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Female Founders Club: Bringing Change to Business

Women as inspirational and transformational leaders

Networking | Workshops

Female Founders Club (FFC) run by NTU Enterprise offers you space for sharing skills, knowledge and advice around starting, funding, and growing your business. Be a part of our inclusive club and find support for you and your business to evolve and thrive.

Our Female Founders Club is dedicated to supporting women entrepreneurs. Whilst our programme primarily uses female-centred language, we warmly welcome non-binary and trans individuals who feel comfortable in this environment.

  • From: Wednesday 23 July 2025, 10 am
  • To: Wednesday 23 July 2025, 1 pm
  • Registration: 9.45
  • Location: Dryden Enterprise Centre, Dryden Street, Nottingham, NG1 4FQ
  • Booking deadline: Tuesday 22 July 2025, 12.00 pm
  • Download this event to your calendar
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Event details

For this month's Female Founders Club we’ve teamed up with colleagues at Nottingham Business School to share their expertise and practical strategies for developing yourself and your business, as well as hearing the story of a founder who grew herself a second business with support from NTU programmes.

Part 1: Women as Inspiring and Transformational Leaders of Change

For founders navigating a challenging external environment or trying to scale their organisation, being an effective change agent is critical. Join Dr Suzanne Ross, Senior Lecturer, Nottingham Business School, for evidence-based insights on women as highly effective transformational leaders of change and the leadership approaches that create action.

During the session Suzanne will be sharing practical strategies for developing yourself as a change agent and transformational leader, leading with passion, purpose and confidence. As well as exploring:

  • What it means to be a transformational leader
  • The importance of leading with purpose and authenticity
  • How to bring people with you during change
  • How to navigate some of the traps that can hold women back

Part 2: Sewing and Growing Businesses

Join Professor Lynn Oxborrow (Nottingham Business School) and Jackie Cunningham (Founder of Advanced Textile Solutions and Sew Jackie) as they chat with Diana Pasek-Atkinson (NTU Enterprise) about business growth - revealing Jackie’s business origin story and delving into Lynn’s extensive experience of what works for women in business.

They’ll be exploring;

  • Some of the barriers to growing a business
  • How those barriers can be overcome
  • The needs of women in business
  • Support available from NTU for you and your business

Meet the Speakers:

Suzanne Ross

About Suzanne Ross: Dr Suzanne Ross is a Senior Lecturer in Executive Education at Nottingham Business School (NBS). As Course Leader, she has been involved in the design, development and delivery of NBS funded and commercial programmes to support women in management and leadership roles to develop their careers including the Women in Leadership, Women in STEM Leadership and Women as Transformational Leaders short courses. She is the subject matter expert for the NBS Microcredential Inspiring Women Leaders: Purpose-driven leadership in business and society, on the FutureLearn global digital learning platform. She is also a facilitator and mentor on the Government funded Help to Grow: Management Programme.

Suzanne has a PhD in Leadership Talent, Success and Derailment. Part-time with the University, she is the founder of 2thrive Consultancy and a past delegate of the UN Women UK delegation on the 68th Commission for the Status of Women. A qualified and experienced Executive Coach, Suzanne works with leaders up to and including CEO/Board level across all sectors and a wide range of industries. She is a member of the Working with Resilience Global Consortium and alongside her work with women in leadership specialises in leader resilience.

FFC: Lynn Oxborrow

About Lynn Oxborrow: As a Professor in Sustainable Small Business Growth, Lynn’s role involves leading on NBS projects that support small businesses in a range of contexts. She is programme Director for Help to Grow: Management at NTU and has been involved in developing the course materials for the entire programme. Lynn has overseen the ‘Big House’, an SME competitiveness project for Creative and Digital Industries. The Big House ran for 6 years, part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and featured a series of targeted, intense accelerator programmes for early stage, fast-growing and established SMEs.

Prof. Oxborrow also leads the operations and supply chain management subject group and lectures in supply chain management at undergraduate and postgraduate level. Her research interests focus on fashion industry supply chains and sustainable supply chain management, as well as the role of SMEs in the supply chain.

FFC: Jackie Cunningham

About Jackie Cunningham: Jackie Cunningham is Founder of Advanced Textile Solutions and Sew Jackie. After retiring from teaching A-Level Psychology, she discovered a passion for sewing during lockdown. What began as a creative outlet quickly evolved into a successful small business, sew jackie,  that continues to grow.

Jackie now specialises in designing and producing bespoke textile accessories, tailored for both independent retailers and companies seeking stylish, functional solutions. Her work is known for its quality and creativity, and she has built a strong reputation for excellence in the industry. 

One of Jackie’s proudest achievements is the design and manufacture of a groundbreaking wearable cap developed to fit inside a brain scanning helmet—an innovative project that combined comfort, function, and advanced application. Alongside this, she has also created saddle pads for racehorses and scrub caps for professionals in the catering and medical sectors, further showcasing the versatility of my textile solutions.

Programme

9:45-10:00: Registration

10:00: Event Start

10:15: Part 1: Women as inspiring and transformational leaders of change

11:45: Part 2: Sewing and Growing Businesses

12:30-onwards: Networking and Refreshment (we’ll provide drinks and you are welcome to bring your own lunch and stay and chat at front of house afterwards)

Location details

Address:

Dryden Enterprise Centre
Dryden Street
 Nottingham
 NG1 4FQ

Parking:

There is no onsite parking at the Dryden Enterprise Centre, and we encourage, wherever possible, that people access the building by walking, cycling, or using public transport.

The DEC is within Nottingham Trent University’s city campus.

We’re adjacent to the Dryden Centre and opposite the Bonington Gallery. Our location is highlighted by the NTU Enterprise pin. Map courtesy of Google.

If you’re using SatNav or Google Maps use the postcode NG1 4FQ to help find us.

Reserve your place

Still need help?

+44 (0)115 941 8418