Women are transforming the world of business.

In America, women lead 5 percent of Fortune 500 businesses and more and more women are finding their entrepreneurial feet. The Next Web even argues that “The Next Billion Entrepreneurs Will Be Women” in line with Hillary’s Clinton’s famous statement that “women are the largest untapped reservoir of talent in the world”.

So how do we encourage and empower more women to achieve their goals? How do we lead them to success in any industry?

One person who is addressing this is Amalia Agathou with her business WIN League – a private network of female investors and innovators created to support and inspire its members and beyond.

Next Thursday, October 1st Amalia is hosting a Personal Development Day, which is designed to bring these amazing women together to share their stories and insights. 

Expect talks from Katerina Biliouri (an experienced coach for speakers, and TEDGlobal speaker curator), Hermione Way (founder of WayMedia), Itxaso Del Palacio (VP at Lepe Partners - a merchant bank investing in growth stage companies in media and consumer tech), and myself (founder of HVO Search - an executive search firm working at the intersection of retail, digital and tech).

We will cover issues such as public speaking, personal branding, negotiation practices and career mapping.

The aim is to give women the confidence to take on any challenge they wish to pursue and to meet others to help them on their journey.

And it makes good business sense.

Encouraging women to take on more responsibility and use their skills is good for both individuals and organisations. It is increasingly clear that a more equal gender distribution at the very top is a shrewd business move.

Just take a look at the evidence:

• Women-run private tech companies are more capital efficient and bring in 12 percent more funding than male-run ones
• Venture-backed companies that include more women on their executive management teams have an increased likelihood of achieving results than companies with male-only executive teams
• Venture capital firms that invest in businesses run by women outperform those which invest in only male-led businesses 

But this is not a ‘men vs women’ issue. The fact is there is more diversity at the heart of businesses that embrace female leaders.

And, if women are equally represented in the labour market, then there are simply more good people in the global talent pool. Which is good news for everyone.

Women, I’d like to take this opportunity to invite you to join us at the Personal Development Day next Thursday.

And men, I invite you to support your female colleagues and friends, wives, mothers, sisters, daughters. Not in just sharing this invitation, but in life and work in general.

For those interested in attending, I am pleased to offer a 20% discount with the code UGOGIRL20.

Looking forward to seeing you there.

Always open to hear your views. So get in touch.