AccelerateAction

Businesswomen across Coventry and Warwickshire have been encouraged to advocate for themselves and support other females to progress at a powerful event which celebrated inclusivity.

Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce held its latest Women in Business event to celebrate International Women’s Day, which this year had a theme of #AccelerateAction to stress the importance of taking swift and decisive steps to achieve gender equality.

Delegates were welcomed to Ettington Park Hotel, in Stratford, and heard from guest speakers Deeksha Sampath, Technology Transfer Engineer at WMG, at the University of Warwick, and Tina Costello OBE, Chief Executive of Heart of England Community Foundation, who gave an insight into the challenges they have overcome both personally and professionally.

Deeksha, who moved to the UK from India five years ago and has a background in mechanical engineering, was recognised as one of the UK’s Top 50 Women in Engineering by the Women’s Engineering Society in 2024.

She spoke about the top five lessons she has learnt as a woman in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) and how she has progressed – despite not always having the belief of her superiors as a female in the industry – to work with global names including JLR and Polestar.

Deeksha also told delegates how women make up just 25 per cent of those working in STEM – with 40 per cent leaving the profession after childbirth.

She said: “I have made mistakes, doubted myself and undersold my work, but you have to remember that everyone starts somewhere, and advocating for yourself is so incredibly important.

“It’s not always what you bring to the table in that moment, it’s also about what you can bring in the future.

“I always knew I wanted to work in STEM. My mother is one of my biggest role models – she is a working mother and always told me that it doesn’t matter what the world tells you to do, you do what you want to, which was incredibly inspiring growing up and helped me get where I am today.”

Tina joined regional grant-making organisation Heart of England Community Foundation in 2006 as deputy director for grant making before moving into the role as chief executive in 2013.

She told delegates about how she went from leaving school with a handful of O-Levels to heading up the Foundation and being awarded an OBE last year for her services to Charity and Voluntary Organisations, and gave an honest account of some of the barriers she has overcome in her life.

Tina also expressed her passion for championing the rights of women and girls, including launching a specific women and girls fund which has raised £100,000.

She said: “There are significant barriers to gender equality, but I think if everyone takes small positive steps we can continue to progress.

“We should all celebrate what we have achieved, and celebrate and champion others and their achievements.

“So for me, accelerating action is continuing to fund the amazing grassroots initiatives on the ground to help women and girls every day, and I will continue to champion women and girls across our region going forwards.”

Keely Hancox, Head of Operations at Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce, added: “Our latest Women in Business event was a fantastic opportunity to come together and celebrate each other while also having some important conversations about the need for gender equality.

“We heard from two incredibly inspirational speakers who gave us an insight into their lives and their amazing achievements, and discussed what steps we can all take to support and champion others.

“I would like to thank our speakers, delegates and Ettington Park Hotel for helping to make it such an inspirational and powerful event.”

Anyone who would like to raise any issues pertinent to Women In Business and/or would like to suggest any topics for a forthcoming Women In Business event can email Keely directly at keelyh@cw-chamber.co.uk.