On Monday 1 February Caroline Dinenage MP will be welcoming top female entrepreneur, Jacqueline Gold CBE, as well as a host of successful local business and career women to Bridgemary School in Gosport to inspire and empower local school girls to become Enterprising Women.
Jacqueline, chief executive of Ann Summers and Knickerbox, is one of Britain's most successful business women. Her ingenuity and dedication made Ann Summers the iconic brand it is today, loved by women all over the country. In January 2015 she awarded a CBE for services to Entrepreneurship, Women in Business and Social Enterprise.
Monday's event will take the form of a workshop and 'The Apprentice meets Dragons Den' style challenge, where Year 9 girls from Bridgemary and Brune Park schools will be tasked with formulating business plan ideas. Local business women will take the role of mentors, circulating around the groups to provide the girls with tips, advice and inspiration.
Local mentors include Commander Sophie Shaughnessy, Executive Officer at HMS Sultan and the most senior female engineer in the Royal Navy; Lulu Whitmore, founder of the well-known local events management company, Love Southsea; and Melanie Lawson from Brighton company Bare Biology
Speaking about the event, MP Caroline, who spent almost two decades running her own local business before entering politics, said:
"Monday will be an incredible opportunity for the girls from Brune Park and Bridgemary to learn about the fantastic career opportunities the world of business has to offer and gain experience in designing their own business plan with the help of some expert mentors. I really hope that hearing from Jacqueline Gold and talking directly to the brilliant career women on our doorstep, will inspire and encourage the next generation of Enterprising Women."
Jacqueline Gold added:
"I am delighted to be attending the Enterprising Women event, which I hope will inspire the girls to become the entrepreneurs of the future. Running your own business is hugely rewarding, and I hope that the girls of Bridgemary and Brune Park schools see that with self-belief, courage, hard work and determination a good idea can become a great business. The girls will be incredibly lucky to have access to some wonderful entrepreneurs and business woman from their local area, I hope they are inspired by all these women have achieved and it allows them to realise that anything is possible."
