ventures > ventures I have been involved in founding

These are outlined below:

Co-founder of www.hagsharlotsheroines.com, a creative writing site celebrating herstory, which seeks to celebrate and strengthen feminist writing (fiction and non-fiction). The site was launched on International Women's Day 2003 on the sweat equity of its founders, small scale investment from Genderquake Limited, and all the learning from my previous digital ventures. You can find out more about the site by visiting www.hagsharlotsheroines.com;

Helen and her company, Genderquake Limited were key delivery partners in the founding and successful launch of www.ourpartnership.org.uk. This project was a joint venture with the Cabinet Office, CMPS, and the National Council for voluntary Organisations. It was initiated in Autumn 2001 and went live on the web early 2002. Genderquake Limited was a key delivery partner in both development phases, supplying in ideas generation, strategy development, project management of website and content, incubation and development services to see it through to successful mainstreaming within NCVO to take the project forward to sustainability in Summer 2004. In this capacity Helen also led in developing the successful second stage funding bid which raised £360,000 follow on funding for the project;

Helen (through her consultancy Genderquake Limited) was the founder of the Child Care Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2003 in partnership with Kids Clubs Network, now www.4Children.org.uk. The idea for the award developed out of the report, Creche Barriers, published in 2002. As the lead child care organisation with its own Excellence in Child Care Awards, Genderquake Limited partnered with Kids Clubs Network, now 4Children to celebrate the work of child care entrepreneurs, and put the issue of entrepreneurship in the child care sector on the national agenda;

Genderquake Limited - this ideas consultancy was founded in Summer 2001 by Helen. Laura Wilkinson, Helen's sister, joined in Spring 2004 to develop its creative services, specifically targeting ideas entrepreneurs, the self-employed, small business as well as charities and social enterprises. You can visit our site www.genderquake.com to find out more about what we do;

Helen was the founder of elancentric.com Limited, a dot com for elancers at the cutting edge of the new economy. The company was founded in April 2000, thanks to half a million pounds seen investment from an internet incubator. Soon after, internet stocks began to freefall. It was selected as one of the top ten internet start ups 2001 for its vision of an electronic trading platform for elancers. In many ways, elancentric was an idea slightly ahead of its time - and certainly the venture capital market. We failed to secure venture capital investment in the necessary timeframe, and after Spring 2001, the company operated at its lowest level in the hope that market conditions would turn, and the enterprise could be revitalised with follow on funding. This did not happen and the company was dissolved in Spring 2004, four years after its inception. You can read the 'elancentric' story and the lessons I learnt from two speeches I gave during its dying days, and you can also read about the lessons I drew from this practical experience for policy makers seeking to encourage women entrepreneurs in the new economy in my report, Dot Bombshell - Women and the New Economy;

Helen was a founding member of the think tank, Demos. Demos rapidly acquired a reputation as one of Britain's leading think tanks, with an international impact. As one of its pioneering members, Helen joined as Project Director to help grow its capacity in policy and trend based research projects, and communications. During her period there, Helen raised over half a million pounds for the organisation, staff numbers more than quadrupled, and Helen was part of the senior management team which built capacity internally as well as pioneering a number of flagship projects including the first major cost-benefit analysis of parental leave, as well as publishing prolifically and widely. She became one of its spokesperson and a well known commentator known for spotting trends, and policy issues - from ladettes and binge drinking, time squeeze and work-life issues, the need for father friendly policies, and made the case for parental leave well ahead of time. She left the organisation in Spring 1999, and became a member of its Advisory Council, following her sabbatical in the States;