Past Events

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 $700 billion 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 Annual Conference 2014

WEConnect International would like to invite you as a member of AFAEMME to their conference which will be a daylong event jam-packed with talks, presentations and breakout sessions that are 100% focussed on helping women business owners to succeed and achieve. Throughout the day, there will also be unique opportunities to network and connect with both other women business owners and representatives from WEConnect International's global corporate members including conference sponsors Accenture, AIG, Coca Cola, EY, IBM, Marriott and Cummins. So if you’re interested in growing your business and understanding more about working with multinational organisations, this conference is not to be missed!

Conference website: http://www.weconnecteurope.org/event/weconnect-international-europe-conference-2014

What you can expect from the day!

The keynote speaker is Lara Morgan, Founder and Ex. CEO of Pacific Direct Group Ltd and Founder of Company Shortcuts Ltd. Lara will share her compelling story of setting up a business as a one-man band, aged 23, through to the sale of her 99% shareholding in 2008 for £20 million.  Baroness Mary Goudie, member of the British House of Lords and a global advocate for the rights of women and children, will talking about what SMEs bring to the economy.

There will also be a session on ‘Thought Leadership: Your Secret Weapon’ which will be led by Mindy Gibbins-Klein who will share the top tips and secrets of thought leaders who are bucking the trend and catapulting to the top of their industry.

In the afternoon there is a choice of breakout sessions led by women-owned businesses:

·         Access to Finance – the Single Biggest Issue Facing SMEs

·         Brand Famous

·         Power of Me

·         Managing the Diva Within

·         Size Really Does Matter!

·         Website Localisation – The Best Way to Reach International Clients

There will be plenty of opportunity to network and connect with representatives from WEConnect International’s corporate members. After lunch there will be a series of roundtable discussions led by WEConnect International corporate members along with industry experts and women-owned businesses who have won contracts via WEConnect International. The discussions will cover a wide range of topics including the following themes:

·         Winning business via WEConnect International introduction channels

·         What multinational corporate organisations expect of you and expect you to act like

·         Successfully working with procurement channels

·         Stakeholders v procurement – gaining buy-in

·         Differentiating your firm from a corporate perspective

The final session of the day will see representatives from Accenture, AIG, Coca Cola, Cummins, Enterprise Rent A Car, Dell, EY, IBM, Intel, Interpublic Group, Johnson & Johnson, MSD (Merck), Pfizer, Royal Bank of Scotland, SDI Limited and Wyndham Worldwide sharing their top tips and insights for SMEs and women-owned businesses about building relationships, about how to act in your interactions with multinational corporations, understanding procurement processes and the lifecycles of tenders/RFPs.

The day will finish with a networking drinks reception - more informal networking and connection building at the end of the day!

Book now - discount for AFAEMME members!

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). However you may like to consider registering your business with WEConnect International so that you can take advantage of the £150 tickets for their self-registered businesses. It’s free to self-register your business and it can be done online here: http://weconnectinternational.org/en/get-self-registered - this will also ensure that going forward you will get visibility on procurement opportunities that could be relevant for your business.

Sponsors for the conference include The Royal Bank of Scotland, Accenture, Coca Cola, AIG, EY, IBM, Marriott, Cummins and Intel.

If you're not able to attend the event yourself but know of other people who might like to come along, please share this invitation with them or if you have time, please share the conference link on social media channels such as LinkedIn and Twitter to encourage other female entrepreneurs to attend – they’re tweeting as @WEConnectEurope and the conference hashtag is #weciconf14.

The website link for the conference is: http://www.weconnecteurope.org/event/weconnect-international-europe-conference-2014

If you have any other questions at all or would like more detail about the conference or WEConnect’s other activities, please don't hesitate to contact their Executive Director for Europe, Maggie Berry, on +44 (0)7776 302 906 or mberry@weconnectinternational.org.