Introducing the Mentors!

"Appropriately named the M.A.D. Women , this extraordinary panel of mentors are women that unquestionably Make A Difference when it comes to female success in business."

Karen Hanton - Chief Executive, toptable.co.uk

Karen is the powerhouse behind toptable, Europe’s largest online restaurant and party booking service.

From her initial training and career in HR, she has founded and developed a number of successful ventures over the past 15 years.  Karen is widely known within the industry as a pioneer within new media, regularly lecturing on the subject and coaching young entrepreneurs.  

She has also received significant public recognition including:

- Financial Times/Moet Hennessy Extraordinary Achievers Award
- Named as one of today's top 30 entrepreneurs in New Business Magazine
- Named one of the top 100 most influential people in the first decade of the internet in an NOP/e-consultancy poll



Karen Darby - Founder, SimplySwitch

Karen Darby is a highly successful and inspirational entrepreneur with a classic rags to riches story.  

One of five children, Karen grew up on a council estate in Mitcham and left school at 16 with one GCSE.  SimplySwitch is her third and most successful venture to date.  She initially launched as Simply Energy Ltd in 2002 offering consumers a comparison and switching service for gas and electricity.

In August 2006 SimplySwitch was sold to DMGT (Daily Mail & General Trust) for £22m.  Karen was a finalist in Cosmopolitan's Woman of Tomorrow award.  In June 2006 she won the Finance Award at the CBI's First Women Awards and was a finalist in the 2006 National Business Awards.

She is also a regular guest on BBC News, Sky News and BBC Radio 5 Live.  Matthew Rock, Caspian Publishing has said of Karen,

“....she is a super-inspirational entrepreneur.  Her story, of creating several major business success stories while also juggling a real life at home, is a tale of our times – of what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur, woman and mother in the 21st century."



Sumerah Ahmad - Co-founder & Director, Club Asia Radio 963+972AM

Sumerah joined her sister in launching the station in 2003 targeting London’s Asians.  Sumerah is the creative force while her sister, Humerah Khan, provided financial skills.

Club Asia, now in its 5th year, is a multi award winning company and has become a nationally recognised success story.  Sumerah completed her Law degree from City University but realised that her vocation lay in Media.  She followed her creative instincts leading her to work with a number of prestigious companies in the British Film & TV Industry.

Sumerah has won numerous awards such as the Asian Women of Achievement Award as well as being listed by Management Today in their ‘Top 35 Women under 35’: Women of Steel in business and the Daily Mail’s ‘Asian Hot List’.  

Club Asia was voted ‘Best Radio Station’ at the 2006 UK Asian Music Awards as well as being named the ‘Brightest New Business’ in the UK at the prestigious HSBC Start-up Stars Awards in 2005.

Sumerah heads up the company’s growth activities translating the brand across sectors.  Club Asia’s expansion strategy includes developing a national radio network and increasing reach across digital platforms as well as launching an entertainment division offering filmed and live entertainment products.  Club Asia Radio broadcasts on 963+972AM on Sky digital channel 0145 and www.clubasiaonline.com



Kresse Wesling- Director of EaKo, Babaloo and Bio-Supplies

Kresse launched Bio-Supplies in 2003 in Hong Kong, a company that invests in, develops, manufactures and sells environmental packaging alternatives.  In 2005, the first UK branch was opened, and it is here that the primary source of growth has been.

Kresse then launched Babaloo in the spring of 2005.  Babaloo manufactures and sells a range of environmental and ethical products for parents and babies.  Kresse’s business partner at Babaloo, Richard Bingham, says of Kresse:

“She is consumed by her passion for all things eco, and this is shown through her style, vigour and enthusiasm for her business life."

Kresse has recently launched her third business, EaKo, which turns industrial waste into innovative lifestyle products and returns 50% of profits to the charities and organisations related to the waste.  See www.fire-hose.co.uk The "Live Earth Belt" is made from decommissioned fire hoses, and 50 per cent of the profits go back to the London Fire Brigade for distribution through their benevolent fund.

Kresse won the Entrepreneurial Woman of the Future award at the Real Business awards in November 2007 and was recently named in Management Today's "35 Women Under 35" list.



Jo Haigh - Author & Head of Corporate Finance, MGR

Jo Haigh is a Partner and Head of Corporate Finance for MGR and a partner in the fds Group, a specialist training and development business.

She has bought and sold over 300 companies in the last 20 years specialising in owner managed companies.  An experienced dealmaker, Jo specialises in putting together the right deal at the right time and in the right format for growing businesses throughout the country.  

Jo is also a Partner of fds – a highly successful training and consultancy organisation and specialist Corporate Finance Boutique that she founded at the start of the 90s.  She is a Visiting Fellow at Leeds University and is a Non-Executive Director of 3 companies and Non-Executive Chair of a multi million pound property developer specialising in social housing.

Her first book, The Business Rules, published 2005 and 2006, has been such a success that a foreign rights deal has been confirmed with a publisher in China.

Jo’s second book, An Entrepreneur’s Guide, was published in March 2007 and her third book, Tales from the Glass Ceiling - A Survival Guide for Women in Business, was published in June 2008 and sold out of its first reprint after 5 days.

Jo was entered into the 2008 edition of “Who’s Who of Britain’s Business Elite” and was a short-listed finalist in the First Women CBI Awards 2007, in the Finance category.



Krista Madden - Founder, Beauty and The Dirt

Krista Madden started Time Agency in 1991, representing fashion stylists, hair and make up artists that work in the fashion and music industry.  

With the continued success of Time, Krista built many contacts in the world of beauty, fashion and celebrity and decided to channel this knowledge in the form of a website www.beautyandthedirt.com  The site launched seven years ago and still remains the most successful independently run female site in the UK.

Seeing a gap in the market six years ago for a beauty salon in the West End that offered excellent treatments at affordable prices Krista opened The Beauty Lounge now in Kingly Court, off Carnaby Street, W1.  Regularly mentioned as a favourite salon in Tatler and ES Magazine, the beauty therapists also work on the shows at London Fashion Week, photo sessions and launches with high profile clients and celebrities.

Krista is now launching a network of independently run websites under the name of Handpicked Media to represent sites and blogs for advertising sales.  This is the first sales agency that will act like a true community of sites by offering equity to all sites that sign up to Handpicked Media.  Having experienced unsuccessful sales agencies in the past, Krista decided to create an alternative to what was on the market.

Krista has been featured in Elle, Evening Standard, Sunday Times Style and is regularly interviewed and quoted for her expertise and experience in the beauty industry.



Lucy Unger - Managing Partner, Fitch

Lucy Unger is the Managing Partner EMEA for renowned international design consultancy, Fitch.  Lucy's career progressed through sales and marketing roles with blue-chip multinationals including Unilever, Colgate Palmolive, Tesco and Coca-Cola before she jumped ship and opened her own design agency in Sydney.  

From there, Lucy was lured to London in 2001 to work for Fitch and after 3 years she was appointed Managing Director of the London studio.  Working closely with her management team, Lucy engineered a cultural and commercial turn-around of the business.

Without relinquishing her role as London MD, in 2006 Lucy was promoted to her current regional role where she oversees 6 studios in the Europe and Middle East region.  During this period Lucy has formulated and implemented the plan to open the Doha studio and was integral in the acquisition of a business in Dubai to complete Fitch's Middle East portfolio.

She has also successfully made significant senior management hires within the region in addition to steering the London studio to runners up place in Marketing's Design Agency of the Year in 2007.



Polly Gowers - Founder, Everyclick.com

Polly founded Everyclick.com, the website that enables consumers to give to any UK charity in the way that they want.

Everyclick.com is a search engine that gives half of its revenue to charity. It's technology has been specifically created to provide a sustainable, no cost fundraising tool for all charities.  It provides any internet user with a free and hassle-free way to raise money for the charity of their choice.

On her website, Polly comments on what she does “I make sure that we are efficiently combining internet search, online community and no cost philanthropy for all, into one simple package.  In the afternoon I make sure Everyclick becomes a household name. It's a great challenge and there is never a dull day.”

And why she does it “Because I think there is an unprecedented opportunity to provide a service that enables anyone to give more efficiently.  It is a privilege to work with a group of people that have the opportunity to use the Internet to effect positive social change.”

Polly was voted WEBA Ethical Entrepreneur of the Year 2007 and a Blackberry Woman in Technology Award winner in 2008.

Saima Butt - MD, Enterprise Business Technologies

Saima Butt has run her own business for three and a half successful years.  Her company, BT Local Business Greater London North West provides telecommunications and IT services to small businesses.

Saima has received numerous awards recognising its success including the ‘BT Local Business of the Year’ award for 2006 and 2007.  Receiving the ‘Newcomer of the Year’ award shortly after it was set up in 2005, the company has expanded significantly as a result of its success, growing from its initial core six people to 22 employees.

The customer base has also expanded to cover 35,000 SMEs in North West London.  Before setting up the BTLB franchise, Saima worked for BT Corporate for five years and this gives her a unique perspective on the IT and Communications requirements of small businesses.

Running her own business has given Saima time to focus on another area very close to her heart - giving back to her own community.  She was involved with supporting Small Business Week 2007, talking about her own experiences and how events like Small Business Week offer people opportunities to improve and develop their businesses.



Caroline Plumb - CEO, FreshMinds

Caroline Plumb is CEO of FreshMinds Group, the business she co-founded in September 2000 straight after graduating from Oxford University.  Having been offered a role at a larger consultancy upon graduating, Caroline decided instead to take a risk and follow her instincts – and never looked back.

FreshMinds Group has grown from strength to strength with each year of trading.  In 2007, FreshMinds Research and FreshMinds Talent were formally established as standalone business units within FreshMinds.  Later that year, FreshNetworks – which builds and manages online communities was launched as the company’s third business.

With a 75-strong team, FreshMinds was crowned ‘Most Innovative Employer’ at the Market Research Society awards in 2006 as well as ‘Best Agency’, which they won for the second year in a row in 2007.  Most recently in 2008, FreshMinds won the Bank of Scotland Entrepreneurial £5M Challenge for the London Region.  

Caroline is a regular speaker on business and enterprise, and spoke at the Institute of Director’s Annual Convention 2006.  She has also been twice-named on Management Today’s ’35 under 35’ businesswomen - the youngest on the list both times.  

Caroline sits on the board of the Saïd Business School in Oxford, and is a council member of the Small Business Forum.