The effects of climate change impact women more than they do men, as they constitute the majority of the world’s poor and they are more likely to depend on climate-threatened natural resources for work.

To coincide with Gender Equity day at COP26, join us at The Conduit with the WealthiHer Network to engage with a panel of experts discussing the sustainable and responsible investments that are capable of addressing climate challenges and transforming female financial futures.

Two all-female panels of thought-leaders will speak to a range of finance and sustainability-related issues, including: the central role of business and finance in achieving the SDGs; empowering women by closing the financial gender gap; and showcasing the latest innovations and ideas that constitute financial inclusion in action.

Keynote speakers include: 

•          Lucie Siegle (BBC Journalist)

•          Sian Sutherland (Founder of A Plastic Planet)

•          Julia Zhou (Co-founder, Tidal Impact)

•          Manda Lakhani (CEO, The Hunger Project)

•          Bethel Kyeza (Girl Up London Coalition Co-President)

•          Cath Dovey (Co-Founder, Philanthropy Collaborative)

•          Sophie Ward (Head of Charity, HSBC)

•          Tamara Gillan, Founder of the WealthiHer Network and Conduit Impact Champion

This event is aligned with WealthiHer’s mission to equip women with the inspiration, knowledge, and networks they need to advance and to transform the financial and professional services industry to better enable women.

Speakers :

Lucy Siegle is a journalist, broadcaster, and author specialising in climate, environment, and nature stories. She has long been reporting on the single-use plastic problem, and on wider ecological issues, as a presenter/reporter on BBC1’s The One Show. Lucy is also known as an authority on the environmental and social footprint of the global fashion industry. Her book To Die For: Is Fashion Wearing out the World was the basis for hit Netflix documentary, The True Cost, for which Lucy was co-executive producer. Lucy co-hosts the popular podcast So Hot Right Now and has interviewed many natural world heroes, including Sir David Attenborough, Mary Robinson, Ellie Goulding, and Christiana Figueres. In 2014, she co-founded the Green Carpet Challenge with Livia Firth and founded The Observer’s Ethical Awards, and in 2018, she wrote Turning the Tide on Plastic: How Humanity (And You) Can Make Our Globe Clean Again. In September 2020, Lucy was announced as head judge for ‘Our Planet’, the very first dedicated power list devoted to acknowledging women who are making a significant positive contribution to the environment or sustainability of the planet, run by BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour. She is a trustee for the environmental NGO Surfers Against Sewage and chair of the Real Circularity Coalition, spearheading the change to a real circular economy.

Tamara Gillan is an experienced entrepreneur and Chief Executive, having founded and run two independent, successful and award-winning marketing agencies over the past 15 years. She is a champion of diversity, female empowerment, and a natural-born collaborator. As a single mother and non-UK national (arriving on her own from New Zealand at the age of 24) Tamara has had to fight for her own success and passionately believes women deserve to be recognised and championed by the financial sector. In 2018, Tamara founded The WealthiHer Network UK, which brings together the UK’s leading financial institutions to work in partnership to celebrate and support female wealth. As CEO of marketing agency Cherry London, Tamara is the driving force behind their unique and highly-effective collaborative approach to marketing and business solutions, attracting leading brands such as O2, Jaguar Land Rover, Canon Europe, Aviva, HSBC, and The Premier League. Tamara is change-agent whether for the businesses she consults, or wider society through her female led initiatives like WealthiHer. She is a Conduit Impact Champion. She has been a Make Your Mark ambassador for young women, supporter of mothers2mothers, and sits on the advisory committee for Foreign Sisters. She is a highly regarded contributor to the industry and speaker having spoken at many events over the years on the importance of diversity and inclusion, female entrepreneurship, and on the unique power of partnerships and collaboration.

Sian Sutherland is Co-Founder of campaign group A Plastic Planet. The campaign has a single mission – a Plastic Free Aisle in supermarkets. Sian is also a serial entrepreneur with a varied background in advertising, Michelin Star restaurants , film production and brand creation design agencies. In 2005 she created Mama Mio, with her 3 partners, the first premium pregnancy skincare range and in 2014 launched Mio, again creating a new niche in a saturated market – delivering skin fitness to active women. She is often asked to speak about female empowerment, entrepreneurship and how to build positive, passionate, responsible brands people really connect to.

Julia Zhou is an entrepreneur and community builder who is passionate about innovation, meaningful relationships and impact. She is the co-founder of Tidal Impact, an impact investment holding firm catalyzing companies that prioritize social, environmental and financial returns through a series of special purpose vehicles. Previously, Julia co-founded Emplow, an HR-Tech startup, that later merged with the company Vyou which combines psychology and data science to produce insights to increase team performance.

Manda Lakhani As a business consultant working across various fields including marketing and finance, Manda has led teams in companies such as Harwell Atomic Energy Authority, Prudential, Hill Samuel and Nomura Asset Management. Manda gave up her corporate life to focus on her family and during this time ran a successful health and wellness business with a team of over 30 women, whilst simultaneously raising a considerable amount of money for numerous charities. Manda joined the Board of Trustees of The Hunger Project UK in 2018. She is also an Unleashed Women Ambassador, focused on empowering women in the workplace to step up, make a positive change and feel confident about maximising their limitless potential.As a business consultant working across various fields including marketing and finance, Manda Lakhani has led teams in companies such as Harwell Atomic Energy Authority, Prudential, Hill Samuel and Nomura Asset Management. Manda gave up her corporate life to focus on her family and during this time ran a successful health and wellness business with a team of over 30 women, whilst simultaneously raising a considerable amount of money for numerous charities. Manda joined the Board of Trustees of The Hunger Project UK in 2018. She is also an Unleashed Women Ambassador, focused on empowering women in the workplace to step up, make a positive change and feel confident about maximising their limitless potential.

Bethel Kyeza is an 19-year-old gender equality and equity activist from the United Kingdom. Bethel is passionate about women’s rights, politics, global development, and intersectional feminism and some of her interests also include film-making and public speaking. She was part of the 2019-2020 class of Girl Up teen advisors and is currently working against human trafficking and with the United Nations girls’ education Initiative to transform education. Bethel hopes to focus on global and political development and work with children who don’t have access to education, children who are exposed to child marriage and be a positive impact on the current and next generation.

Cath Dovey is a co-founder of the Beacon Collaborative and is the lead coordinator for a number of the activities. Formerly a co-founder of Scorpio Partnership, the global wealth management strategy and research firm, she led the firm’s high-net-worth and strategy research capabilities for two decades. In the field of philanthropy, Cath headed Scorpio Partnership’s global research work with major donors, family givers and family foundations. Cath chairs Rosa, the UK fund for women and girls, and is a trustee of Philanthropy Impact.

Sophie Ward runs the Charities & Education team at HSBC Private Banking. Her focus is working with charitable organisations & families on their investments & philanthropic giving, including how to weave sustainable investments & ethical requirements into portfolios.

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