As you may know, I am in the final stages of preparing for RE-DEFINED - the virtual, half-day conference I am hosting in partnership with Karen Stenning on Friday, 29 May.
On the evening of Wednesday, 25 March, following the structure of the face-to-face Thrive Meetups I host, I brought together 25 female founders and women in business for our first Online Thrive Meetup on Zoom!
Last November, Ditchling resident and Founder of Lock Healthcare Recruitment, Abigail Lock launched the Thrive Meetup in Hassocks with the support of Clare Griffiths, Founder and Chief Enabler of The Thrive Effect.
She Rebel Radio is a community-driven podcast dedicated to helping high-performing women leaders unlearn conventional rules, leave prestigious careers and launch businesses of significance. Host Lulu Minns - one of our Thrive+ members - knows that leaving your prison of prestige to do something of significance is a tough call... in fact, it takes ovaries of steel!
Whilst we get to eat the most amazingly tasty and healthy brunch thanks to Stacie Stewart’s Eat Naked catering, this is not the only thing we get to do at our Female Founders Business Brunchin’ event!
Our quarterly brunches — hosted by The Thrive Effect and Barclays Eagle Lab — are designed to be motivational and informative, so that the female founders and women in business who attend are inspired, learn from each other and make new connections.
One of the first founders to join as a Thrive+ member was Lau Moracchini.
Lau is Founder of The Creative Upcycler, a purpose-led, commercially driven social enterprise on a mission to help reduce the amount of wood and metal waste going to landfill. Lau is an eco-friendly woodworker, jewellery designer and maker based in Brighton, who collects salvaged, reclaimed wood and other sustainable materials from cabinet makers, shops, building sites, recycling yards, skips and fly tipping to make a unique range of professional, wooden jewellery and rustic objects for the home and garden.
Silicon Valley entrepreneur, Steve Blank, famously said, ‘No plan survives first contact with customers’. Whilst the feedback from The Thrive Effect’s new digital platform has been really encouraging, I have taken a moment to revisit our business model and reposition slightly.
I am delighted to announce that The Thrive Effect is a purpose-led membership organisation for female founders in Sussex who want to grow a thriving small business.
On International Women's Day 2019, The Thrive Effect and Barclays Eagle Lab (Brighton) partnered up to host their first Female Founder Business Brunchin'. The feedback from the attendees was so encouraging that we have decided to host our Female Founder Business Brunchin' every quarter!
So, join us at Barclays Eagle Lab (Brighton) for our second Female Founder Business Brunchin' on Friday, 21 June from 11am to 1pm when we will hear the stories of business growth from two founders working in the food and drinks industry: Kathy Caton of Brighton Gin and Stacie Stewart of Eat Naked.
The latest reports on female entrepreneurship don't make an encouraging read. The most recent business statistics from the government have found that only one fifth of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) were owned or led by women in 2017. Statistics from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Report (2017) don't paint a brighter picture either. In the UK, the Total Early-Stage Entrepreneurial Activity (TEA) rate in 2017 was 5.6%, compared to the male rate of 11.9%. In other words, men are twice as likely as women to set up a business. The statistics about private investment are equally worrying. Research by Innovate UK has found that men are 86% more likely to receive private investment than women.
I am a proud European, and I relish international encounters, so when the opportunity came up to take part in the Startup Cruise (Newhaven-Dieppe), I didn’t hesitate in booking my seat.
Organised by Graham Precey and Mark Beaumont, Co-Founders of Newhaven Regeneration Group, in partnership with Normandy Ecospace, last Thursday, 4 April, I found myself with 40 other UK-based entrepreneurs on board the DFDS ferry ‘Seven Sisters’ – exploring the innovation and growth potential of my social enterprise, The Thrive Effect.
Our Ultimate Bucket List for Students: 100 things to do before you leave university
In November, we ran a social media campaign publishing our Ultimate Bucket List for Students. Here are the first 25/100 things to do from our list!
When I reflect on my employability and career progression to date, I have to credit my friends.
Thanks to my friend Damani, I pursued a Master's degree in International Development and Gender Studies – a subject I didn't even know existed before Damani mentioned it to me. And I have to credit my friend Claire, for helping me land my first job, once I had completed my postgraduate studies. It was Claire's tips on how to write a compelling support statement that enabled me to secure an interview for my first "proper job" after university.
Recently, I was fortunate enough to attend Policy-UK’s Forum “Making Every Graduate Employable”. The aim of the forum was to assess some of the successful practices currently used in universities to promote graduate employability, as well as discuss the implications of the forthcoming Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) and changes to the Destination of Leavers of Higher Education (DLHE) survey. Whilst it would be impossible to transform all my learnings from the forum into a single blog post, in attempt to inform as many different stakeholders as possible, I have assembled a brief list of key recommendations aimed at students, graduates, educators, and higher education institutions, which are inspired by the various presentations and panel discussions from the forum.
Recently, I was fortunate enough to attend Policy-UK’s Forum “Making Every Graduate Employable”. The aim of the forum was to assess some of the successful practices currently used in universities to promote graduate employability, as well as discuss the implications of the forthcoming Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) and changes to the Destination of Leavers of Higher Education (DLHE) survey. Whilst it would be impossible to transform all my learnings from the forum into a single blog post, in attempt to inform as many different stakeholders as possible, I have assembled a brief list of key recommendations aimed at students, graduates, educators, and higher education institutions, which are inspired by the various presentations and panel discussions from the forum.
Recently, I was fortunate enough to attend Policy-UK’s Forum “Making Every Graduate Employable”. The aim of the forum was to assess some of the successful practices currently used in universities to promote graduate employability, as well as discuss the implications of the forthcoming Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) and changes to the Destination of Leavers of Higher Education (DLHE) survey. Whilst it would be impossible to transform all my learnings from the forum into a single blog post, in attempt to inform as many different stakeholders as possible, I have assembled a brief list of key recommendations aimed at students, graduates, educators, and higher education institutions, which are inspired by the various presentations and panel discussions from the forum.
There seems to be no reprieve in the endless publication of newspaper articles, employer surveys, and policy papers which argue that current graduates are not sufficiently prepared for the world of work.
For one educator at the University of Brighton, this new year sees the launch of her new web app – SKILLS ON TAP UK – a free, digital tool which enables students to rate themselves against the skills and mindsets most sought by employers, as well as find graduate jobs, schemes, and internships.
The graduates of 2017 are facing an uncertain future. It is probably one of the more challenging and uncertain environments that graduates have experienced since the recession hit cohorts of 2008 and 2009...
As an educator based within the Careers Service at the University of Brighton, every year, I support hundreds of students to develop their employability skills in preparation for the world beyond graduation. One of my tasks is to get those students thinking about the skills and behaviours they have developed during – and alongside – their studies. Why? Because, increasingly, employers are telling us they place as much value on students’ employability skills as they do on their academic qualifications...
