The inaugural Athena Festival is set to take place at Nexus Leeds, bringing together female founders and investors in a groundbreaking event designed to empower women entrepreneurs outside of London. The festival will be held on the 15th October 2024 and aims to drive innovation, foster economic growth, and build a supportive community for female-led businesses in the UK. Learn more about the speakers below.
Almost 45% of England’s female led high-growth enterprises are located in London. Considering that only 13% of the UK’s population resides in London, this represents a clear regional imbalance of female founding high-growth activity.
The Athena Festival is the first event of its kind, focusing on the unique challenges and opportunities faced by female founders in the regions. With a comprehensive program of workshops, mentorship sessions, networking opportunities, and pitch competitions, the festival offers a platform for women entrepreneurs to scale their businesses and connect with potential investors.
Morning
Welcome – 9.30am – Jordan Dargue, Helen Oldham and a video welcome from Tulip Siddiq MP
Our visionary keynote – Adah Parris – 9.45am
Be braver, be your own hero – 10.15am
- Clare Hayward – Chair, NP11
- Sharon Jandu OBE – Founder, Yorkshire Asian Business Association (YABA) & NPH Ethnic Minority Business & Policy Forum
- Nicola Hurley – Chief People Officer, Dains Accountants
- Rachel Hannan – Chair,
Morning sessions – 10.45 – 11.55am
Wisdom – Lift Off – Lightning Founder Pitches
Hear from three brilliant startup founders as they pitch their businesses in front of our hand-selected panel of investors.
Resourcefulness – A fast track to access to finance, sponsored by Gordons LLP
A masterclass in navigating the funding landscape with Jordan Dargue, a talk on the legal process for developing a robust investment structure and a panel discussion with investors and two founders on mobilising investment with:
- Amy Pierechod, Gordons LLP
- Will Schaffer, Mercia
- Saskia Roskam, The Biskery
- Emma Cassidy, DSW Ventures
- Kate Hawker, Adventuro
- Cat Smith, British Business Bank
Courage – Go to market strategy – how to understand your audience, your messaging and your marketing channel strategy, Jane Slimming from Zeal Marketing
In this hour session Jane will discuss how to write your go to market strategy giving you actionable points to ensure you are putting your product / service in front of the right people and how to maximise engagement with even the smallest budget.
Afternoon
The Lifted Project – Pioneering high-growth female entrepreneurship across the regions – 1.30pm
- Zandra Moore – CEO, Panintelligence
- Debra Leeves – CEO, Vertual
- Lorna Green – CEO, LYVA Labs and LCR Ventures
Afternoon sessions – 2.20 – 3.30pm
Wisdom – Lift Off – Lightning Founder Pitches
Hear from three brilliant founders as they pitch their businesses in front of our hand-selected panel of investors.
Resourcefulness – From Invisible to Invincible with Lisa Clifford
Lisa believes that millions of people are waking up every morning knowing they were meant for more. They are fed up with watching others achieve their dreams while they feel like they are just killing time, which is killing their confidence, killing their relationships and it’s killing them… but it doesn’t have to be this way.
Courage – Sustainable success: Female founders leading ESG from day one – Mills and Reeves
This engaging fireside chat will explore how female founders can embed responsible business strategies from the very beginning of their entrepreneurial journey. The discussion will focus on the importance of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) principles and how they can help to drive sustainable success in your business.
- Ainslie Wilson-Shearer – Head of Diversity, Inclusion & Wellbeing, Mills & Reeve
- Jessica Wilkes-Ball – Head of Net Zero & Sustainability, Mills & Reeve
- Sarah Jones – Founder, Full Circle Funerals
- Sharon Amesu – Co-founder, She Leads for Legacy
- Lily Morris – Sustainability Engagement Manager (on sabbatical)
Moving from start-up to scale-up: unlocking growth through the art of saying no – Supported by Q5 – 3.45pm
- Anna Fairhurst – Q5
- Heather Martin – Q5
- Emma Smith – Q5
Lighting pitch award ceremony – 4.30pm
The festival finishes at 5pm with drinks from Amity Brew Co and laid back music from Ruth Cherry of SmartWorks Leeds until 6pm
Co-founder
Lifted Ventures
Change maker, community builder, up leveller, female entrepreneur champion, explorer.
Helping to shape ambitious growth strategies and deliver them through simple actionable steps.
Co-founder
Lifted Ventures
Jordan Dargue, is a founder, senior executive, investor, NED and seasoned investment expert. Her boundless passion for innovation, coupled with a remarkable track record of achievements, positions her within the realms of growth and investment.
Futurist speaker, Chair, Writer
Keynote speaker
Adah Parris is a highly sought-after keynote speaker, polymath, anti-disciplinary artist, tech futurist, and activist who is dedicated to inspiring individuals and organisations to embrace new ways of thinking and doing. She has a unique blend of expertise in multiple fields, including living systems, technologies (digital and ecological) and systems design. Her perspective on innovation, transformation, and technology is both empathetic and subversive, challenging the status quo and helping people to recognise and bridge the gap between their external stories and internal behaviours.
Chair
NP11
A successful business leader and entrepreneur focused on leadership and strategic engagement who has coached, facilitated and chaired boards, senior management teams and leaders across the globe over the last 30 years working in industry sectors including technology, banking, natural resources, retail and manufacturing. Experience also includes investment funding and negotiating the sale and purchase of several businesses. She is focused on enabling or investing in businesses that are either Northern, women led or focused on sustainability. Clare is the Chair of NP11 – the 11 regions across the north.
Founder
Yorkshire Asian Business Association (YABA)
Sharon Jandu OBE is the Director of the Northern Powerhouse Ethnic Minority Business & Policy Forum, Founder of the Yorkshire Asian Business Association, and Chair of Unity Enterprise. She sits on the board of the Unity Housing Association, and is a Director of the Federation of Small Business. She was listed in the New Year Honours list 2023 receiving an Order of the British Empire for her contributions to international trade.
Chief People Officer
Dains Accountants
Having started her own business at the age of 21, Nicola went on to have a varied career working mainly in the accountancy sector. She is now an Entrepreneur in Residence at the Ingenuity Lab and Honorary Associate Professor at Nottingham University Business School where she helps young businesses to grow and a trustee of a children’s and women’s charity.
Chair
Experienced Chair, Non-Executive Director and Board advisor across a range of sectors including private companies, Not for Profit and a University. Portfolio of Non-Executive and advisory roles spans organisations employing over 2,000 people. Active business angel investing in companies with purpose and the ability to deliver job creation, inclusive growth and partnership working. Invested 7 figures over the last 10 years in businesses and building affordable homes. Focused on creating and promoting opportunities and growth for people and organisations across sectors. Selected as one of Grant Thornton’s national 100 ‘Faces of a Vibrant Economy’ in 2018.
Passionate about regional ecosystems and startups
With nearly 30 years B2B experience, Heather is passionate about supporting enterprise and has built a wide knowledge of the enterprise ecosystem, supporting organisations and networks at a U.K. and regional level.
Heather is a recognised and skilled connector who builds relationships with internal & external stakeholders, collaborating with public, private and third sector organisations. This knowledge and connections has helped her support individuals and organisations to thrive, particularly female entrepreneurs.
Acceleration Manager
NatWest
Amirah is the Acceleration Manager at NatWest. She is passionate about supporting ambitious businesses in the North to scale. She is a business coach and a champion for diversity and inclusion.
Partner
Gordons LLP
Amy is a partner at Gordons, a Yorkshire based commercial law firm. She specialises in investment in high growth businesses, advising both companies and investors. Some of Amy’s clients include online wellness brand Spacegoods, Zoopla and Fuel Ventures.
Investment Director
Mercia Ventures
Will is an investment director with Mercia’s Ventures team where he focuses on early stage and growth investments up to £5m. Prior to Mercia Will spent more than six years in corporate finance as an M&A specialist with KPMG in Leeds and The McLean Group in Washington DC. He began his career as a researcher at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a bipartisan policy thinktank in Washington DC and holds a BA in History from Princeton University.
Co-founder
The Biskery
The Biskery is 100% founder owned and led. Lisa Shepherd and I bootstrapped this business from kitchen table start up, to farmers market to the national personalised biscuit brand it is today. At The Biskery we create branded & personalised biscuits for everyone wanting to get their message across in the sweetest way – businesses and consumers alike.
As a business our focus lies on quality, personalised service, and sustainability in all areas. It is our mission to connect people by spreading kindness in biscuit form. All whilst empowering women and working mums by normalising part-time employment, and family- friendly approaches to work.
Investment Manager
DSW Ventures
Emma is an Investment Manager for DSW Ventures – a venture capital firm based in Manchester, investing in SEIS- and EIS-qualifying companies across the UK regions, outside of London.
Founder
Adventuro
Kate Hawker is Co-Founder and COO of adventuro, the UK’s go-to platform for adventure sports courses, guiding and equipment rental. Kate and her team raised an angel round in May 2024, which was led by Lifted Ventures. Kate is always open to meeting new angels and advisors who might be looking to join forces!
Founder
Zeal Marketing
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CEO
Panintelligence
Zandra Moore is the Co-founder and CEO of Panintelligence and is a tech entrepreneur, specialising in data. Zandra is passionate about enabling more women in the tech industry, improving gender equality and increasing investment in businesses founded by fellow female entrepreneurs. Earlier roles in tech instilled an appreciation of the technology industry and a desire to make a change in the mostly male led sector.
CEO
Vertual
Debra has worked in technology companies and the pharmaceutical industry for the past 35 years, leading companies in the US, Asia-Pacific, and Europe. During her career she has held various C-level and senior positions in large multinational companies, including Pfizer, GSK and GE Healthcare. She is a serial entrepreneur and investor and has led 4 start-up companies.
She is currently CEO at Vertual Ltd, a leading international supplier of virtual reality software systems. Prior tothat she was CEO at Physeon in Switzerland, and prior to that Managing Director for Avita Medical, Cambridge.
In April she accepted the position of Regional Chair (North East) Growth Board for Lifted Ventures, which is an organisation that supports and helps to secure funding from VCs and angel investors for high growth female led businesses.
CEO
LYVA Labs and LCR Ventures
Specialties: Healthcare technologies, NHS, strategic marketing, raising investment and early stage businesses. Business planning, commercialisation and adoption of innovative medical and health technologies.
Member of the Knowledge Transfer Network (KTN) Med Tech Advisory Board
Founder
Meant for More Movement
Lisa is an international keynote speaker, regular BBC Radio guest, magazine columnist, and Founder of The Meant For More Movement; leading millions of heart-led purpose-seekers from feeling insignificant to invincible.
Co-founder
She Leads for Legacy
Multi award winning speaker, executive coach, and LinkedIn learning instructor empowering leaders to unlock their greatest potential and accelerate progress.
Head of Diversity, Inclusion & Wellbeing
Mills & Reeve
Ainslie is a diversity, inclusion and wellbeing expert, with experience working across the public, private and not-for-profit sectors spanning over 15 years. Her experience includes the development of robust and effective strategies driven by data and impact analysis, embedding inclusive practices across nationally dispersed organisations, and the creation and delivery of diversity, inclusion and wellbeing training.
Ainslie works across Mills & Reeve to deliver a more diverse workforce at all levels of the organisation, build inclusive cultures and support the wellbeing of everyone who works there.
Head of Net Zero & Sustainability
Mills & Reeve
Jessica Wilkes-Ball is the Head of Sustainability and Net Zero at Mills & Reeve. She leads the firm’s national environmental and sustainability strategy with the goal of achieving net-zero in line with their science-based targets commitments.
Jessica has extensive experience in both professional services and the not-for-profit sectors. Her passion for the natural world is lifelong, highlighted by a treasured personal letter from David Attenborough. She has successfully transitioned from a career in Corporate Social Responsibility to a senior sustainability leadership role and recently started studying for a master’s degree in sustainability business management at Teesside University.
At Mills & Reeve, Jessica has established the firm’s Net Zero target and created their strategy for achieving this, she is a core member of the senior leadership team and supports the firms’ values, strategic direction and advancing sustainability ambitions.
Jessica’s dedication and expertise make her a leading voice in sustainability, inspiring others to contribute to a more sustainable future.
Founder
Full Circle Funerals
Sarah started her professional life as an NHS surgeon and founded Full Circle Funerals in 2016. Full Circle has four funeral services in Yorkshire and is a certified B Corp. Sarah is an active member in the Yorkshire Business for Good B Corp community and Full Circle has won several sustainability awards.
Principal Consultant
Q5 Partners
Anna leads the commercial growth offering for Q5 Partners, with a focus on working with VC and PE backed business to help them scale rapidly and effectively. Anna is passionate about helping businesses to realise commercial value by aligning their organisation to a robust strategy, defining clear accountabilities and implementing efficient governance processes.
Before moving into consultancy with Q5, Anna worked in a variety of commercial roles at Capita including Head of Origination at Capita’s corporate venture unit. She also worked at a VC backed payments business in Spain before returning to the UK to work for Europe’s largest PE software investor as Head of Operations for the large cap fund. Anna is based in Leeds and loves to spend her weekends walking in the wonderful Yorkshire countryside.
Principal Consultant
Q5 Partners
Heather leads the M&A offering for Q5 Partners helping clients to scope, execute and embed deals, delivering on strategy and creating sustainable value
She is passionate about helping businesses to maintain focus while making the jump from start-up to scale-up. Over the past ten years, Heather has worked with clients of all sizes and scales across a range of sectors. Her background includes work with Corporate Development in a Software company, as well as providing consulting support in strategy, operating model, and organisation design. Heather is based in Edinburgh and can often be found walking around the Scottish countryside at the weekends.
Principal Consultant
Q5 Partners
Emma co-lead Q5’s Culture practice and has extensive experience in driving measurable and meaningful impact through culture and behaviour change.
Emma loves to work with clients to understand how their people can better enable the delivery of their strategic priorities and to create an organisational environment for people to thrive in. Emma is an experienced facilitator, leading strategic sessions with executive and senior audiences globally. Much of Emma’s career has focussed on organisational culture and talent and leadership development, as well as strategy and organisational and individual
purpose. Emma leverages experiences from a range of sectors, including Healthcare. Retail, Consumer Goods, Energy and Technology.
Emma is based in London and loves to travel- she is happiest by the sea or in the mountains.
Sustainability Engagement Manager
(on sabbatical)
Lily has worked in various aspects of Lloyds Banking Group/Scottish Widows’s ESG teams for the last five years, including in responsible investment in workplace pensions, policy development in our Commercial Banking business, and climate communications over the Group as a whole. She’s currently on sabbatical studying for an LLM in Law, Environment, Sustainability & Business at the University of Bristol, and is a finalist for the Rising Star category of BusinessGreen’s inaugural Women in Green Business awards.
Laura Bamber
Kendra Esteva
The Vibrancy Hub is a refreshingly different leadership development business focused on supporting leaders to create more joyful, impactful and sustainable ways of working. We focus on supporting female leaders and founders to build self awareness and self advocacy so they can rise and contribute towards more healthy, inclusive and cohesive business environments.
Laura and Kendra incorporate 15 years of corporate experience from industries including finance, media and eCommerce, combined with their coaching expertise and training in movement, meditation and somatics to focus on the whole human and deliver a different way of thinking about leadership development for both businesses and individuals.
We’re also delighted to have a special video address from Tulip Siddiq MP, Economic Secretary to the Treasury of the United Kingdom.
