It is International Women’s Day and Westmont Enterprise Hub will be hosting a special all women panel event.

Did you know only one in three entrepreneurs are women, and just one penny in every pound of investment goes to female-led firms? Real barriers still exist for women entrepreneurs starting up, scaling up and getting access to funding.

Discover how the funding landscape is changing for women entrepreneurs and what can make your startup ‘investable’.

Join our #LevelPlayingField Panel on Friday the 6th of March from 12.15 pm for an insightful discussion & Q&A session from inspirational, empowering women in business who have raised significant investment and women Venture Capitalists who invest in startups featuring:

Lisa Winning

Lisa is a digital entrepreneur, who raised venture capital in New York and Silicon Valley. Her first startup had an audience of 5 million millennials, and expanded from a website and app, into books and a film deal with a Hollywood studio. Lisa understands the journey of building your vision without a technical background, and raising money from angels and venture capitalists, without previous experience.

Yao Huang

Yao is TechWeek’s 100 most influential people in tech and founder of The Hatchery (https://hatchery.vc/), an organisation instrumental in developing the New York technology ecosystem. She heads up the enterprise incubator in innovating products with corporate partners - from ideation, development, sales, funding to exit. Born out of the imbalance of capital access for women, she leads a group of investors in bringing more accessible fair capital to women through Diana Capital Partners.

Merilee Karr

Merilee is the CEO and Founder of UnderTheDoormat – an award-winning luxury short-term rental company. Merilee has been profiled in London’s Evening Standard and regularly speaks at events, including International Hotel Investment Forum (IHIF), European Holiday Homes Association (EHHA). She has also participated at the UN Women’s Panel on Entrepreneurship. Merilee has been recognised with several awards including the prestigious accolade of Entrepreneur of the Year in 2018, and Business Woman of the Year in 2019

Saira Gill

Saira is an Associate Partner at Antler (https://www.antler.co/). Saira has over 13 years experience working in Tech, which includes Venture Capital at Balderton, and her current role at Antler, where she is in charge of Global Strategy and Portfolio of over 120 companies, expected to grow to 350 by the end of 2020. She is a serial entrepreneur, building both her own businesses and helping other companies scale internationally, including MyCitydeal, a Rocket-backed company, that was bought out by Groupon, where she became the MD for the Nordics.

The host for #LevelPlayingField Panel is Alyshia Mangalji, Global Director of Development at Westmont Hospitality Group- donor of the Westmont Enterprise Hub.

12pm - Arrivals

12.15pm – 1.15pm - Panel discussion & Q& A

1.15pm - Networking & Refreshments

2pm - End

Welcoming all entrepreneurs, pre-startups, startups, founders, women and men in business, or those who are simply curious!

Please note, there is no parking at Westmont Enterprise Hub/University of West London due to building works. There is metered parking around the Univeristy, however, we highly recommend you to travel by public transport. Nearest tube stations are Ealing Broadway and South Ealing – both 10minutes walk to the Hub.