Accelerate action: Supporting women founders to succeed
Event Details
Join us on Thursday 13 March 2025 for a dynamic International Women’s Day panel discussion on empowering women entrepreneurs to turn their visions into thriving businesses.
This session is designed for industry professionals, aspiring and established women founders, and anyone passionate about enabling gender equity in entrepreneurship.
Our expert panel will explore key topics, including:
- Getting started: Overcoming initial challenges and building a strong foundation.
- Securing investment: Navigating the funding landscape and pitching with confidence.
- Developing marketable ideas: Identifying opportunities, solving real-world problems, and validating your concept.
- Scaling up: Strategies for sustainable growth and managing the demands of expansion.
You will gain actionable advice, hear inspiring success stories, ask questions, and connect with like-minded individuals. Together, we’ll celebrate the achievements of women founders and explore how we can create a more inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystem.
Whether you’re launching your first business, scaling your latest venture, or supporting women who are, this event will leave you feeling inspired and equipped with the key information needed to succeed.
Hosted by Katie Richardson, Process Engineer at CPI and Chair of WiCPI (Women in CPI), our panel consists of:
1. Ellie Moir – Deputy Director, Darlington Leadership Team, HM Treasury
Ellie is currently a Deputy Director within the Strategy, Planning and Budget Group of HM Treasury with particular responsibility for the success of the Darlington Economic Campus. Prior to this, Ellie has undertaken a variety of Civil Service roles including;
- Head of Strategy within the Covid Taskforce, Cabinet Office
- Head of Business Management for the European Programmes, MHCLG
- Marine Planner, Marine Management Organisation
Ellie has spent the majority of her career in the North-East of England and prior to joining the Civil Service worked at Northumbria University and Tyne and Wear Museums.
2. Fozia Saleem – CEO of Magnitude Biosciences
Dr Fozia Saleem is the CEO of Magnitude Biosciences, one of the world’s leading contract research organisation (CRO) providing services to pharma, health and nutrition sectors for determining the effects of products on healthy ageing, longevity and neurodegeneration. Fozia has worked in the FMCG and pharmaceutical industry globally for 15+ years.
Born to first generation migrant parents who instilled in her the values of education and resilience, she’s no stranger to blazing her own trail as the first in her family to pursue higher education and obtaining a PhD in molecular physiology from the University of Edinburgh.
Fozia’s professional journey includes transformative leadership roles steering high growth commercial strategies, global product launches and orchestrating cross-functional restructures.
Beyond her role as CEO, Fozia is a fervent advocate for empowering women championing diversity, and catalyzing social change. Fozia co-chairs The Lifted Project – Newcastle Board which is committed to improving deal flow and regional ecosystems for high-growth female founders, and she recently appeared on the ‘We Are Power’ Future List 2024 and is passionate about levelling the playing field for women in business.
Zoe is co-founder and CEO of Change Bio. Change Bio is an engineering biology startup working toward a more circular economy by building a manufacturing platform for recombinant proteins, enabling the next wave of designed and discovered protein innovation. She holds a Master of Public Policy and an MBA from the University of Oxford.
Hannah focuses on building and maintaining relationships with CPI Enterprises’ partner investors, supporting early stage technology companies to secure private investment and managing CPI Enterprises’ investment portfolio. Previously she was Principal Solicitor at CPI, drafting and negotiating a variety of complex, high value contracts, including framework agreements, construction contracts, grant funding agreements and collaboration agreements.
She qualified as a lawyer in 2006 and, prior to joining CPI in 2015, she spent six years in private practice at an international law firm.