Inspirational Women Lead the Way at International Women’s Day ‘Moreton Means Business®’ Conference

Moreton Sixth

This year’s International Women’s Day on Wednesday, 8th March was an opportunity for all of Upper Four to join GCSE Business pupils, A Level Business and Economics students and members of the Moreton Enterprises team to celebrate the day, hearing from a range of speakers and collaborating on a business task. Visiting speakers brought together for us by Victoria Price, a EY Tax Partner and UK Private Client Service Leader who heads the UK and Ireland private client tax team within EY Private, included Nina Barbour, Owner and Managing Director of the Bolesworth Estate, Hayley Roberts, CEO of IT and Technology company ‘Distology’, Khadijah Youssouf and Jessica Spencer from EY.

Opening the event, Victoria’s keynote address gave the delegates insights into her own career journey from studying as a teenage mother to becoming one of the most influential women in one of the ‘big four’ finance companies. Whilst highlighting how far women had come, Victoria was clear that there is still a long way to go before women are fully equal partners in every level in the workplace. She reminded the girls of the importance of being allies, supporting each other in their aspirations and goals.

Working in mixed year groups and mentored by the team, the delegates were then given a real life scenario: a country estate needed to diversify and wanted to hear pitches from potential investors. The scenario was modelled on the real life experience of Nina Barbour who on taking over the reins of the Bolesworth Estate has transformed a thriving dairy business into a leading events venue, not least with Bolesworth International, a world-class equestrian event which includes live music, entertainment and artisan shopping.

A member of the winning team, Jemima (Upper Sixth) explained their approach: “We sat as a group and discussed ideas for the Langton Estate, eg, wedding venue, hotel, museum/open house. However, the case study stated that the cost of maintenance for this estate was high. Then a younger member of our team suggested an escape room and we all agreed, this was a unique and distinctive idea, and named it LOST IN LANGTON. We decided we would only need a small bank loan to set up our business as we were going to use the natural rundown look of the 200 year old house to create a spooky escape room atmosphere for the customers. To make use of the 150 acre grounds we decided to add features such as maze and trails for customers to escape from. Our strap line would be ‘One step closer to your freedom with every clue’. We were delighted when our pitch was chosen. As sixth formers, we felt we bonded with girls in the years below, using our A Level business skills and their ideas to work as a team to create an innovative idea.”

The final session of the morning was a series of conversations with each of the visiting team chaired by Victoria. Each shared unique insights into their experiences both as professional women. Nina and Hayley compared the experiences of running a family business and an international tech company. Khajida and Jess talked about their experiences of the EY graduate programme and the EY apprenticeship programme. All five of the panel then took questions from the girls and more insights were shared.

Reflecting on the morning, the girls had many takeaways. Emily (Upper Four) said: “It was good to hear that it is okay to fail, as long as you learn from your mistakes!” and Eve (Upper Four) added: “I enjoyed hearing the life stories of all the different women. Everyone’s different so we don’t all need to do everything the same way.” Holly (Lower Sixth) commented: “I really liked Victoria’s advice that as women we should be allies. In a world where everything seems to be a competition, the message about celebrating and supporting each other was really powerful.” Tarryn (Upper Sixth) added: “It was an amazing opportunity to hear from such impressive women in a corporate environment. I especially enjoyed finding out what adversities they overcame to get to their position; their advice was invaluable: passion is everything.” A sentiment shared by Dunni (Upper Sixth): “It was a testament to how far women have come in the world of business and a reminder to keep fighting for our seat at the table.”

Everyone agreed that we had celebrated International Women’s Day in style and that here, Moreton Means Business®!