our mission going forward – we know that brilliant things happen when women come together, that women want accessible ways to empower one another, and that sisterhood really does work.