Accelerate Progress
The business news that matters
Hello and welcome to the latest edition of Off to Lunch…
International Women’s Day 2024 is upon us. This year’s theme is “Invest in Women: Accelerate Progress.”
The day has arrived 24 hours after the abrupt exit of Marks & Spencer’s co-chief executive Katie Bickerstaffe, an announcement that leaves the retail giant with no female executive directors on its board.
With stories like this permeating throughout the corporate world, it’s enough to make you think (rightly) that progress is coming too slowly. But there’s one field where women are experiencing astronomical growth.
On April 15th 2015, Arsenal L.F.C won 2-0 against Bristol Academy in front of 811 people at Meadow Park in Borehamwood.
A few weeks ago, they sold out the Emirates Stadium for back-to-back games with victories over Manchester United and bitter rivals Tottenham.
Football isn’t the only sport the appetite for women’s sport is ratcheting up. England beat France in a Guinness Women’s Six Nations decider at Twickenham last April in front of a world-record crowd of 58,498.
Meanwhile, over 92,000 were in attendance to watch the University of Nebraska’s ‘Cornhuskers’ take on Omaha in a college volleyball game in September, which smashed the record attendance for a women’s sports event.
Stories like this are inspirational. Women’s sport has become a movement. This rapid growth in isolation is unprecedented and shows the success of taking inclusion seriously. Broadcasters and other stakeholders have helped to elevate women’s sport by making it more accessible and giving it a fair share of coverage and visibility.
Research from Women’s Sport Trust estimates that the average person in the UK watched 10 hours and 7 minutes of women’s sport in 2023, up from 2 hours and 27 minutes in 2020. As someone who was in the stands at Twickenham to watch the Red Roses beat the French to claim the Six Nations title last year, I look forward to racking up those hours throughout 2024.
Zara Nanu, our brilliant Business Leader Expert, has penned a special column for International Women’s Day. It looks at the critical role of childcare infrastructure and why change in this area is so important. You can read it here.
Other stories that matter…
1. A UK packaging and paper giant worth more than £10 billion is close to being created. Mondi has agreed a deal to buy rival DS Smith for £5.1 billion. The combined business would be the largest manufacturer of corrugated cardboard for packaging and boxes in Europe. You can find the statement by the companies here
2. Sir Richard Branson is in line to receive a windfall of more than £400 million if Nationwide’s proposed £2.9 billion takeover of Virgin Money goes ahead. Sir Richard’s Virgin Group owns 14.5 per cent of Virgin Money. Nationwide will also make royalty payments for using the Virgin name until it retires the Virgin Money brand, which it intends to do over the next six years. Virgin Money paid £17 million to use the Virgin name last year. You can read more on this here
3. The Economist has looked into the rise of nootropics, which rose to prominence following the 2011 Bradley Cooper film Limitless. These supplements claim to offer “an elevated state of health, mood or well-being” and are being promoted by new celebrity-backed companies. You can read this piece here
4. MPs on the treasury committee have recommended banning non-disclosure agreements that cover up sexual harassment. The recommendation is part of the parliamentary committee’s Sexism in the City inquiry. You can read more in a story by CityAM here and find the full report here
5. The next instalment of influencer boxing has been scheduled. 57-year-old former world champion Mike Tyson will fight social media star turned boxer Jake Paul on July 20. The bout will be streamed live on Netflix, marking another big step into live sports for the streaming giant. More from The New York Times here
Podcast…
The new episode of our Business Leader podcast looks at the story of how Ophelia Brown built Blossom Capital, a venture capital firm which has raised around $1 billion (£789 million) from investors since she launched it in the UK in 2018. Blossom is a rare success story - it is a female-led start-up and venture capital firm but is also thriving away from the traditional heart of this industry in Silicon Valley. Blossom uses the money it has raised to invest in promising businesses in Europe. We speak to Ophelia Brown about how she founded the business, raised the money, and what she has learned along the way.
You can listen to the episode on Substack here, Apple here and Spotify here
And finally…
This is a friendly reminder to all that Sunday is the day to celebrate all the mothers in your life. If you’re still in the market for the perfect gift, I’d recommend checking-out Reddit for a list of what not to get. You can find that list here. Corkers from this include a hand-drawn picture on the wall with a permanent marker and a toilet plunger…
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