2022 International Women's Day at The House of Lords

International Women’s Day 2022 was a very memorable one for our optometrist, Dr. Valarie Jerome.

In recognition of her strong contribution to entrepreneurship, Valarie was among 100 impressive, multi-achieving female business owners, championed by Small Business Britain’s ƒ:Entrepreneur #ialso100 campaign  invited to attend a special International Women’s Day reception at the House of Lords earlier this month.  
 
“Meeting so many inspirational businesswomen who have set up and are running small businesses all over the UK in such a historic place was delightful.  After 2 years of so much uncertainty and sacrifice for small business owners, it was refreshing to celebrate coming out the other side of the pandemic with fellow entrepreneurs” explained Valarie.
 
The women enjoyed afternoon tea and networking in Westminster, meeting their peers from ƒ:Entrepreneur #ialso from both 2021 and 2022, as well as special guest speaker Labour MP Dr Rosena Allin-Khan, who paid tribute to the power of female entrepreneurship.

Dr. Jerome was named an ƒ:Entrepreneur #ialso100 in 2021, in recognition of her inspiring entrepreneurial journey, which has involved opening up her own independent opticians, Valarie Jerome Optometrists, in late 2019 and representing fellow optometrists from the South East of England on The Association of Optometrist Council.
 
Delivered by Small Business Britain – the leading champion of small businesses in the UK – f:Entrepreneur campaign was launched in 2017 to highlight the stories of amazing female business owners and to help provide inspiration and role models across the wider small business community.

Now in its fifth year, the campaign offers a host of events, training, and networking opportunities to boost skills, capability, and confidence.  Recent research carried out by the campaign this month found that, following the pandemic, nearly a fifth (17%) of women are considering entrepreneurship, with 44% of them citing pursuing a passion as a key motivator, alongside 46% wanting greater flexibility.

“To hear the incredible things that these women do, and the impact they are making, not just in their businesses but in their wider communities, is truly inspiring, and underlines that we must do everything we can to support them,” comments Michelle Ovens CBE, founder of Small Business Britain and the ƒ:Entrepreneur campaign.
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To see the full line-up of the 100 women featured in this year’s f:entrepreneur #ialso100 campaign visit https://f-entrepreneur.com/fentrepreneur-100/.