Past Events

WEConnect International Europe Conference 2015

WEConnect International is a corporate-led non-profit and their goal is to connect more majority women owned businesses (those that are at least 51% owned, managed and controlled by one or more women) into the corporate supply chain. Their corporate members (including the likes of Accenture, Cisco, Coca-Cola, IBM, Royal Bank of Scotland) represent $1 trillion in annual purchasing power and WEConnect International are working to link up more women owned businesses to corporate procurement opportunities. More information can be found on their website: http://weconnectinternational.org/

WEConnect International would like to invite you to their conference which is 100% focussed on helping women business owners to succeed and achieve - the conference is chock-full of talks, presentations and informative workshops. Throughout the day, there will also be unique opportunities to network and connect with representatives from WEConnect International's corporate members including conference sponsors Accenture, AIG, BaxterStorey, Coca Cola, Dell, Dun & Bradstreet, EY, IBM, Intel, Monsanto and their hosts the Royal Bank of Scotland. So if you’re interested in growing your women-owned business and understanding more about working successfully with multinational corporations, this conference is not to be missed.

The keynote speaker is Sherry Coutu, CBE - mother, wife, serial entrepreneur and philanthropist. Sherry will share her compelling story from growing up in a logging town in Canada to when she floated her (second) company that was valued at more than $1bn.

In addition, there will be three knowledge workshops led by Accenture, IBM and Monsanto, WEConnect International corporate members along with a Q&A panel discussion.

There will also be sessions on ‘Maximum Impact with a Tiny Budget’ and ‘Connect with your Audience through Online Video’ and there is a choice of breakout sessions led by women-owned businesses:

·         Creating a Successful Sales and Marketing Plan

·         Bend or Break: How Companies Must Adjust to Worker's Changing Needs

·         Finding the Gold in Your Business

·         Technology and Innovation - Just What it Can Mean for Your Business

·         Growing Your Business Through Winning Customer Service

·         Dealing With Conflict in Leadership

And there will be lots of opportunities to connect and network with representatives from WEConnect International’s corporate members! Last year, 60% of attendees were women-owned businesses and 40% were representatives from WEConnect International’s corporate members so the event is a great opportunity to start building relationships with all sorts of potential clients.

The day will finish with Julia Streets, entrepreneur, writer and comedian who is going to wrap up the day with her unique take on business life followed by a networking drinks reception - more informal networking and connection building at the end of the day!

WEConnect have set up a special 10% discount code – WECONNECT10 – on the ‘other women owned businesses’ tickets so you can attend for £162 (inc VAT). You may also like to consider registering your business with WEConnect International. It’s free to self-register your business and it can be done online here: http://weconnectinternational.org/en/get-self-registered - this will ensure that going forward you will get visibility on procurement opportunities that could be relevant for your business.

The website link for the conference is: http://www.weconnecteurope.org/event/weconnect-international-europe-conference-2015

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The Women 20 Summit

Gender inequality is a pervasive and systemic aspect of economic life all across the globe. It manifests itself in terms of gaps in wages, income distribution and ownership of assets as well as access to credit, education and knowledge. Achieving gender inclusiveness and gender equality are essential for „strong, sustainable and balanced growth.‟

Many international declarations, conventions and actions have affirmed the importance of gender equality and women‟s empowerment. G20 Leaders have also committed on various occasions to ensure “women‟s full economic and social participation" (Los Cabos–2012), to “enhance women‟s financial inclusion and education” (St Petersburg–2013) and to “reduce the gap in participation rates between men and women in our countries by 25 per cent by 2025” (Brisbane-2014). However, the issue remains persistent.

Today in G20 countries for example, female labour force participation is 56% compared to 86% for men. If G20 members are successful in achieving their goal of reducing the gender gap in participation rates, more than 100 million women will be brought into the global labour force. The World Economic Forum estimates that each 1% increase in the female labour force participation will lead to an increase of 80 billion USD in the global GDP.

In line with its priority of addressing inequalities, during the term of the Turkish G20 Presidency the Women-20 (W20) has been established as a new G20 engagement group. The mandate of the W20 is gender inclusive economic growth and women's empowerment. It will also help to monitor and advance prior G20 commitments on gender.

The Women Entrepreneurs Association of Turkey (KAGIDER), one of AFAEMME's members, was selected to Chair the W20 and act as the Secretariat of the engagement group throughout the Turkish Presidency. The W20 Steering Committee, in addition to KAGIDER, includes the Women and Democracy Association (KADEM) and the Turkish Businesswomen Association (TIKAD).

With the support and contribution of other G20 members, the W20 was officially launched on September 6, 2015 in Ankara. Opening remarks of the event were delivered by the Prime Minister of Turkey, H.E. Mr Ahmet Davutoğlu. Keynote speeches were made by the Managing Director of IMF Ms Christine Lagarde, Secretary-General of the OECD Mr Angel Gurría, UN Women Deputy Executive Director Ms Lakshmi Puri, ITC Executive Director Arancha González and other high level speakers.

The W20 Summit will take place in Istanbul at the Grand Tarabya Hotel on 16 and 17 October, 2015 with the participation of more than 400 high level guests and delegates.

If you wish to take part in the event, please submit the accreditation form by October 10, 2015.