Last year, we hosted our inaugural dinner for female founders and leaders and found ourselves in a room full of shared celebration, support, and insight. It was surprisingly honest and incredibly warm. So, a few weeks ago, we once again gathered women from our community for dinner. Held at Caravan’s Covent Garden restaurant, the evening began with a welcome from their co-founder Laura Harper-Hinton, followed by an interview with Ella Mills, founder of Deliciously Ella and Plants, interviewed by our podcast host and ITV news anchor, Mary Nightingale.
Before the discussion, our co-founder, Libby Gibson, took a moment to remind everyone why events like these are so important. It can seem like there are countless events and support for women in business, but the statistics are still gloomy. In 2023, only 8.2% of all deals tracked by the British Business Bank were secured by all female founder-led teams, flat on the previous year. According to the Alison Rose Review of Female Entrepreneurship, £250bn could be added to the UK economy if women started and scaled new businesses at the same rate as men. What a missed opportunity.
Mary first interviewed Ella six years ago for our podcast, How I Grew My Brand. Reflecting on their conversation from the podcast, they discussed the pre-Covid glory days before inflationary pressures reshaped the consumer sector. Healthy eating and wellbeing were still growing markets, nothing like the giant industry it has become since Covid. Ella recalled that when she started out sharing recipes and publishing her first recipe books, even a simple aubergine tray bake was unfamiliar to most.
Like many of us in the room, Ella shared that she had imposter syndrome when growing her second brand Plants. It is our experience at Piper that founders often feel this as their brand grows through key inflection points. Instead of seeing it as self-doubt, it should be seen as a sign that a brand is evolving, and the founder is growing alongside the business. She may have been feeling doubt, but Plants sold five million products in the first 18 months.
Mary asked if she always wanted to be an entrepreneur, and if she would encourage her daughters to do the same. Ella said she grew up never imagining that founding a business was an option, without any role models to look to. She wouldn’t push her children to be entrepreneurs, but she wants them to see it as a possibility, to believe that anything is an option.
Mary finished the interview with a toast to ending imposter syndrome, and then the conversations continued across the tables. Topics ranged from how to let go and exit your business, to navigating the male-dominated world of corporate finance advisors and coping with the onslaught of job applications written by AI. We brought together founders and leaders from all different sectors and sizes of brands. No matter what stage, product or service, everyone had something to share or learn.
We left the evening feeling very lucky to know such a group, reinforced by the feedback from guests who found the evening both inspiring and valuable. Bringing together such a talented group of women reminds us why these conversations matter. While the challenges are real, so too is the opportunity to change the business world for the better.