Global growth potential as AccelerateHER honours top trio

Three female entrepreneurs are celebrating after their businesses were recognised for having strong global growth potential in a key awards programme.

Left to right: Lina Gasiunaite of Biotangents, Corien Staels of Staels Design, Jackie Waring of Investing Women and Rachel Jones of SnapDragon. Picture: Sandy Young Photography

Rachel Jones of SnapDragon, Lina Gasiunaite of Biotangents and Corien Staels of Staels Design have grabbed top honours in the 2019 AccelerateHER Awards.

The three entrepreneurs, who emerged from a field of 68 applicants, secure a free place on trade missions to Dubai and Berlin where they have the opportunity to showcase their business and meet key industry contacts and investors.

Jackie Waring, chief executive of Investing Women, which runs the AccelerateHER Awards programme, said: “This year’s winners have succeeded within a very competitive field where we had our highest-ever number of applicants for scalable international businesses.

“Our winners are dynamic females who play a key leadership role in innovative companies with huge global growth investment potential.

“The forthcoming trade missions to Berlin and Dubai, where they have secured complementary places, will help them in achieving that aim.”

She added: “We continue to see a significant impact from the AccelerateHER Awards with finalists from the four years we’ve run the competition securing more than £11 million of investment since getting involved in the programme.”

This year’s programme also honoured Carla Brown, the founder and director of Game Doctor, with its “rising star” accolade.