Nell Bennett, Co-Founder and Design Director of doppel, has today been named as one of three finalists for the Start-up Founder of the Year Award organized by everywoman and sponsored by Barclays.
The award is presented to the most inspirational female founder of a start-up business.
Established in 1999, everywoman is the expert in the advancement of women in business.
The seventh annual 2017 FDM everywoman in Technology Awards, in association with techUK, encourage greater numbers of women to work in tech, driving awareness of career opportunities, as well as showcasing the breadth and diversity of talent contributed by women in tech across all industries.
The other finalists are:
- Sophie Deen, Founder and CEO, Bright Little Labs, from London
- Sarah Hesz and Katie Massie–Taylor, Founders, Mush, from London
Maxine Benson MBE, co-founder of everywoman comments:
“Seven years ago we began to showcase the exceptional women working in technology in response to the industry’s concern over a lack of female talent and role models. Today we are delighted to see the gender divide closing, but despite this our Awards continue to play an important part in celebrating role models at every stage of the journey from students up to senior leaders. The calibre and quality of this year’s nominations was impressive with all those nominated demonstrating a commitment to making a difference not only within their organisations but within local communities, schools and the future of the technology sector.”
Sheila Flavell, Chief Operating Officer of title sponsor FDM Group states:
“FDM is delighted to be sponsoring the everywoman in Technology Awards 2017 for the fifth consecutive year. FDM takes pride in being an award-winning company that champions diversity in the workplace and leads by example with circa 50% of the senior management team being women. We are committed to driving gender diversity in the workplace and encouraging more women to pursue rewarding careers in technology and STEM. The FDM everywoman in Technology Awards provide tangible examples of successful women in IT to encourage the next generation, which supports our core purpose to create and inspire exciting careers that shape our digital future. We are proud to continue supporting these awards and look forward to celebrating more female tech talent throughout years to come”
Julian David, CEO of techUK adds:
“techUK is proud to support the FDM everywoman in Technology Awards for the third year running. The digital skills gap is one of the most urgent policy challenges facing the UK - without enough talented workers, the UK will fall short of its potential in supercharging its already successful digital industry. In particular, we need to encourage women to enter and thrive in the tech industry at all levels. That way we become more robust, more competitive and more innovative. Through targeted action, techUK is committed to facilitate the attraction and retention of talent from as broad a demographic as possible to increase diversity within the tech sector.”
Nigel Walder, CIO of Functions Transformation at Barclays concludes:
“Barclays is a firm supporter of encouraging more women into careers in technology. We are passionate about connecting our technology organisation with the everywoman programme to enable our colleagues to actively build their networks and learn new skills. Through collaborating together, we’ve seen some excellent success stories and are proud to continue this relationship and sponsor an award category.”
The 2017 FDM everywoman in Technology Awards ceremony and dinner will take place on 9 February 2017 at the London Hilton on Park Lane preceded by the everywoman Technology Forum - the largest UK forum for men and women in technology, a day of inspiration, learning and development, bringing together over 600 women who are aspiring to advance their careers or become future leaders. Keynote speakers include Nick Jenkins, founder of Moonpig.com and senior leaders from Harvey Nichols, Worldpay UK, ARM and Dell, as well as technology entrepreneurs and innovators.