Name: Speed Mentoring: Women in Business
Start: 2025-03-12T10:00:00+00:00
End: 2025-03-12T13:00:00+00:00
Location: British Library Business & IP Centre

Celebrating International Women’s Day – Connect and network with other like-minded individuals
About this Event

We are holding an event to celebrate and recognise women in business. This speed mentoring event, held at the British Library's Business & IP Centre, is part of our ongoing series.

This event is designed to give women a platform to share their entrepreneurial journeys and empower others through their experiences; our aim is to create a diverse and inclusive community that values and embraces the evolving cultural, economic, and political landscape of the UK. Growing your business doesn't have to be a painful process. Take this opportunity to gain advice from our trusted experts on how you can enter new markets, expand your business to new outlets and channels or develop your product or service range to reach new customers. Including building confidence and resilience, sustainability, and wellbeing.

Come and join some of our inspiring partners and colleagues as they share their experiences on navigating the world of business, these experts and sector leaders will also provide guidance and insider knowledge to help you succeed in your business endeavours.

Our mentors come from a variety of sectors, and their expertise includes:

Mentoring
Advice and guidance
Business start-up
Growth
Finance

Our expert mentors for this event comprise of:

Melissa Addey

Melissa Addey writes historical fiction set in Ancient Rome, medieval Morocco, and 18th century China. She is a fulltime self-published author and runs workshops for authors wanting to be entrepreneurial. Her books have been selected for Editor’s Choice by the Historical Novel Society and won the inaugural

Novel London award. She has been the Leverhulme Trust Writer in Residence at the British Library, has a PhD in Creative Writing and campaigns with the Alliance of Independent Authors who focus on ethics and excellence in self-publishing. She lives in London with her husband and two children.

If you’d like to try her writing, visit www.melissaaddey.com to pick up a free novella, The Cup.

Alison Lewy

Alison Lewy MBE is a fashion industry expert, mentor, author and founder of Fashion Angel, a fashion business accelerator that supports fashion entrepreneurs start and grow successful and sustainable businesses. Services include mentoring, workshops, and access to government Start-Up Loans.

Wunmi Odeyingbo and Seema Rampersad - Business & IP Centre Reference Team

Wunmi Odeyingbo is a Business & IP Specialists, and Seema Rampersad is the Business & IP Centre Service Manager in the Business & IP Centre at the British Library. They support customers with their reference, research needs and information for their businesses in the Centre and online. They present the Centre’s series of business and intellectual property workshop, and work on projects related to the Business & IP Centre and British Library initiatives. They worked with a diverse range of businesses from all sectors, especially helping those who are at a start-up and growth level.

Yemisi Mokuolu

Yemisi Mokuolu is an accomplished independent producer and creative business consultant working globally to support entrepreneurs realise their initiatives for social impact and cultural change. In 2003, Yemisi founded and ran ‘Out of Africa’ until 2010 to raise the profile of African arts and artists, which was hosted as monthly gigs and club-nights, as well as festivals hosted in public sites such as Carnaby Street and the riverside Southbank Centre. Today, Yemisi is the co-producer of AsaBaako – One Dance a five-day international music festival hosted annually in Ghana in March.

Sadia Ali

Sadia is a financial mentor and the founder of Wealth With Sadia, where she helps founders and CEOs take control of their finances, build sustainable wealth, and stop trading time for money. Running a business comes with financial highs and lows, and she works with entrepreneurs to create financial stability, smarter money management, and long-term wealth through stock market investing—so they’re not just relying on their business income alone.

Her approach goes beyond spreadsheets; she focuses on the psychology of money too, helping business owners break through limiting beliefs, master cash flow, and confidently grow their wealth. Having seen how financial uncertainty can lead to stress and burnout, she is passionate about ensuring entrepreneurs have a clear financial roadmap that supports both their business and personal wealth goals.

Winnie Akadjo

Winnie is a highly experienced entrepreneur with a successful track record spanning over 10 years in start-ups, venture capital, and e-commerce. She’s recently founded the LVS Hub, a strategy consulting agency helping e-commerce brands and retailers launch livestream and video shopping campaigns. Prior to founding LVS Hub, Winnie worked at TikTok and FARFETCH, where she led the development and launch of live and video shopping initiatives. She is also a strong advocate for single-mothers in society, and has been featured in the Evening Standard with her son talking about the challenges of childcare for young parents.