So, this made me wake up a little: According to CNBC out of the top 100 firms in Britain, only 6 of them have female CEOs. That’s 5% which means 95% are men. That's why, this week we're showcasing some awesome women in business!
Below are 5 female powerhouses across the West Midlands and who we feel are great role models.
Tina Costello
Tina is the chief executive of Heart of England and has been since 2013. Heart of England is a West Midlands and Warwickshire based giving business. They specialise in giving funding to all kinds of amazing work! From supporting the local scout groups for residential trips to pay salaries and expenses for volunteers.
Tina is in charge of implementing high-level strategies. She builds effective relationships with stake holders and manages the overall operations and resources of the charity. Her team and the charity support local grassroots communities and this is something we can really get behind.
Find out more about Tina here.
Tina Costello, chief executive of Heart of England.
Geeta and Reena Salhan
Geeta and Reena are co-founders of Green Sisters. Green Sisters is a healthy, plant based Indian food delivery service. They create healthy Indian food, free from allergens as well as offering gluten free, wheat free and dairy free foods. And their vegan; gluten-free samosas, bhajis and curries are multi-award winning! Not only do they cover the West Midlands, but they are also nation-wide and deliver across the UK. These two wonderful women built this business from scratch in 2016, creating excellent quality food that practically everyone can eat! Moreover, they have partnered with the ‘Inclusive Commonwealth Legacy Programme (ICLP) in their first instalment of this programme and was able to really home in on what they wanted for their product and service.
Reena is also an alumnus from Aston University and used Aston’s start up support fund, BSEEN, to kick-start Green Sisters.
Find out more about Geeta and Reena here.
Geeta and Reena Salhan, co-founders of Green Sisters.
Yetunde Dania
Yetunde is a partner at Trowers and Hamlins’ Birmingham Office and spent 8 years with this law firm and helped set up the Birmingham Office. She has over 20 years’ experience of advising social housing and private sector housing. Not only that but she is a powerhouse, speaking regularly at social housing events and seminars. She has also done this within the private sector events hosted by PropertyMark. Yetunde was also ranked as a notable practitioner by Chambers in 2019.
Find out more about Yetunde here.
Yetunde Dania, partner at Trowers and Hamlins’ Birmingham Office, and was ranked as a notable practitioner by Chambers in 2019.
Rachel Bowering
Editor of BBC Midlands Today, the West Midlands online team and the Sunday show Politics Midlands, Rachel has worked with some of the largest BBC brands - from Children in Need to Crimewatch. She joined the BBC as a trainee and now leads a large team of one of the most watched news programmes on the BBC, the 18:30 regional news. Not only has Rachel achieved greatness as an editor within the BBC, she has also tried her hand at producing and directing according to IMDB.
Find out more about Rachel here.
Whilst researching for this blog post I discovered how hard it is to find any information about women in business, in the West Midlands, who are doing well in their field. This should not have been a hard post to write, yet it was. As Little Helper Kate is a female run business at the beginning of its journey, seeing this should be empowering. The women here are extraordinary and powerful and are clear role models for any young person to aim to be.
We feel that it should be good practise for organisations to bare this information in mind when you commission services and not just focus on lower costs. When hiring businesses like us, it demonstrates you want to help improve the equality and increase the diversity within your business or organisation. This is more important to think about than cutting costs. This could also lead you to gain clients or customers who also support these ideals.
Thank you for reading, if you are interested in our services and you feel that this post resonates with you contact us or please email us at hello[at]littlehelperkate.com.
