International Women’s Day:
Meet the female founders making a difference
How three female entrepreneurs are leading agents for change beyond business.
International Women’s Day:
Meet the female founders making a difference
How three female entrepreneurs are leading agents for change beyond business.
Coutts is proud to mark International Women’s Day by celebrating three leading female entrepreneurs who have championed diversity, inclusion and gender equality through their businesses.
Our 440 Strand window display depicts three women who have sought to make change, not only by demonstrating the inherent value of gender diversity in business leadership but also by developing their companies as B Corps.
Like Coutts, their B Corp journeys share the mission to make environmental, social and governance changes that bring profit with purpose. Companies that operate by enshrining the importance of diversity and inclusion can act as positive agents of change for an inclusive and prosperous society, as well as potentially benefitting through greater economic growth.
Their success shows the importance of good change, today and everyday.
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Tamara Lohan MBE – Founder & CEO at Mr & Mrs Smith
Tamara Lohan MBE – Founder & CEO at hotel lovers club Mr & Mrs Smith
UK tech entrepreneur Tamara Lohan MBE is the CEO of Mr & Mrs Smith, the boutique hotel booking specialists that she co-founded with her husband James in 2003. Tamara oversaw the company’s pivot from publishing house to online travel agent. While CTO, she steered the business into new markets, opening offices in Australia, the US and Singapore as well as achieving record fund raises. Tamara was awarded an MBE for services to the British travel industry in 2014.
Today, Mr & Mrs Smith has more than 1.9 million members worldwide, a run rate turnover of more than £100m, commercial partnerships with some of the world’s biggest travel companies including British Airways and IHG, and a fully distributed global team. Achieving a B Corp status last year has been key to becoming a better business, says Tamara. “It’s been almost a guiding light; there’s been huge support from across the B Corp community. In fact, it was thanks to Coutts that we began our own B Corp conversations and certification.”
Mr & Mrs Smith are themselves now taking a lead in championing women in hotel ownership and management throughout the world: “In those top positions there are not a lot of females. Because of the changes we made internally around diversity and inclusion, communities sprung up within the organisation organically to support other micro-communities across the business. For example, we now have a group called ‘Able’ who bring together those with disabilities, which is directly attributable to the B Corp changes.” It’s an ongoing journey to realise profit with purpose in travel, says Tamara. “For all our success, we’re still not happy with our B Corp score. We want to do better and bring our external partners on that journey, too.”
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Sally Pacy – Founder at Fifty Fifty
Sally Pacy – Founder at production company Fifty Fifty
Sally founded Fifty Fifty twenty years ago to provide high-end post production services to the Broadcast industry. Based in London’s Soho and with a global presence the firm has always sought to stay ahead of the curve. Today, they produce content in HDR, 4K and Dolby Atmos, working on some of the world’s most well-known programming for an array of production companies airing across UK Public Service Broadcasters and global SVOD platforms, including Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon.
Over the last two decades they’ve been recognised with numerous accolades, recently being named Best Post House at the 2021 Broadcast Awards. However, excellence within the industry is only one part of their mission says Sally: “Going through the process to B Corp certification has been hugely beneficial for us. It’s made us so much more passionate about things we were already doing but not to the same level. It’s given us a framework for tangible engagement, giving us an enhanced identity as well as clear ambitions for greater sustainability and diversity.” The post production sector has good female representation in management and production roles but the current goal for Fifty Fifty is to get more women and under-represented groups leading on the creative and technical aspects of the business says Sally. “As chair of the business, it’s really important to strive for each area of the business to have the same levels of diversity.”
“We also want to spread the word through further advocacy in the media sector,” she explains. Aptly, Fifty Fifty has listed 29 separate goals as part of their B Corp mission, among them the aim to spread diversity within the industry and an aim to shift 50% of their supplier base to organisations run by women or people from marginalized communities.
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Annabel Thomas – Founder & CEO of Nc’Nean
Annabel Thomas – Founder & CEO of whisky distillery Nc’Nean
Named after the Gaelic goddess of nature Neachneohain, Nc’nean distillery was founded by Annabel in 2017, releasing its first single malt whisky in 2020. A dram as organic in creation as it is in taste has always been the aim. That is done via organic Scottish barley processed and distilled via renewable energy and sold in recycled clear glass bottles. Nc’nean is also able to recycle 99.97% of their waste and run a closed loop system for their water, while continually looking to remove carbon from the atmosphere through their processes.
Last year Nc’nean were given a ‘Best for The World’ rating by B Corp for their environmental commitments, however they’re also passionate about making real change to meet the necessary commitment to diversity in governance and society says Annabel. “We’ve always been champions of women in whisky given our journey but there are other people elements we’re moving forward with, notably blind-screening for recruitment. Diversity has always been at the heart of our ethos but becoming a B Corp has helped us get those working processes aligned too. As much as we can, we encourage women to think about an industry that is traditionally seen as very male dominated.”
That’s not a ‘nice to have’, there are clear business benefits says Annabel. “The whole point of diversity is different thought processes and viewpoints. We look and feel quite different in the Scotch industry – having more women working in the industry and championing whisky can only be seen as a positive.”
Those dividends may already be paying off as the sale of the Nc’nean’s first bottle raised £41,000 for charity and their unique single cask expressions now sell out in minutes, while their signature organic single malt recently received a Double Gold Award at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition.
Watch Tamara, Sally and Annabel join Absolute Collagen’s Maxine Lacey and Liane Kynaston in a panel discussion with our head of Responsible Investing Leslie Gent. Together, they discuss their B Corp journeys, the value of diversity and whether gender equality can benefit the global economy by $28 trillion.
How Coutts is investing in gender equality
Gender inequality is one of the reasons we set up the UK Enterprise Funds in partnership with BGF, the UK’s most active investor in female-led businesses. The Funds specifically invest in high-potential growth companies across the UK, supporting initiatives and executive coaching for female-led businesses and encouraging diversity within management teams. This gives under-represented entrepreneurs better access to capital and networking schemes, priming them for further growth and investment. Today, across the two UK Enterprise Funds, we have raised more than £80m, with approximately 21% of this going towards female-led businesses versus industry norms of 2-5% (Coutts February 2023).
If you’re looking to invest through the fund, contact the team by emailing UKEnterpriseFund@coutts.com.
This information is intended, and is only appropriate, for financially-experienced, high net worth individuals who:
- are capable of electing to be a Professional Client (as described in the FCA rules)
- are comfortable with higher-risk investments
- understand the nature and risks associated with the type of investment described herein
- conduct their own due diligence and analysis
When investing, the value of your investments, and the income you receive from them, can go down as well as up and you may not get back as much as you invested.
the rose review
As part of the NatWest group, we’re also proud to support the Rose Review. In 2023 NatWest CEO Alison Rose DBE and Kevin Hollinrake MP revealed that more women than ever launched a business in 2022, stating: “At the heart of the Rose Review is our goal to unlock the £250 billion of new value that could be added to the UK economy if women started and scaled new businesses at the same rate as men.”
