Enterprise in Heels – Experiences

Trip to Parliament, Tuesday 17th November

L to R: Lizzie Whatley, Gin Vitkute, Brenda Palmgren, Kim Ward, Helen Norris, Simona Balisteanu

Kim’s Thoughts…

An opportunity to mix with some of the country’s most influential business women in one of the most important establishments that England hosts? Off to London we go then! Never having been to London before, as well as the opportunity to be a part of the Pink Shoe Club debate, was something that I wasn’t going to miss out on. The trip down was long and drawn out, but it gave me the time to read up on all of the key figures who will be presenting, ready for any questions and discussions that may be thrown my way.

After going through the strictest security ever, quite rightly so, (who by the way don’t appreciate jokes either), we meandered through the miraculous building that is Parliament. The architecture, sculptures and paintings were all too much to see fleetingly, but we rushed on to take our seats. All of us were allocated to be scribes for tea debates in the afternoon, a scary responsibility. The opening debate was both interesting and influential which created an atmosphere of excitement, inspiration and creativity, an excellent mood for a productive tea debate.

Located in the Abbey Gardens, our tea debate discussed a wide range of issues revolving around passion and enterprise and how this can be achieved through technology and the utilisation of the Pink Shoe Clubs members. The women in mine and Helen’s debate came from all walks of life, publishing to networking, and together we developed the idea of a Menternship programme which would allow aspiring entrepreneurs to gain a greater insight into the business environment. This ended up being echoed in the concluding debate later on and due to the response, will be put towards parliament.

My day was made even more worthwhile after discussing my ambitions and chosen career path to the surrounding women, and men (there were a select few) after seeing their positive and enquiring response. Having people such as them be interested in my ideas and willing to help me out was the icing on the cake, especially when I had business cards being handed to me left right and centre.

Upset that we had to miss the champagne networking session, the journey home was no where near as long as the one coming down. The long and over whelming day should have tired us out, however we rambled on for nearly three hours about the days events, our careers, courses and the like just to get all the energy out of us.

The day was fantastic! Not only did I gain useful contacts, witnessed spectacular buildings and debates, and was surrounded all day by influential entrepreneurs, but I became great friends with the other girls. It’s nice to know there are others out there as enthusiastic and driven as me. Thanks Create.

Kimberly Ward

Brenda’s thoughts… 

I met some very inspirational women who had great passion and had turned that into very successful businesses. I particularly liked the talk by Sarah Murray (founder of confused.com). She made the point that as women we can plan too much, that there gets to a point where you just have to do it. She also brought up the idea that failure is fine. It will happen to the best of people and that we just need to move on and learn from it.

In my tearoom disscusion we focused on the idea of mentorship, and I believe that I have made some contacts that will be very valuable to me in the future.  By it being hosted in parliment made it even better.

Brenda Palmgren

Gin’s Thoughts…

Last year 16th -22th November  was known as the Global Enterprise Week.  Create gave me an opportunity to visit London Parliament and amazingly to participate in one of the best events I have ever been to – the Pink Shoe Club Annual Enterprise Debate. 

The main idea of the day was to have discussions about three topics, `Power, Prosperity and Passion‘. Firstly,  there were some Panel members who introduced these topics to the tea debates.  All the participants were alloted into 10 different venues (including House of Lords and the House of Commons) and each group had a hostess entrepreneur who held the Debate about specific questions given.  After a couple of hours discussions, all of the groups came back to the main venue and shared the ideas and solutions about the questions they had, and the Panel concluded everything by highlighting the necessity of being an entrepreneur.

It‘s not easy to explain this event in details because it‘s amazing to participate in such an event and take the risk to experience something new. I can just thank CREATE who gave me the opportunity to explore the practical side of entrepreneurship, business and networking. I brought back with me not only impressions but also knowledge how to do, how to start, how to be and the most important thing – enthusiasm to create something ( some relationships as well!). I am still excited! And I started to do a lot after this event – it really inspired me.

Gintaute Vitkute

Audience with Rúna Bouius, 10th December

L to R: Gin Vitkute, Rúna Bouius, Lizzie Whatley, Brenda Palmgren, Laura Faulds

On 10th December, a group of female students were invited to an audience with Rúna Bouius in the Management School.

Rúna Bouius is an Icelandic entrepreneur, leadership mentor, speaker and trainer. Her company Rúnora,LLC focuses on a specialized form of leadership development, emphasizing deeper connection and awakening true power in people and business.

She spoke with us about her background in cosmetics and learning by experience – as she had no prior experience in this industry. She also has a background in Philosophy, which has inspired her current business. Her story was truly inspirational.