Wandsworth Women’s Enterprise Awards
A celebration of female entrepreneurship in Wandsworth
Wandsworth Women's Enterprise Awards 2024
The winners and runners-up were announced at our 2024 Women’s Enterprise Day event, which took place on 20th March 2024 at the Roehampton Club.
Entrepreneur of the Year
Winner: Mary Lonsdale – Mentor Education
Runner-Up: Joanna Playford – The London Curtain and Blind Co.
Finalists: Sophie Shalgi – The Avenue Cookery School, Anna Jenkins – We Are Fit Attitude Ltd
Rising Star
Winner: Frankie Michaela Spivey – Frankie’s Brownies Ltd
Runner-Up: Laura Salisbury – KnitRegen Limited
Finalists: Tolani Agoro – Chapmans of London, Jamilah Jaffer – Vite
High Street Hero
Winner: Home Community Cafe
Runner-Up: Moxie’s Fish Bar
Finalists: Cake & Yoga Club, Sam Ubhi
Best Creative Business
Winner: Catherine Marche jewellery
Runner-Up: Roopadesigns Ltd
Finalists: March and Bloom, Tina Aileen
Best Sustainable Business
Winner: The Furniture Narrative
Runner-Up: The Earlsfield Reflexologist
Finalists: Noir Velocity, Vite
Best Online Business
Winner: March and Bloom
Runner-Up: Time4pa
Finalists: Clapham Mums, The London Curtain and Blind Co
Best Charity/Social Enterprise
Winner: World Heart Beat Music Academy
Runners-Up: Home Community Cafe, Waste Not Want Not Battersea
AWARD CATEGORIES:
Entrepreneur of the Year
Recognising impactful and influential female business leaders.
Rising Star
Recognising young women aged 16-35 years, whose examples serve to inspire our next generation.
High Street Hero:
The People’s Choice Award
Recognising entrepreneurs who run the retail shops, restaurants, cafes, beauty and wellness businesses – that help to keep our town centres and shopping districts unique.
Best Creative Business
Recognising the talent of creative businesses, designers and makers in the borough.
Best Sustainable Business
Recognising business owners who place environmental sustainability at the very heart of their business.
Best Charity/Social Enterprise
Recognising organisations that are changing the future of their communities for the better.
Best Online Business
Recognising entrepreneurs who conduct their business entirely online
Kemi Akinola, Deputy Leader of Wandsworth Council and Cabinet Member
Kemi Akinola is Deputy Leader of Wandsworth Council and cabinet member for the Voluntary Sector, Business and Culture.
She is the founder of the charity Be Enriched and a Director of Brixton People’s Kitchen, set up to tackle food insecurity, social exclusion and food waste in the Wandsworth and Lambeth areas through community canteens and London’s first ever Food Bus.
Kemi is also a trustee of the Independent Food Aid Trust, as a director for Putney BID, a governor of South Thames College, and chair of Lambeth Food Partnership. She is a recipient of the Chris Herries Award for Co-operative Values.
Loretta Awuah, Strategic Business Support Manager, GLL (Greenwich Leisure Limited)
Loretta oversees the delivery and performance of their Start Up business support services across three London boroughs which includes Wandsworth.
She is passsionate about social and economic development and has extensive experience in designing, delivering and securing government funding for business support programmes and supports pre starts and early start-ups. Prior to her current role, she delivered the Start Ups in London Libraries (SiLL) project in the Royal Borough of Greenwich, an initiative designed to support aspring and early stage entrepreneurs.
Toby Costin, Director, CREW Energy
Toby is a director of CREW Energy, a Wandsworth based community benefit society that supports SW London’s transition to a low carbon economy. CREW also runs an extensive energy advice service across Wandsworth and Richmond. Toby is experienced in advising on decarbonisation plans and has supported 80 businesses in the last year. He believes these awards are important in raising the issue of climate action and as a father of three daughters, he is excited to see the ideas that local female entrepreneurs are developing.
Victor Dada, Employability Coordinator, South Thames College Group (STCG)
Victor is an established mentor and a strong advocate for championing young people to persue their dreams and reach their full potential. He is responsible for organising a large range of industry events for young people including Employer Talks, Jobs Fairs and Industry Placements. He has a passion for working with local businesses and thrives on partnering and collaborating with new and existing employers in and around London, to create long lasting work experience opportunities for young people who attend STCG.
Robert Foster, Lead Consultant, Senior Trainer and Co-Founder at Red Ochre
Robert advises and consults with local authorities, third sector and social enterprise to help them achieve their aims.
He has delivered training and spoken at conferences nationally and internationally for clients including the British Council and the World Bank.
He is a published author and is interested in how organisations create, quantify and share different types of value,
Nicole Margarita Henworth, Community Impact Manager, Business Launchpad & Tooting Works
Nicole leads on social impact, collaborations and partnerships and manages the new community hub supporting local businesses and the wider community.
Surrounded by entrepreneurs, she’s an advocate for supporting the next generation of founders and works closely with the youth charity team to build opportunities and programmes for young people to flourish.
Helen Roberts, Prince’s Trust Youth Development Lead, Enterprise London
Helen has over 18 years’ experience in the youth employment and education sector, leading on the development of education and employability programmes across the UK and supported and mentored business start-ups.
She is now responsible for supporting young people to start a business on the Prince’s Trust Enterprise programme in London, which helps 18-20 year olds to start a business.
Helen is a people person and loves to help young people transition into a better sense of confidence and self-esteem with their business or otherwise.
Caroline Simonsen, Arts and Culture Programme and Partnerships Manager at Wandsworth Council
Caroline’s work covers projects which support the economic development of arts organisations and freelancers in the borough and developing pathways to the creative industries for young people. She also delivers projects which respond to the climate emergency and creatively engage residents in positive behaviour change.
Sarah Thirtle, Director of Strategic Development at Creative United
Sarah works across Creative United’s programmes and services to develop strategies to increase and measure impact. She also leads on their business support programmes and partnerships, which deliver tailored mentoring and advice to creative and heritage enterprises, artists and makers.
In addition to her work at Creative United, Sarah is a member of the Board of Trustees for the Music Venue Trust, a Fellow of the RSA and is studying for a PhD.
Nicola Wheeler, Policy and Programme Lead, Richmond and Wandsworth Council
Nicola works with teams across the Council to ensure they reach their ambitious climate change and sustainability targets, including being carbon neutral as an organisation by 2030 and being net zero boroughs by 2043. Nicola has worked in the climate change space for over a decade, previously having worked at the World Health Organisation and University College London.
Amelia Willis, Voluntary & Community Sector Manager, Wandsworth Council
Amelia is a Wandsworth resident and works for Wandsworth Council as the Voluntary & Community Sector Manager. Amelia has previously worked in Children’s Services for 5 years and is very passionate about being active in her local community. She is a school governor at Nightingale Academy and is a creative partner at Battersea Arts Centre.
Alison Branagan, Author and Visual Arts and Creative Industries Consultant
In addition to her role as a creative industries consultant, Alison is also an associate lecturer at Central Saint Martins.
She has written several business start-up and enterprise books and has studied different approaches to teaching business theory and enterprise skills.
Chris Walsby, Business Adviser
Chris comes with a strong track record in senior leadership.
He has supported many new businesses in penetrating their markets and finding the perfect position for their offering. Most recently he has supported SMEs via the GLA’s London Business Hub.