Britain is full of inspirational women doing amazing things in the world of business. There are more female entrepreneurs in Britain than ever before. In fact, in 2022, over 150,000 new companies were established in the UK by female entrepreneurs, twice as many as in 2018.
The achievements of women in business are often overlooked – we want to change that. Here, we shine the spotlight on just a few of the unsung female heroes who inspire and motivate us.
June Angelides
June Angelides is a banker, female entrepreneur and tech investor. She is the principal of London-based Samos Investments. She also founded a child-friendly coding school called Mums in Tech, which taught over 250 women to code in three years.
If that isn’t impressive enough, June is committed to sharing her expertise with others. She sits on the advisory board of mentoring app Cajigo, acts as a mentor at Oxford University and runs mentoring circles.
Her contribution to inspiring women in business was recognised in 2020 when she was awarded an MBE for services to women in technology.
Nisha Katona
Nisha launched her first restaurant, Mowgli, in Liverpool in 2014, following a 20-year career as a child protection barrister. Mowgli went from strength to strength, and Nisha went in to open a further 18 sites across the UK, including London, Manchester, Cardiff and Sheffield.
As well as running her culinary empire, Nisha works as a business and food expert for ITV, BBC, Radio 4 and Channel 4. She also founded the Mowgli Trust that donates thousands of pounds to charities every year.
She was recognised in the 2019 New Year Honours List for services in the food industry and was awarded an MBE.
Kanya King
Determined to provide a platform for celebrating music inspired and influenced by black artists, Kanya founded the MOBO Awards in 1996, remortgaging her house to do so.
Since then, the MOBOs have grown into an international brand, celebrating the achievements of artists from hip hop, R&B, reggae, soul and African music.
Over the years, the MOBOs have introduced up-and-coming British artists who went on to become massive household names, like Stormzy, Emile Sandé and Dizzee Rascal.
Kanya has received multiple awards for her achievements, including the Media Pioneer award at the Music Week Women In Music Awards.
Claire Ighodaro CBE
Claire Ighodaro is a chartered management accountant and the first female president of the Chartered Institute of Management Accounts (CIMA), she was also the first female president and Chair of the executive board, Clare has gone on to serve on a variety of directorships and advisory positions.
In 2007 Clare was ranked 5th in the New Nations power list of 100 leading black role models. In 2008, she was awarded a CBE for services in business. In 2015, Clare was granted a ‘doctor of the university’ from Open University.
Today Clare is an independent audit non-executive and Chair of the Audit Board at KPMG and a role model for many black women in business.
