New Forest Business Partnership hosts sellout event for IWD 2024

More than 160 businesswomen – and a few men – attended the New Forest Business Partnership’s International Women’s Day (IWD) event at Balmer Lawn Hotel in Brockenhurst to celebrate this year’s IWD theme – Inspire Inclusion.

Together they heard from keynote speaker Nancy Hyne, founder of True Horizon – a consultancy helping brands balance purpose and profit.

Nancy began her career as a structural design engineer in London, before moving to Australia in 2007 and starting her sustainability journey.

After more than 10 years working in corporate sustainability, Nancy had identified a gap in the market and launched her consultancy, targeting conscious brands that are ready to scale and looking to make a positive impact.

She now runs her business from the New Forest, serving clients both in the UK and overseas.

The event also welcomed this year’s winners of the New Forest Brilliance in Businesses Awards, including Gillian Keartland of Vida Promotions, who discussed how her business is championing the sustainability challenge for promotional merchandise.

Miranda Laughton, director of MLL Consultancy, said: “Today was a great example of Inspire: Inclusion.

“The event put on by the New Forest Business Partnership was a brilliant occasion bringing together lots of individuals to mark IWD 2024.

“Lots of connections were made, reacquainting with others, while supporting and uplifting the women in the room!

“Coming away with the statistic that Nancy Hyne gave in her talk that there were more male CEOs called Peter than the total number of female CEOs in the UK highlighted that change is still needed.

“Underrepresentation of women at CEO level is not only a problem for organisations but, perhaps more importantly, it is also detrimental for society and leadership.”

As with all events from the New Forest Business Partnership, this not-for-profit gathering was open to everyone and managed to raise £2,000 for Olivia Inspires – the charity of the year for the New Forest Brilliance in Business Awards.

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