On Thursday 7th April, Dell Women's
Entrepreneur Network (DWEN) members and alumni hosted a cocktail reception in
London that brought together an inspiring group of more than 30 female CEOs and
business leaders to network and learn more about what Dell is doing for women
entrepreneurship and technology.
Hosted by Judith Clegg, CEO of Venturing Unlimited and
founder of The Glasshouse, and Belinda Parmar, Founder of Lady Geek, the
gathering brought together innovative leaders from The NextWomen, Pensions First, TheOutnet, Moonfruit, Kate Starkey Couture, INENSU, Gong Communications, and Redhotcurry.com to name a few.
While the night was primarily about networking, Judith took
a moment to explain the purpose of the event: to celebrate women entrepreneurship
and kick-start the run-up to this year's annual DWEN conference which takes
place in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, 5-7th June.
Belinda Parmar, and Heather Gorringe, Founder of Wiggly
Wigglers, both shared compelling accounts of their experiences at DWEN 2010 and
Dell's efforts to promote business growth. Belinda talked about her experiences
at last year's conference in Shanghai and the lasting business connections and friendships
she made as a result. In addition, she
was impressed with the topics and content of the Shanghai event, and noted the valuable,
real business issues that were discussed like how to scale a business. Heather
followed by stressing the value of women entrepreneurs learning from each other
and what can be accomplished when we come together. Dell has a heritage
of entrepreneurship and recognizes that some of the best learnings and advice
comes from other entrepreneurs. DWEN
aims to help connect these amazing women so they can exchange experiences,
learn from each other and expand their network.
One of the attendees, Lopa Patel, founder of Redhotcurry.com
posted her thoughts on the event and a few photos of the fantastic night: http://www.redhotcurry.com/business/2011/dwen-event.htm
Judging by the warm feedback, guests overall thought the
night was a great opportunity to swap notes with like-minded women, many of
whom we are hoping will get involved in DWEN 2011.
To stay up to date on DWEN, share business pain points and
tips, check out our Women Powering
Business Linked-in Group.
