Two Indian women have been featured in the Top 25 of the Smith & Williamson Power 100: digital entrepreneur Lopa Patel MBE and Neeta Patel, CEO of NEF. The pair, who are sisters, won nominations from peers in the entrepreneurial community in the UK to be featured in the SW Power 100 list which celebrates those who help shape policy, champion, mentor, support and promote entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship in Britain.
The full list was published in weekly tranches of 25, starting on 8th February 2017, culminating in a celebration event on Tuesday 7th March 2017 at Smith & Williamson’s HQ in Moorgate, London. The evening included a panel discussion with Simon Woodruffe OBE, Founder of Yo! Sushi; Neeta Patel, CEO of the New Entrepreneurs Foundation; Carl Reader, entrepreneurship columnist for the Daily Express; Sarah Luxford, Head of TLA Women in Tech and Steve Bartlett, Founder and CEO of Social Chain, a disruptive influencer marketing and social media agency. Panellists talked about the scale-up agenda, shared stories and took part in a Q&A session with the audience comprising nominees and alumni of the Power 100 list.
Lopa Patel MBE, who was selected to be in the Top 25 of The Smith & Williamson Power 100 2017 alongside her sister Neeta Patel, CEO of New Entrepreneurs Foundation, said “I feel truly humbled and privileged to be included in this list alongside so many of my own business heroes. Entrepreneurship is key to the success of the United Kingdom and the recognition in lists like the Power 100 is important in giving young people, especially women, the confidence to set-up their own business. I am very grateful to those who nominated me and to Smith & Williamson and Fresh Business Thinking for selecting me.”
Women made up 36% of the Top 25 this year and included names like Jess Butcher, Co-Founder of Blippar, one of the UK’s only unicorns; Lucy Rose-Walker CEO of accelerator Entrepreneurial Spark and Elizabeth Varley, CEO of TechHub. In the UK, women lead one in five (20%) small businesses (SMEs), contributing £75 billion to economic output according to a recent survey*. “Britain is a great place to set up a business; company formation is quick, there are many sources of financing, a lot of resources are now online and there is a start-up ecosystem, particularly in cities like London, Birmingham and Manchester. My sister’s organisation, the New Entrepreneurs Foundation (NEF) is a wonderful example of this ecosystem,” added Lopa.
The sisters were both surprised to be included in the same list and to be shortlisted in the Top 25, as each promotes entrepreneurship in their own unique way. Neeta Patel, who is the Founding CEO of NEF said “My drive comes from seeing bright, young people with a sparkle in their eye, big ambitions to be entrepreneurs go through the NEF programme emerging with the confidence, connections, skills to make their dreams a reality.”
Indian entrepreneurs in The Smith & Williamson Power 100 2017 included Dr Rami Ranger CBE, Chairman of Sun Mark; Surinder Arora, Founder and Chairman of Arora International Hotels.; Dhiraj Mukherjee, Co-Founder of Shazam and Rajesh Agrawal, Founder of foreign exchange company, Rational FX, and Deputy Mayor for London for Business.
To view the full list visit www.freshbusinessthinking.com
About Lopa Patel MBE
The founder of two ventures in online media and a data-driven marketing consultancy, Lopa Patel is also a mentor for Young Enterprise; a tech ambassador for STEMNET, an investor, an NED & a Trustee. She is the first Asian woman to be awarded the Queen’s Award for Enterprise Promotion and has also been recognised with an MBE for services to the creative industries. For further details visit www.lopapatel.com
About Neeta Patel
Neeta Patel is an experienced executive with over 20 years of strategy and operational leadership experience in launching new ventures, business turnarounds and change and has a sharp focus on growth and revenues. She has a successful track record of turning ideas and concepts into tangible businesses. Her experience spans financial services, media & publishing, education, arts and the creative industries. She has also led two of her own start-ups.
Prior to joining the New Entrepreneurs Foundation, Neeta worked in Private Equity matching technology entrepreneurs with investors. Neeta has held senior positions at Thomson Financial (Reuters), Legal & General PLC, Financial Times Group and at the British Council. She is an early internet pioneer having launched the first personal finance web site in Europe for L&G in 1996.
As CEO of the New Entrepreneurs Foundation, Neeta Patel works incredibly hard to prepare and support the next generation of entrepreneurs. Despite being at the beginning of the journey, she works with passion and dedication to achieve her goal. For further information visit http://newentrepreneursfoundation.com/
* BIS, Small Business Survey 2012: businesses led by women and ethnic minorities, 2013, p 2. Output is Gross Value Added.