The AccelerateHER awards in partnership with Barclays Eagle Labs will launch tomorrow (Thursday) with an online showcase event featuring innovative female founders sharing their inspiring success stories. The event officially opens the 2022 awards for entry with entries invited from female founders across the UK.
The AccelerateHER awards celebrate women excelling in their sector and are split across five regions – Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, North England and South England – with four categories in each region: Science and MedTech; FinTech, Data Science and Cybersecurity; CleanTech, Climate and Net Zero; and Disruptive Innovation.
AccelerateHER COO, Elizabeth Pirrie said: “We’re thrilled to be launching the 2022 AccelerateHER awards, now going UK wide in partnership with Barclays Eagle Labs. It is a delight to welcome last year’s four winners along with other influential women to our showcase launch. We know they will inspire and motivate our next round of entrants to ‘go for it’!
“This is an exciting time as we officially start the search for industry leaders of the future doing exceptional work in their field.”
Katherine Morgan, Head of High Growth and Entrepreneurs at Barclays, added: “We’re delighted to be a part of the showcase event and to be supporting the AccelerateHER awards. As an organisation we are committed to helping female-founded businesses grow and scale and these awards are the perfect launch-pad for exceptional entrepreneurs to take their businesses to the next level.”
The showcase launch will include motivational pitches from last year’s four winners, Kate Cameron from Cytochroma, Rebecca Goss from XGenix, Sarah Wernér of Husmus and
ZOEX Power’s Aslihan Penley, while Katherine Morgan from Barclays will hold a fireside chat with Founder and CEO of AccelerateHER, Jackie Waring.
2021 winner Kate Cameron said: “Winning an AccelerateHER award has been great for me and Cytochroma. It has really raised the profile of the business, encouraged me to enter more competitions and as a result I’m speaking at the World Health Summit next week!
“The mentoring they provided helped me refine my business strategy and see alternative approaches. Investing Women has been a great believer in me and Cytochroma; I want to stay involved with the great work they do to celebrate and support other great female founders.”
The awards are sponsored by Barclays and global IT and business consulting firm CGI. The Scottish Government has been instrumental in supporting the growth of the awards in Scotland; ensuring over 700 female founders to date have accessed tangible expert help to prepare for investment and growth.
Entries are now open, and the winners will be announced at the five Regional Finals in March 2022. For more information and details on how to enter, visit our awards page.