BUSINESS WOMAN AWARDS

Barbara Lax thought of the idea of Little Green House back in 2010, when she was looking for a childcare centre for her daughter. But she didn’t just want any old childcare centre; she wanted a childcare centre where her daughter could discover the world through fun activities and where she could play every day outside. A place where children and teachers embrace a sustainable lifestyle and are at one with nature. A place that also reflects the cosmopolitan side of the region and knows how to naturally adopt languages within this diverse environment. Finally, but just as important, a place that takes into account the needs and schedules of today’s professionally active parents, offers the necessary support and considers them as partners. In order to meet all these criteria, Barbara Lax then decided to create her own set-up, starting in Gland. And from that moment onwards, Little Green House has been growing.
 
This childcare centre is an ecological and innovative concept which supports the new generation of parents, who want to combine career and family as well as provide a solid base for the citizens of tomorrow.
 
Mrs Clicquot had to take over control of a company, while she was the mother of a 6-year-old girl. I am delighted to win the Veuve Clicquot Business Woman Award, so I could see the role I play in society in continuing to help women and men find a work-life balance

Jess and Bree met while working the same part time job at university. They bonded over a love of the internet and coffee. They created Willow & Blake originally as an online magazine, which led to freelance copywriting and eventually the establishment of the agency in 2011 (along with partner Erika Geraerts who has since left the business). Willow & Blake is responsible for developing creative ideas and content for brands such as Grill’d, Elle MacPherson Body and Pana Chocolate. 

Their second business, frank body, had a more serendipitous start. Jess and Bree’s co-founder, Steve, was working in his café when two women asked for coffee grinds to use as a body exfoliant. At the same time Jess and Bree were looking for a product they could market through social media. It was, according to the pair, the ‘Eureka’ moment. Not afraid of late nights or dirty work, Jess and Bree helped their co-founders Steve and Alex make the scrub by hand early on, however as the company grew, they were able to outsource manufacturing and focus on the marketing. Jess and Bree have used their social media savvy to create a global cult following for frank body; the brand now has 689,000 followers on Instagram.

A self-funded start up, frank body has sold over 2 million units in 141 countries and is continuing to expand. After generating rapid growth online the business has recently progressed into offline retail with Mecca Maxima in Australia and Urban Outfitters in the USA. The brand will continue to diversify sales channels and grow their online presence in their pursuit to take over bathrooms worldwide.

Both businesses have strong community platforms: Willow & Blake takes on two pro bono jobs per year, to the value of approximately 3% of annual revenue. frank body has supported numerous charities including Charity: Water, an NGO focused on clean and safe drinking water for people in developing countries and is excited to be partnering with Pink Hope in 2017. 

Jess and Bree were listed the #1 female entrepreneurs under 40 by Startup Daily in 2015 and Ernest & Young ‘Entrepreneurs of the Year’ in 2016.  

They credit coffee and a brilliant team for their ability to run two businesses. 

An entrepreneur of 23 years, Stéphanie Wismer Cassin prioritizes corporate social responsibility as a key principle for her business plan. After meeting a homeless business owner who had lost everything one Christmas Eve, her project was inspired and the first version of Biilink.com was born 7 years later. As the first social network dedicated to the Initiative, Mutual Aid and Entrepreneurship of female startups, it has proven wildly successful and filled a ready niche. Completely self-funded by the Jador group that Stéphanie is the head of, Biilink has created four national competitions and an assistance hotline as means to promote and support the cause. The initiative has qualified as a social and economic powerhouse, one of the most effective in history.
Having mentored and followed more than 1,000 projects, one theme is overriding: it is the corporate marketing phase which is the main obstacle to stop new startups from fluorishing.
In May 2015, Stéphanie decided to evolve Biilink into MarketPlace; its international economic focus continues on behalf of female entrepreneurship through dedicated competitions and conferences.

www.biilink.com

Teresa Kemppi-Vasama is the Executive Chairman of the Board of Kemppi Oy, a world-leading manufacturer of arc welding equipment and a provider of solutions for highly productive welding. In addition, Kemppi-Vasama has been on the board of Kemppi Oy’s parent company and worked in operative positions at Kemppi between the years 2009-2014 as a strategy and business development manager.

Growth into leadership
Master of Political Science (M.Pol.Sc., social psychology) and MBA Teresa Kemppi-Vasama has led a long and versatile career in developmental and leadership positions also outside of Kemppi.
She began her career elsewhere. After graduating from the University of Helsinki, she worked at Accenture for about a year. After this, Kemppi-Vasama was at the Finnish Red Cross for eleven years, where after first working with diverse developmental tasks she finally made her way into the executive group of the organization, where she was in charge of development as well as organization, youth and first aid activities for several years. Kemppi-Vasama describes this as a period in her life during which she grew from a professional planner to a leader. A part of her journey towards becoming a leader was an MBA diploma from Henley, which Kemppi-Vasama accomplished in 2010.

Move to the family business
In the year 2009, Kemppi-Vasama felt the time was ripe to fully move on to Kemppi Oy. Behind this decision was a long-awaited transfer to the next generation, as well as a will to continue the business that her grandfather had started. She was well acquainted with the family business through her work at the board, and accrued operational experienc in the world of welding through four years as a developmental manager at the company. During this time she immersed herself in the customers’ world, for instance, by conducting ethnographic client studies for product development purposes, and so was able to approach more social psychological projects in a technological company than ever before in her career.

In March of 2014, Teresa Kemppi-Vasama was elected Chairman of the Board of Kemppi Oy, and Antti Kemppi, her cousin, as Chairman of the Board of Kemppi Group Oy, the parent company of Kemppi Oy. These elections brought to closure the long process of a generational transition. Together, the cousins have reformed the board of Kemppi over the past year, and are currently in the process of developing long-term growth and ownership strategies. In her new role, Kemppi-Vasama has begun to systematize and modernize the work of the board. She often meets with clients, and together with the board and CEO, is developing the welding business of the company as well as its strategy, future, and leadership.

Being part of a family business involves a lot of human values that motivate Kemppi-Vasama. By providing employment and developing operations a lot of good can be done. For example, Kemppi has a wide educational cooperation program, and the company is a founding member of both the Design Foundation Finland and the Lake Vesijärvi Foundation.

Kemppi-Vasama is also Chairman of the Board of Svenska Handelsbanken, Lahti and the Industrial Society of Lahti, a member of the representative assembly of the Lake Vesijärvi Foundation as well as a member of the election committee of the Association of Family Companies. She is also Chairman of the Board of investment companies Kemppi-Yhtiöt Oy and Auro Invest Oy.

Stacey Brewer believes that improving the state and esteem of education in South Africa will guarantee the global success of this country and create a prosperous future for all South Africans.

After completing her Bachelor of Science at Rhodes University, Stacey won a scholarship for the entrepreneurship MBA programme at the Gordon Institute of Business Science. There, Stacey channeled her investment in educational improvement into her thesis, which focused on a sustainable financial model for low-fee private schools in South Africa. This research served as the foundation for the establishment of eAdvance and SPARK Schools.

Stacey has been recognized as the Elle Boss 2015, Mail and Guardian Top 200 South Africans in 2014 and is also a Mandela Washington Fellow, which is Barack Obama’s flagship fellowship. Stacey graduated with cum laude and received the award for top student achievement in her class during her MBA.

Danny Hollestelle was born on July 5, 1975 in Goes in Zeeland.
After high school, she studied Commercial Engineering at the University of Applied Sciences of Vlissingen in Zeeland. During that time, she completed a four-month internship in Nova Scotia, Canada. After completing her Bachelor studies in 1997, she pursued the Intensive Doctoral Program Business Administration at Nyenrode Business University for 16 months and completed it successfully. Following these two studies, she started working at DAF Trucks in Eindhoven in the Strategic Procurement department.

During a tour around the world in 2001, she was commissioned by Wilkore in Melbourne, Australia, to perform market research in the field of automated container storage. A few years later, this led to Royal Hollestelle, her current company, realizing a successful container crane project for the largest storage facility in Sydney. The beginning of a great career.After returning in 2002, Danny joined her family business, Royal Hollestelle, where her father, Jan Hollestelle, held control. At Royal Hollestelle, she went through various departments and got to know all facets of the business. As manager of the two production companies Hollestelle Cranes Engineering and Hollestelle Construction, Danny gained invaluable knowledge and experience in customer management, leadership and quality management. This was the moment Danny realized her true goal and was sure this was what she wanted:to take control ofRoyal Hollestelle. She took charge of the entire business and in 2007 she followed her father as both managing director and sole owner of Royal Hollestelle.
Danny is the sixth generation at the helm of the family business.
 

In front of 200 of the country’s young business leaders, Sarah Sammon, Co-Founder of Simply Rose Petals, was announced as the inaugural Australian winner of the Veuve Clicquot New Generation Award.

Sarah Sammon was chosen by the panel of judges as the young female entrepreneur who best reflects Madame Clicquot’s values of innovation, audacity and fearlessness. Like Madame Clicquot, Sarah met challenge with innovation, overcoming a disease that plagued her and her mother’s cut flower rose farm by creating Australia’s first rose petal farm, a thriving agri-business that now exports across the globe. She was selected from a strong field of finalists: Jodie Fox, Director of Fashion and Co-Founder, Shoes of Prey; Emma Isaacs, CEO and Founder, Business Chicks; Aimee Marks, CEO and Founder, TOM Organic; and Tina Tower, CEO and Founder, Begin Bright.

As the winner of the Veuve Clicquot New Generation Award, Sarah Sammon receives a trophy, a bottle of Veuve Clicquot La Grande Dame, and a trip to France in October 2016, where she will join the Veuve Clicquot International Business Woman Forum and visit the Manoir de Verzy and the House’s vineyards in Reims. There she will have a vine baptised in her name, recognising her legacy and lifelong relationship with Veuve Clicquot.

Emily's business tackles the most common cause of cyclist fatality, which is being caught in the blind spot, or vehicles turning across an unseen bike. Its flagship product, the Laserlight, is a front facing white light (required by law) but it also has a green laser, which projects the symbol of a bike down onto the road in front of the cyclist. It increases the footprint of the bike, alerting drivers ahead of its presence and preventing them turning across its path. 
The Veuve Clicquot New Generation Award was set up to celebrate up and coming female entrepreneurial talent in the UK who show a genuine commitment to responsible and sustainable business practices whilst optimising a gap in today's market. Emily was recognized for creating a product that has the potential to drastically improve cyclist safety and decrease the 3,000 cyclist killed or seriously injured on Britain's roads today. 
Emily began reading Physics at Oxford University but left to pursue design in Brighton and Milan, before winning an entrepreneurial scholarship in America. At university as part of her final year project, Emily created the Laserlight concept and started her own company, Blaze, to make it a reality. Two years on and after a successful Kickstarter campaign, Blaze have a team based in East London, manufacturing in China, have raised money from the likes of the Branson Family and Index Ventures and their flagship product the Laserlight is shipping to 50 different countries around the world. It is the first of a range of products for urban cyclists from Blaze.
As well as helping a cyclist to be seen when they are otherwise invisible, the Laserlight is a beautiful piece of design. It has diamond cut, aircraft-grade, aluminium casings that are fully waterproof (the most common cause of bike light failure), has a backlit control panel and is magnetically charged by USB. 

Emily Brook upon receiving her Veuve Clicquot New Generation Award, said:
“It has been a whirlwind couple of years for Blaze. I have never had a job before, let alone manufactured, distributed, marketed, built a brand, grown a team, raised money, etc. But I feel incredibly fortunate to be in a position to learn every single day and to be realising my own dream. Winning the Veuve Clicquot New Generation Award means a huge amount to me and I am sincerely humbled. The award acts as a very special, personal acknowledgement and moment to stop and celebrate.”

Graduated with a Masters in Management from EM Lyon, Alice joined the Silicon Sentier Association in 2008 to begin a sort of incubator for art and technology in the 104. Vastly traveled, she continues to discover and nurture various innovative digital ecosystems. In 2010, she launched The Camping by Silicon Sentier, the first startup accelerator in France.
With a 3% return on capital, TheFamily offers a complete infrastructure built around three central axes: education, benefits and capital. According to TheFamily, “education” is the key to success for the new generation of entrepreneurs; that is why they passionately come from around the world to come and share their experience. The “benefits” are the set of tools that facilitate the daily life of startups, from lawyers to service to designers. And finally, the “capital” is indispensable because it is what makes the world go round! TheFamily together form a union of "Godfathers" – investors willing to invest when a startup is ready. 
Among its many investors is included funds such as Index Ventures, ID Invest or White Stars Capital, but also big entrepreneurs like Frederic Mazzella of BlaBlaCar or Frederic Montagnon of Overblog. The company now serves more than 300 startups and is currently working on developing itself in southern Europe as well. 

www.thefamily.co

Vivienne van Eijkelenborg was born on 8 december 1967 into a family of entrepreneurs. After completing her degree in Business Administration from the University of Groningen, Vivienne started working as Category Lead and Product Manager for several retailers. After several years of hands on practical experience Vivienne decided to use her knowledge and experience for the family business.

In 1997 she started at Difrax, the company founded in 1967 by her parents. In 1999 Vivienne took over the company from her parents and she transformed Difrax into a premium A-brand with its own product development and an international focus.

These days Difrax is known as the innovative and modern baby brand and it is the first choice of many young parents. Difrax is the Dutch market leader for baby bottles (41%) and soothers (51%). Over the past few years, Difrax has earned a respectable international reputation for developing and launching ground-breaking, award-winning products. Innovative design has proven to be one of the key success factors. Difrax is global active and its product range can be found in specialist baby shops, pharmacies, department stores and also via difrax.com. Difrax equals Passion, Innovation and Happy Growth!

Vivienne has worked closely together with child doctors in the field and developed fairy- coaching and guiding books. Difrax also feels for less fortunate children in other countries and supports national and international initiatives such as the Dutch organisation “Gezond Geboren”, Free a Girl and the Keith Haring Foundation.

Besides the passion for her work at Difrax , Vivienne is very active within other organizations. She is the President of the World Association of Manufacturers of Bottles and Teats. Since July 2015 Vivienne is the president of the Dutch chapter of the Entrepreneurs Organization, an international platform for entrepreneurs’ with membership of over 14.000 entrepreneurs. Her mission is to support female entrepreneurs to successfully build their business.“ I saw two major challenges for Difrax: to develop even better products and to create new cross-border opportunities. I became captivated by the possibilities in the baby products industry and that hasn’t changed since.”

Eat Fit Food’s Founder Bianca Monley is a successful businesswoman, entrepreneur and a health-foodie dedicated to changing people’s lives. Originally from Wanaka New Zealand, Bianca moved to Sydney in 2000 armed with a passion for health, motivation for business and vast knowledge of food, thanks largely to a childhood spent around her parents’ restaurant.
 
In 2002, at just 22 years of age, Bianca launched Eat Fit Food, a one-woman show operating from her tiny apartment kitchen in Bondi. Twelve years on, Eat Fit Food has evolved into a highly respected health food home delivery business, complete with a team of chefs, nutritionists and health experts, delivering across Sydney and Melbourne with plans to expand nationwide.
 
Established before the health food industry boom, Bianca blazed the health-conscious trail and cemented Eat Fit Food’s status as a trusted luxury health brand designed to support optimal health and weight loss. With an extensive cast of Eat Fit Foodie followers such as Hugh Jackman, Miranda Kerr, Rachael Finch, and Lindy and Michael Klim, Bianca is recognised as the go-to person when stars are in town to ensure their nutritional needs are met.
 
Having recently bought a property in The Southern Highlands, Bianca plans to farm and grow organic produce to introduce into Eat Fit Food’s daily meals, in order to deliver a true paddock-to-plate experience.