Celebrating International Women’s Day 2023

Today, 8 March, is International Women’s Day, a global celebration of the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women.

At the Growth Company, we’re proud to champion women all year round and so we’re highlighting some of the activities from across the Growth Company that place women at the forefront and our inspirational colleagues who are making a positive difference.

‘Own your Career this Year’ - EDI Women’s Network

In January, our EDI Women’s Network kicked off the new year with their ‘Own your Career This Year’ event, designed to motivate and support women on a mission to have their best career year yet.

The event provided the tools to master self-reflection and sparked interesting discussions on the barriers to success for women in the workplace.

Female Business Leaders Panel - GC Business Growth Hub

GC Business Growth Hub brought together current and future female leaders and founders from Oldham for a BGH Match event at Oldham Athletic Football Club for a networking session and panel discussion.

The panel was hosted by Ilona Alcock, Co-Founder of Elevate, and included Amanda Chadderton, Leader of Oldham Council, Steph Scholes, Co-Founder and Sales Director at Needi, Leanne Holmes Kane, Managing Director of Crane Payment Innovations, and Dr Rufzan Bibi, Founder of Bittersweet.

Panellists shared their own experiences as leading women in their fields, talking about the challenges they have faced and how they have overcome them, and shared their advice for the younger generations.

The uplifting event championed women working together and understanding their own strengths - “remember if you’re having to prove yourself twice as much, you’re already twice as good.” Amanda Chadderton, Leader of Oldham Council

We were also delighted to welcome students from The Blue Coat School Sixth Form, Oasis Academy Oldham, Saddleworth School and Newman Catholic College.

Inspirational learners - GC Education and Skills

The team at GC Education and Skills caught up with SkillCentre learner and Finishes and Interiors Sector (FIS) Training Awards Student of the Year Anna Belle to find out how she’s been getting on after her award win.

After being made redundant, Anna decided to pursue a career change and began to work towards her dream role as a Health and Safety Executive. Anna now has 26 qualifications under her belt and is working as a Risk Assessment and Compliance Officer, utilising all the skills she has gained on her programmes with us so far.

She shared her personal experiences as a woman trying to enter the construction industry, the challenges she has faced and how she is overcoming them.

Anna said: “The challenges that I face currently unfortunately are just being female, trying to get in the door at the moment against men with the same qualifications is quite difficult. Even though times have changed they’ve not changed that much.

“I’m passionate to help other women come through the construction field because I know how difficult it can be. I was made redundant over eight years ago so for me to retrain and come into this field completely from scratch was very very difficult, I’m not going to lie and say it wasn’t, but if you know what you want to do and you know where you want to go, there will be support and courses to get you through to that avenue.”

To hear more of Anna’s story, watch her full interview.

Visit the website to read about more of GC Education and Skills award-winning and trailblazing women from the past year.

United for Ukraine

Our key workers from the United for Ukraine initiative, Marianna Vaszilyiv and Okszana Nepijvoda, will be attending several events to share how their role in the initiative has made it a success and how it’s making a difference in the community.

Marianna will be speaking about how United for Ukraine is embracing equity; sharing stories of people they’ve helped through the program and how people can get involved to create impact with United for Ukraine.

Marianna Vaszilyiv said: “It’s an honour for us to be invited to Northwest Leaders Lunch this week on 10 March. We believe that our program is truly making difference - and we’ll be happy to explain how we’ve helped make that happen.

“On 20 March we’ll be attending Northern Power Women Awards 2023 which constitute the largest celebration of gender equality in Europe and celebrates the forward-thinking individuals and organisations who strive to create greater gender balance within their communities. We feel proud to be invited and feel a part of the community of women of the North, empowering, resilient and inspiring.”

Janine Smith - Northern Power Women List

Janine Smith, Director of the GC Business Growth Hub, was featured on the Northern Power Women Awards 2023 Power List.

“I am absolutely delighted to make it onto the Northern Power Women Awards 2023 Power List alongside many friends and collaborators from across the North.” - Janine Smith, Director of GC Business Growth Hub

Northern Power Women Awards are Europe’s largest awards championing gender equality, their yearly Power List celebrates individuals who challenge the norm and use their influence and power for good.