Highlights from the Women’s Enterprise Scotland Awards 2022

On the 27th October 2022, businesswomen across Scotland were celebrated in front of a sell-out audience at our Women’s Enterprise Scotland Awards 2022 as part of Women’s Enterprise Scotland 10th Anniversary celebrations.

Celebrating 10 years  

For 10 years Women’s Enterprise Scotland have been working at the forefront to close the gender gap in enterprise participation. Through sector leading research, WES have consistently highlighted the actions and resources that are needed to ensure Scotland’s women fulfil their economic potential. Within the last decade, WES have worked with Scottish Government to provide a Scottish Framework and Action Plan for Women in Enterprise, established and held Women in Enterprise Cross Party Group sessions, and have published 10 research papers all with the purpose to help create a voice for women-owned businesses in Scotland and to promote policy and best practice which enables women to successfully start up and grow their own businesses.  

WES will continue to advocate for 5 priorities to overcome gender inequality in entrepreneurship:  

1. Greater access to finance 
2. A more gender-aware business support structure 
3. Champion digital inclusion 
4. Deliver improved data collection 
5. Create a gender equal economy 

So, here’s to the next 10 years…  

A rundown of the evening in case you missed it!  

After a welcome drinks’ reception, the night kicked off with guest speaker First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, sharing her thoughts on the finalists: 

“The past couple of years have been exceptionally tough for businesses across Scotland, but the calibre of all of [the] finalists and winners shows the real impact Scotland’s women entrepreneurs are making across a range of sectors. These awards highlight the major role of Scotland’s businesswomen in driving our economy forward, with valued support from [WES].”

The First Minister then presented the Lifetime Achievement award to Evelyn McDonald, CEO of Scottish Edge, for the tremendous contribution she has made to support the next generation of women in business.

Up next was an incredible 3 course dinner followed by our incredible awards ceremony hosted by the amazing Clare English.  

In notable highlights, Greenock based Poonam Gupta of PG Paper Company took the coveted Inspiring Leader 2022 Award whilst ScotlandShop, founded by Anna White, was named Growth Business of the Year. 

Ergo Law, co-founded by Emma Reid along with Cathy Donald, took the award for Outstanding Business of the Year whilst Wishaw based Beauty Kitchen picked up the Net Zero Award. Radiant and Brighter, founded by Pheona Matovu, was named Purpose Led Business of the Year. First Minister Nicola Sturgeon MSP presented Evelyn Mcdonald, CEO of Scottish Edge, with the Lifetime Achievement Award. 

Congratulating the winners, CEO of Women’s Enterprise Scotland Carolyn Currie said: 

“Businesses across Scotland have faced unprecedented pressures over the past two years and despite the additional challenges faced by women-owned businesses, the [WES] Awards have showcased how women business-leaders have stepped up to play their role in our country’s diverse, innovative, and adaptable business ecosystem.” 

She added: “These business-leaders are the visible role models who will inspire the next generation of women and girls coming through, collectively helping us to consign Scotland’s persistent gender gap in enterprise to history.” 

The Awards were sponsored by Scottish Enterprise, Royal Bank of Scotland, HFL Holistic Financial Leadership, Business Gateway and the British Business Bank. 

Meet some of our winners…

Poonam Gupta, one of our Women’s Enterprise Scotland ambassadors, took home the award for Inspiring Leader 2022. Poonam started her entrepreneurial journey when she arrived in Scotland in 2002. Her company PG Paper is now an international, award-winning paper solutions company operating in over 60 countries across the globe with offices in India, the US, China, Sweden, and Turkey. Poonam was awarded an OBE in 2016 in recognition for her services to charity and business. Find out more about Poonam’s business journey here.  

Winner of Purpose Led Business was Pheona Matovu of Radiant and Brighter. Radiant and Brighter is a Community Interest Company set up to help provide relevant support for migrant communities to meaningfully and fully integrate into the Scottish society, able to contribute socially and economically. Rooted in lived and learned experience, Radiant and Brighter has supported several private, public and third sector organisations to understand and implement antiracism and culturally competent approaches within the workplace. Pheona is another of our Women’s Enterprise Scotland Ambassadors and her entrepreneurship journey began when she was a young girl in Uganda. Read the rest of Pheona’s journey here.  

Winner of Growth Business sponsored by the Royal Bank of Scotland was ScotlandShop. Founded by Anna White in 2002 the company was built on not only a love of fashion, fabric and Scottish culture but also a desire to contribute to the development of the local rural economy in the Scottish Borders. ScotlandShop is now an international organisation delivering all over the world on a daily basis and offering its products and service in 6 languages. The company has shown incredible resilience and creativity across 2 tough years, achieving their goal of opening a US store and overall growth despite a global lockdown. Not allowing the uncertainty to limit their ambition or focus they adapted their approach, used alternative routes to market and gutsy leadership kept the brand growing. 

Jo Chidley, founder of Beauty Kitchen and Women’s Enterprise Scotland ambassador picked up the award for Net Zero business. Beauty Kitchen are creators of effective, natural sustainable skincare and have been recognised by many for their efforts. They are the highest scoring b corp beauty brand in Europe with sustainability being at the heart of their award-winning products. For Beauty Kitchen, sustainability is about making sure that the long term environmental and ethical impact of running a business is considered, from the ingredients used, to how they are produced and packaged. Founder Jo believes that hitting net zero requires innovation and collaboration, which can be seen in her closed loop packaging programme, Re. Jo has enabled brands, retailers, and consumers to switch to low-cost reusable packaging with lower carbon emissions through prefill models and a network of return points. 

For a full list of our winners, head to the Women’s Enterprise Scotland site.