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SheCanCode's Spilling The T
SheCanCode's Spilling The T
A conversation with Alison Cork MBE
Join us on the latest episode of Spilling the T as we sit down with Alison Cork MBE, a trailblazing female investor and founder of not-for-profits Make It Your Business and National Women’s Enterprise Week (NWEW). Alison shares insights from ground-breaking research revealing that female entrepreneurs face a 31% funding gap compared to their male counterparts.
In this episode, Alison dives into the importance of female role models and mentorship in overcoming investment challenges. From her journey as the youngest female founder of a public company in the 90s to her influential online retail empire 'Alison at Home,' Alison discusses her passion for empowering the next generation of businesswomen.
Tune in as Alison also unveils the NWEW Accelerator Programme, offering aspiring female entrepreneurs exclusive training, resources, and mentorship to kickstart their business ideas. Don’t miss this enlightening conversation with a true advocate for female entrepreneurialism.
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Hello everyone, thank you for tuning in again. I am Kayleigh Bateman, the Managing Director Community and Partnerships at she Can Code, and today we are having a conversation with Alison Cork, mbe, a trailblazing female investor and founder. She is here to dive into the importance of female role models, mentorship and overcoming investment challenges. Welcome, alison, thank you so much for joining us today.
Speaker 2:Hi Kayleigh, thank you very much for having me Great chance to chat.
Speaker 1:Thank you. It's a pleasure to have you on here. I know you're a really busy lady, so we are so pleased to have you on and that you've found some time for us. So thank you very much. We'd love to get started with a little bit about you, if that's OK. A little bit of context to set the scene for our listeners.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely. So I have actually never worked for a company. I've always been an entrepreneur. I actually unbeknown to me started my first business aged five. I was told that by my mother. Later on I tried to sell things to my classmates at school very successfully, and got into lots of trouble for it. So clearly the entrepreneurial spirit was there quite early on. And then started another business at university because I actually fell into debt because I kept failing my driving test. So I racked up a huge bill for driving lessons and had to sort that one out. So I was an accidental entrepreneur but discovered that it suited me.
Speaker 2:So when all my friends were becoming teachers and lawyers and accountants, my tutor at university said, alison, she said do you want the good news or the bad news? And I said let's start with the bad news, professor. And she said not one of us has any clue what you're going to do in life. I said what's the good news? And she said not one of us is worried about you. So they'd spotted that I wasn't the sort of cookie cutter, doctor, lawyer, way before I did. I was just being very instinctive and problem solving, which, ironically, is what entrepreneurs do. They solve problems.
Speaker 2:So I was being an entrepreneur before I realized I was an entrepreneur and then fell from that business into another publishing business and went on from there and then founded Alison at Home and built that up and have just moved into a more of a wellness area for my business and I'm now sort of skirting through 30 years.
Speaker 2:So I'm cutting a very long story short, but so my business is and my background is purely entrepreneurial. As I say, I've never been a corporate employee and probably would be unemployable at this stage, I would imagine, because I just wouldn't conform very well. And and the other sort of, I suppose, theme in my life is just noticing the challenges that female entrepreneurs face and have faced and continue to face and over the last 10, 12 years now, starting up various initiatives to help women, give them the confidence, the networking, the access to finance which manifested in Make it your Business, which is a national networking structure to help women meet other entrepreneurs, female entrepreneurs, and then obviously, national Women's Enterprise Week, which is our attempt to raise the profile of female entrepreneurship, get the conversation going and at the heart of it is our wonderful accelerator competition, which is there for other women to enter, win a place and take part in what is an extraordinary three days of mentorship.
Speaker 1:Amazing. I have so many questions based on what you just said. I am interested, though, how, what inspired you to become an entrepreneur, because if you wanted to do that from a really young age, was that something that was close to home? Was somebody doing that in your family, or was it literally just you as a child thinking I could start?
Speaker 2:my own business. It's a really, really interesting question because when I was at university I was solving a problem. I'd fallen into debt and I knew I needed to do something to get out of debt. But when I was five years old, then the question is more interesting, because what, as you so rightly say, made me do it? And there is no answer I can give you other than sheer instinct.
Speaker 2:I saw these wonderful conkers lying on the grass of my grandmother's garden and thought, if I polish them up, I bet I could persuade my classmates that they are the best conkers in the world and if they buy these conkers they will win every conker competition. So back then it was pennies and shillings the currency, and I sold them for one penny each, and very successfully. As I said, I had a matchbox full of silver sixpences and shillings by the end of break time. I had no conkers left and a very angry teacher when she discovered it. But to answer your question, it was just, I suppose.
Speaker 2:I suppose there is something I think I've always been which is curious curious about how do I do this, can I do this? What would happen if I did this? Why does that work like that? And I think it was a challenge, wasn't it? Here are these conkers. You know, be lovely to have more money for sweets, because my mom doesn't give me very much money for sweets. How am I going to make money for sweets? Oh, let's try this. So none of my family had ever run a business absolutely not.
Speaker 1:There's no history of it whatsoever it's so interesting because it it's something that a lot of ladies in our community say as well about coming into tech that they think that you have to have tech skills and that you have to have a computer science degree. And actually a lot of what draws the ladies in is problem solving and they see a challenge and they want to overcome it. And it's more that entrepreneurial thought of how do I overcome that problem. It's more that entrepreneurial thought of um, how do I overcome that problem? It's not necessarily I really wanted to study computer science, it's so and I think that's absolutely right.
Speaker 2:and you know problems are generic and you you see the same sort of problem in lots of different areas. You know, in science, in art. So it's about problem solving. You can find someone who's an expert in the specifics of that particular genre that you're dealing in, but you yourself don't have to have a PhD in, you know genetics, to solve something in the field of genetics. So I mean, for example, I probably am a good example, actually, because I have no medical training whatsoever other than I quite like biology at school.
Speaker 2:That's where it ended, o-level biology, but I now invest exclusively in femtech businesses and they are all female-founded femtech businesses. So women's health outcomes, obviously, biology, science, it's a very clear area. I have no knowledge whatsoever, but I think I know how to spot a blinding idea and fantastic execution. And, of course, you're investing in the founders, making around investment and around raising money, which is, I think, really important for founders to hear. Is you the founder? Are you convincing the person who's got the checkbook that you have the idea? Yeah, the vision, the stamina, the determination, the grit, because you can have a mediocre idea and execute brilliantly on it and that is going to be more successful than a brilliant idea that you execute poorly on. So it is about the person driving it.
Speaker 1:Yes, definitely. It's all of those things that come with it. That, again, not just in tech knowing the tech parts but all the soft skills that come with it, how you come across, how you present yourself so important to add to the conversation. This all sounds great now, though, but how did you navigate these challenges, being one of the few women in the space during the 90s?
Speaker 2:Yes, well, and the late in the late 80s. I started my first business in 1983. That was the one at university and again, that was just a very much a problem solving moment. I had some debt and I decided to start an advertising sheet in my university town to give to tourists, with a map on it and information about restaurants around the edge. So that was pretty straightforward. But then to to answer your question more specifically, um, I started a publishing business, co-founded a publishing business, when I graduated, with a chap in London who was quite a bit older than me, so very much. Uh, he was in some respects a mentor, but he was obviously a man.
Speaker 2:And we did eventually, after many failures, have some incredible successes with the company, so much so that we floated it on the London Stock Exchange in 1994, which made me at the time unbeknown to me till someone told me, the youngest ever female founder of a publicly quoted company, which was extraordinary because I certainly didn't set out to be that, it just happened. But and here's the crunch when it went public I was a board member and I remember the first board meeting and it was all men around the table. There just weren't any other women and I just looked around the table and thought, well, well, I know one thing this isn't going to be much fun because I was, and I remember the the lunch with the stockbroker who was, and I wasn't addressed once during the lunch. I was completely ignored, even though I was the co-founder. Not only the co-founder, but I had discovered the product that actually allowed us to float and go public because it made so much money. So the signs which were not good ones were there at the time that being a female founder in the 90s was really lonely. And then, when I went on to, I left that business because I said I didn't think it looked like it was going to be much fun after it floated, with all these blokes around the boardroom table and I started my own business. I looked around and I thought, well, you know, who have we got? We've got Anita Roddick Body Shop, sophie Merman, tyrac, whom some people might not even remember, and Debbie Moore, pineapple Studio. And I'm still friends with Debbie to this day. Actually, she was my heroine then and I subsequently met her and we stayed friends and she's an incredible character then, and I subsequently met her and we stayed friends and she's an incredible character. But so you know literally not even one hand's worth of female founders in the 80s and 90s and, to answer your question specifically, a very lonely journey.
Speaker 2:When I see now what there is out there and the support, some of it was my fault, I think, because I'm very, very independent. So some of it was me probably not reaching out enough, and I'm sure if I'd reached out I could have found people. But I think it was me just saying to myself okay, there isn't any obvious help. Your bank manager's a bloke and he's not being, he's not really facilitating you at all, so you're just going to have to put your head down, focus and work your way through this and you're on your own. So I just assumed that I was going to have to do this all on my own and did, and you know, did it make me stronger and better? Probably.
Speaker 2:But there is that saying isn't there? If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go with people. And I think I don't have many regrets about my business life, but I do sometimes think I wonder if it would have been more fun had I had a group of preferably, you know women around me on this journey, because I was going into when I went into sort of interiors and lifestyle and sort of being the British Martha Stewart, that was a very female orientated thing, so it would probably would have ended up being more women working with me on that. So so, yeah, so it's a really interesting question and and I think that there arguably that sort of lack of female role model or the lack of female role models out there was problematic then but interestingly remained problematic for some time and that was what really piqued my interest in the sort of 10 years ago I thought why, over 30 years, have we not really made very much progress? That's astonishing.
Speaker 1:Exactly, and you founded two incredible not-for-profit initiatives that you mentioned. Is that kind of the spark for that where you were thinking you know what, actually we haven't moved very far and I would have loved to have had that kind of support along the way. Is that kind of where you thought you know what I could? I could found something to help, to help other ladies.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because you know, I know what entrepreneurship has done for me as an individual. It's absolutely defined my life. It's allowed me self-determination, freedom of decision making, deciding how and when and where I want to educate my children, where I want to live, how I want to live there.
Speaker 2:You know, I've only had one word to describe what entrepreneurship has given me freedom, yeah, and I would wish that for anybody. And what I love about entrepreneurship is that it is truly, truly democratic. Anyone can start a business. It is absolutely not about education and qualifications Categorically not so, although I had the benefit of a very good education. What I love about entrepreneurship is how democratic it is and how equal it is, and I just felt that this was something that I could share. Share, it was something where I could help women who were. You know, there's a great lack of parity with male led businesses and female led businesses, so I could redress the balance.
Speaker 2:And I adore politics, but worked out quite early on that I didn't want to be a politician because I thought in some ways, it could be quite restrictive. So I had this desire to do something that had some sort of public impact, but thought I'm probably not going to end up on the green benches. So what is that thing that I can do? And I thought, well, use everything you've learned. You know you've got all this knowledge in your head. It's this repository of 30 years of experience, failures and successes, and all the learnings. Use that to help other women, because, at the end of the day, we make up roughly half the population, half the potential economic output of this country. So it is ridiculous to think that this country can fire on all financial cylinders and perform to optimum capacity if half of its population who could be contributing are not. It's not a nice to have. It's not rocket science, it's just completely standard mathematics. It's obvious. So why would we not want it? And also, and there's another aspect to it that I feel really strongly about, you know, we all know that there are a lot of women out work in that area, feel very strongly about it.
Speaker 2:And when people ask me, you know what's your goal with businesses? My goal with businesses is to help. I don't care how small the business is. That's what I'm trying to say. I mean, unicorns are great, but I always talk about the acorns, the hundreds of thousands of little businesses, the businesses that might make somebody 500 a month or maybe a thousand a month or just relatively small sums of money, but which, to that individual, are life changing. That amount of money could be the difference between walking out the door from a situation that is unacceptable or having to stay because you don't have the means to leave. So I'm not saying that's the sole focus of why I do it, but certainly it's always in the back of my mind that to belittle a business because it only turns over 30 or 40,000 a year and only makes 10,000 profit, that's completely the wrong attitude. We want more of those businesses. We want people to be independent and self-determining and financially strong.
Speaker 1:Yes, and it goes back to that freedom that that you were looking for, that freedom of launching your own business and having that freedom. Like you said, if you are in a position where you do want to make that decision to go, uh, you can. It's nice to hear you talk about that as freedom, though, because sometimes people entrepreneurs do say you know what it comes, with its challenges and they'll talk about all of the hard parts.
Speaker 2:Oh no, it it sure does. And you know I've got 40 well, I'm not counting the five-year-old conquer seller but I've got 40 years of running businesses. I started when I was 19, 20, and I'm 61 now. So there you go and I can tell you that it is absolutely a life-changing experience and there have been many, many challenges over that period and I can tell you some real horror stories. Anybody who runs a business will have a horror story, at least one.
Speaker 2:But that doesn't mean it isn't worth doing, because for me the advantages have always outweighed the disadvantages. You will work harder, probably, than somebody in a nine to five job. Almost certainly you will worry more at night at certain periods in your life. You will have to make sacrifices and you'll be looking at your friend who's in a more comfortable corporate position, getting promoted, getting their bonus, got their company car, and you're thinking why the heck am I doing this when I'm eating out of a baked bean tin? But it's because you have a vision, it's because you're aspiring to something great, and I think aspiration for me is one of the most uplifting qualities that we could hope for in life.
Speaker 2:You know if you've got nothing to aspire to in life. What have you got?
Speaker 1:Yes, exactly. And for all of the women who are like that and who are thinking, you know they have a vision and they want to launch something, I wanted to touch upon your new research about the funding gap, because it's OK to have a vision, but then obviously there are challenges around funding as well. So your new research it highlights a 31 percent funding gap between male and female entrepreneurs. Research it highlights a 31% funding gap between male and female entrepreneurs.
Speaker 2:What are the biggest factors contributing to this disparity and what needs to change? Well, it's a very good question and fundamentally, it's that the world of finance is still dominated by men. So this is to go back to Femtech. This is why Femtech is so important, because investment in businesses that have health outcomes for men is much more forthcoming than investment in businesses that have health outcomes for women. Why? Because the people making the investment decisions are men, so they're self-interested. It's like oh, I like that idea because I understand it and it applies to me and my prostate or whatever it is, and so men are dominating the world of finance. They're dominating investment committees I think two, or might be 4% by now, but it's still low digits of VCs are actually women. So if you're pitching for money, you're likely and your idea is female orientated, you're likely and your idea is female orientated, you're likely to be sitting in front of a bank of men. I have a friend who developed an app to help you get exactly the right bra size and of course, she was pitching it to a panel of men VCs and the only thing they could say was one of them said right, well, I'll ask my secretary about that. Then and yeah and it's it's. On the one hand, you think, well, okay, he's probably not wearing a bra, so he's probably got to ask somebody, but it was just. It's like oh, really, is this? Is this where we are still? So I think it is.
Speaker 2:The landscape is dominated by men, particularly in VCs. However, there is, I think, a chink of light, and it's around angel investing. So angel investors typically are friends and family or professionals who invest typically slightly smaller sums of money, and they are individuals who just have an interest and they're just putting some of their resources into investing in companies. And I think this is a great place for women to start. When women start their business, they tend more often to ask friends and family, for the reasons we've just discussed.
Speaker 2:It's more likely to result in somebody actually giving them some money, more likely to result in somebody actually giving them some money, and I think that angel investors are a sort of an extension of that community. They're friendly, sort of smaller, probably likely to be individuals, slightly smaller sums of money, but can still be tens of thousands, so certainly enough to get a business started and I think there is a big play here to really build on the angel investor community and make that much more accessible to women and draw women into that community and maybe even make the angel investor community link up better around the country so that they're sharing information, a pitch, some ideas and think not quite right for us, for whatever reason. We share that information with other angel investors down in the southeast or the community at large, because you never know. You know who's going, who's going to want to invest in that business.
Speaker 1:We all have different interests and a business that I invest in will be quite different perhaps to the business that you would get excited about yes, I love that and because it sounds more like a network as well, and something that we preach a lot obviously in our community is finding your network and the power of having a network and people sharing um stories that inspire other people. But the more that people hear about someone starting a business that might be of interest to somebody else, um, the easier it is for ladies to to find that investment and to help and support each other. I completely agree with that.
Speaker 2:And that support is just really, really important. It makes a massive difference. I was holding an event up in the Manchester area in Staley Bridge recently, and actually the local MP is our Secretary of State for Trade, although he was there in his capacity as the local MP and it was not a huge gathering, it was in a local library. There were probably 20 women there, but three of them and that's quite a high percentage came up to me afterwards and said as a result of this meeting today, when I saw four local women who run brilliant businesses, I'm going to take the leave, I'm going to start my own business. I guarantee you, if they hadn't attended that meeting, they wouldn't have done it. They'd still be thinking about it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, it just takes seeing one person doing it and I always feel as well people sharing how hard things can be as well, because we discuss that a lot in our community about it's great to share the successes and, yes, please share that, because we want to see people doing well, we want to lift other people up, but also we need to know the reality behind businesses and the challenges and the failures. So we want to hear all of that to to make sure that people can learn from each other. We don't always need to see the glossy Instagram version of what's happening to your business.
Speaker 2:It's not helpful to give that version, and actually one of my stipulations whenever I have a panel of female, local female entrepreneurs speaking and I always brief them before the event is I really, really don't need you to tell the audience all the stuff that went right. I want you to focus on the things that went wrong, because it's more interesting to listen to. We can all have a good laugh now that those things have been put right and they're over and done with, but it's much more authentic and it's much more helpful. It is not helpful to intimidate your audience by sitting there saying, well, you know, one day I woke up and I made a cupcake and then all of a sudden, I was turning over two and a half million and yeah, it's absolutely brilliant, you know, because we all know that life isn't like that and I think that what people need is to make a sensible decision based on authentic information, because I would emphasize that running a business is not for everyone.
Speaker 2:I'm enthusiastic about it, you're enthusiastic about it, but whenever I have a networking meeting, I always start by saying the vast majority of you will leave this meeting deciding you don't want to run a business, and that is as valid a decision as deciding that the light bulb's just gone off and this is your life's mission. There are people who need to be in a more supported framework in life, in an environment maybe corporate or whatever where they feel more comfortable, and there are people who just want to go out there and lead from the front. They are two different types of people. Neither is better than the other, they're just different.
Speaker 1:Yes, definitely, and even the people that you hire along the way as well, they almost need to understand that they're coming into that environment as well, because we have found as well that hiring people into startups they're a not at the point where we're trying to find ways to better run our business. We're building it and you need to get on board with. You know things change very fast, very quickly, so it's a completely different type of workforce as well.
Speaker 2:Absolutely it is. And, and some people will probably start a business and then realize, as the challenges mount, that it's not for them. And that's also valid, because you won't know if you don't try and if you think it might be for you, give it a go, you will. Whatever happens, even if you close the doors and decide it's not for you, you will have learned some incredibly valuable lessons in life. And I always say, you know, say to my sons who are 21 and 24, just do it now, do it young, fail, get up again. Fail, get up again. You have time on your side.
Speaker 2:And that's not to say that somebody older can't start a business. Interestingly, women over the age of 50 form one of the fastest growing groups of entrepreneurs because, as you will know, you know, women who are thinking about coming back into the workforce, maybe after raising children, discover that they're not necessarily welcomed into corporate environments after a certain age. They're not as valuable as they should be, um, or sort of valued as highly as they should be, I should say. And so they think, well, ok, if you don't value me, I value myself, I'll start my own business. But just I would say, do it, you know, feel the fear and do it anyway.
Speaker 1:Yes, I actually had a lot of ladies tell me that in lockdown. They noticed what their husbands were doing and a lot of them worked in tech, they were software developers and software engineers were doing, and a lot of them worked in tech, they were software developers and software engineers and they realised what they were doing and thought, actually that's really flexible, I could do this. And a lot of them later in life retrained and went on to do something themselves just because of having seen their husband do it and then thought, yeah, I could do that.
Speaker 2:You know, the interesting thing is that girls now in school, I think, are much more encouraged to look at science and tech.
Speaker 2:And you know it's not a, it's not a thing anymore. But you know, I remember when I was at school and I was actually in an all girls school for most of my education Very few, I mean. I just remember one girl specifically who was really good at maths and I was always really annoyed. One girl specifically who was really good at maths and I was always really annoyed because she kept beating me in the maths exam and I was desperate to come first and I never did. I only ever came second to Louise, who became an accountant, by the way, but it was. You know, it was just that girls and it was a conference school, Girls simply weren't encouraged to submerge themselves in in the sciences, and so those girls who were of my generation 50s and 60s now would have to retrain because it would be something that we hadn't been encouraged to do when we were being educated yes, and seeing people doing that along the way as well.
Speaker 1:You wouldn't have seen those people in front of you yet that were were doing that, that you could absolutely not by and on that topic, I want to ask you a little bit about mentorship and female role models, because they're central to your work. So can you share a personal story about a mentor who influenced your career and how that experience shaped your approach today?
Speaker 2:Well, this might be quite a controversial example I'm about to give, but I was. I am old enough and was lucky enough to have met Margaret Thatcher. I told you I had an interest in politics and I met her on two or three occasions and whilst she wasn't an entrepreneur, she was a trailblazer and, as I say, so few examples of role models that you sort of took them where you could get them, so to speak. And knowing my of my interest in politics, a very kind person who knew her, of my interest in politics, a very kind person who knew her, introduced me to her on more than one occasion. And I remember, I mean I know that she, you know she polarizes opinion, obviously, and some people think what she did was great and some people think it was terrible. But what you can't take away from someone like Margaret Thatcher is that she was a leader. From someone like Margaret Thatcher is that she was a leader. She was absolutely, unapologetically unafraid to lead and when she took a decision she went with it. You know, as she once famously said, you can turn this lady's not for turning. You know there'll be no new turns on my watch. And she didn't say that last bit, I just made that up and she was absolutely formidable in her. You know she was.
Speaker 2:I related to her because, like me, she came from a very normal background. Her father was a grocer. I came from a normal background, my mom was a dinner lady, my dad was a VAT inspector. She got to Oxford. I, against all expectations, got to Oxford. I, against all expectations, got to Cambridge again. Don't quite know how that happened, but it did and I just looked at her and thought you came from a very normal background, without any advantages, and you have got to the absolute top of where you wanted to be, and if you could do it, then maybe I can do it. I'm going to do very different things.
Speaker 2:I'm not going to be in politics, but maybe I can, you know, get to the top of where I want to be. So for me that was, like you know, publicly quoted company. It was something along those lines, and I just remember her strength of character and her solid goal determination and I just thought, wow, you just, you know, you've just got it in spades and and she made a huge, huge impact on me for that reason, huge and sometimes when you meet your run models as well, like there can be disappointment, but it sounds like she really wasn't, I was just completely overwhelmed.
Speaker 2:I remember the other thing I was it was a at some sort of party drinks party and she was working her way around the room and she was so well educated and fluent that she could talk to anybody about anything. And when she came to me we had a lovely conversation, but I was absolutely transfixed by how beautiful her skin was.
Speaker 2:Oh wow, you never saw that on the telly. You just saw this woman with a sort of helmet of hair and these blue suits and this handbag and she was very sort of formulaic. But when you met her she was so much softer and really very attractive in her own way and it just made me smile to myself because I thought I can absolutely see how she could hold her cabinet of men to account, like control them, because she's just got something.
Speaker 2:So, you know it was her personal brand, was just very strong and very clear and it just made me think about a lot of things, you know determination, overcoming obstacles to get where you want to get, knowing who you are and being clear about it.
Speaker 1:and being strong, yes, and because you you take those things from different people as well.
Speaker 1:Like you, you wouldn't have taken everything from um margaret thatcher, but you would have taken parts of her and then thought I want to be like that. And then you take them from other leaders that you've come across and you kind of bring it all together to build your own personal brand. But sometimes we completely forget to do that as well as the other thing. You kind of get lost in, you know, especially if you're in a corporate or whichever job you're in, you totally get lost in that, that and by the end of the year you think, well, I've done a lot, but I don't really know what I did and what I achieved. I mean, it's almost stopping sometimes to think, well, what have I achieved and what is my personal brand? And even describing yourself and your job sometimes to people. I remember somebody said to me once not to say your job title but actually to say what you do, because people don't. Not to say your job title but actually to say what you do, because people don't want to know your job title.
Speaker 2:That's such a good thing to say, because we are all personal brands. Whether we work in an organisation or we are the organisation, or we are the name of the organisation, the face of it, we all have a personal brand and I think it's very important to remember that and to be clear about what you are brand and I think it's very important to remember that and to be clear about what you are, and that will change.
Speaker 2:You know, that will evolve over the years, and I'm in a very interesting point in my career now when my mother who's 92 was saying to me recently um, what do you?
Speaker 2:I mean, you know you're 61 now, ali, do you think you might want to sit down a bit?
Speaker 2:And it's like well, actually, mum, I've just got this idea for something I want to sit down and and you know I've been got this idea for something I want to start.
Speaker 2:It's not a good time and you know, I've been on this personal health journey of discovery and I really want to bring living well and wellness under the roof of my brand, because I think that it's so important and I think that women of my age and generation are going to be spending more money on our wellness and investing more in our second act, because we now realize that 50 isn't the end, it's a beginning, and the book that I wrote recently Fit and Fabulous Over 50, how to Rewire your Second Act was really me putting my marker in the sand, saying this is what it's all about. These are the principles I now live by and and I think there are all sorts of products and services that can be offered off the back of that. So I am developing my brand in that direction and that's a new beginning and I find it very exciting yes, definitely our community are going to love that, because we get asked that question all the time.
Speaker 1:Is it too late? Can I retrain, can I start something now? And we always say if you've been in work for years already, you bring all of those skills with you. You know, it's not like you're starting again and you're starting as a junior. You bring all of those wonderful skills already with you, so you're at an advantage. And then you're just going on, as you say, into your second act. So it's not seen as a you're going back to the beginning. You're just taking all of those things with you and you're going to go on and do something even better.
Speaker 2:I mean it really. You know it always takes me aback that people can't necessarily see immediately that a woman aged 50 plus has the most extraordinary life experience and work experience probably to bring to the table. You are in your prime and you know you can be super healthy and fit at 50, 60, 70. And you know it's never too late to take up some form of movement or exercise or weight training. Never too late to take up some form of movement or exercise or weight training. Never too late to change your diet. If you feel you need to make changes to improve your health, you can fire on all cylinders for decades after 50. There is absolutely no reason why not. And therefore I think it's an incredibly exciting time of life when maybe many of your previous responsibilities are no longer. You know I'm thinking children predominantly, but there could be others and it's a time when you can absolutely get a new lease of life.
Speaker 1:Definitely. I'd love to hear a little bit more about your accelerator programme, if that's okay. What can women expect when they join and who is best suited for?
Speaker 2:Right. So National Women's Enterprise Week is the second of the initiatives I started to augment the conversation around why women should be running businesses. So we pick a week and it's typically the second third week of June. It's 16 to 20 this year and we have activities all around the country. We are in partnership with the British Library Business and IP Centre Network who have sub sort of regional centres all around the country. But at the core of National Women's Enterprise Week is the Accelerator Program, which is a competition that any woman with either a startup or a scale-up can enter, and the entry forms are on the website, nwewcouk, which we can say again at the end.
Speaker 2:And you. Literally, it's a very, very simple form to fill out. Anyone can enter. As I say, startup, it's turnover below 80 000, scale up turnover above 80 000 and we pick five women in each category and they come to london for three days during that week in june. We put them up, we look after them it's all expenses paid, and we immerse them with experts in the fields of marketing and finance and, crucially, pitching pitching for investments.
Speaker 2:So you are not afraid to go into any room, anytime, anywhere in front of any panel, and ask for what you deserve with confidence and I think the pitching is a really strong part of what we do and then we have a competition at the end and we have a winner in each category part of what we do. And then we have a competition at the end and we have a winner in each category, and I can tell you that previous winners have gone on to secure significant investment. We don't guarantee investment, but obviously you're then drawn into this ecosystem because we're exposing you to investors and contacts, and a lot of women who maybe have been, you know, working away in their corner of wherever they live, come to London. It's a, you know, exposed to a bigger ecosystem, a bigger network, and say it's absolutely life-changing, which is it's just so fantastic to see them in. You might think three days, what can happen in three days? Trust, trust me a lot. Yeah, they blossom. They absolutely blossom.
Speaker 1:I love that with the pitching as well. That must be, it sounds like as well. It's quite a safe environment. So, for instance, at our hackathons, we encourage our ladies to share at the end their projects that they've been working on, to share at the end their projects that they've been working on. But we try and create an environment where you're safe to say what you want, to say. All the challenges, everything that went wrong, because you need honest feedback. Sometimes We've been working on something all day or, for instance, in the accelerator, they've been working on something for a really long period of time and you need someone to give some honest feedback on how you're coming across and how you're pitching that to then be able to go off and get that funding. So it sounds like it's kind of very supportive, but also it would be incredibly honest as well about where you're going wrong.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's incredibly supportive, but it's tough. I mean, definitely they are put to the test. What I see and I love this is how they all support each other. They've never met. When they pitch up on the first day and literally within the first hour they're bonding. And this I've called it the big sister house and we're renting it for the period of the accelerator and they will all be living in the same house as opposed to living in separate rooms in a hotel, and I think this is going to add a whole extra dynamic. I'm very excited about it. We're going to do lots of social media around it and interviews and just see how they're all interacting, because I can imagine at the end of the day, when they're absolutely shattered which they are every day they go back to the house and they'll sort of flop on the sofa, hopefully with a glass of wine or something, and then just share what they've learned that day and it's just as I say, it's a totally immersive experience.
Speaker 1:Yeah, oh, I love that. That sounds like so much fun Just to learn from each and to keep each other going through that process as well and to support each other. That's such a great idea to put everyone in a house. I'm so excited about it. I wanted to ask you real quick. Obviously you've had a dynamic career from founding businesses to running for London Mayor as well. What advice would you give to women who want to take bold steps but they're hesitating to start?
Speaker 2:I think the sort of work that you do and the sort of work of pro bono stuff that I do, which is all about networking and having those initial conversations and you know you don't want to be in an echo chain, but you want honest feedback you want to speak to real people, preferably people who live in your geographical area, because I think it's very relatable. Don't worry about is this going to be a good use of my Thursday evening. Some will be, some won't be, doesn't matter. Go in, have conversations. A lot of women find that first step of just walking into a room on their own and starting a conversation really intimidating, yeah, and I think you just have to throw caution to the wind there and say we're all in this room for the same reason. We all want to talk about business, some running business, some want to run business. Plug yourself in and take that first step. One thing's for sure if you don't take that first step, you're probably still going to be in your echo chamber in a year's time.
Speaker 1:Yes, I agree, and I think that got worse after COVID because people kind of retreated to their virtual events and you know you can't interact with anybody, that you could ask questions in a live Q&A but you can't actually interact with people and swap business cards and all of the things that we used to do where we made connections. All of that kind of went away a little bit. But to to force yourself to go and do those things can make such a difference and we deliberately bring our community together at least twice a year for just a party. We don't do anything, we just party. It's just pizzas and and beers, um, but it makes such a difference to have that in-person connection if you are thinking about starting something new it really does.
Speaker 2:And I've got a little sort of mantra in life, which is, unless there is an utterly compelling reason to say no, I will say yes. So sometimes, because I get asked, a lot people will say can I introduce you to this person? Or I think you should meet that person and, speaking honestly, I don't always necessarily immediately see the connection, but, as I say, my instinct is unless it's obviously not right is to say okay, then yeah, I'll have a five minute conversation on the phone. And some of my best and most dynamic relationships and business opportunities have come from those conversations. And the short and simple fact is that, had I said you know what? I'm just a bit busy. I've got a lot of work on, do you mind if I don't? They would not have happened. Yeah, got to put yourself out there, you've got to.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and just remember to make time for that and so to keep get. Sometimes you get on that hamster wheel and you just keep going and going and you just haven't made time for those, uh, important connections, definitely. And, alison, I could keep picking your brains on this all afternoon. We are already out of time, I'm afraid. So thank you so much for coming on Spilling the Tea and having a chat with us today. It's been an absolute pleasure having you on here.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much for having me, kaylee and I. I hope that uh everybody enjoys listening thank you for everybody listening.
Speaker 1:We're going to include all the links that you need below, so please do take a look, um, but for everybody listening, as always, thank you so much for joining us and we hope to see you again next time.
