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To celebrate International Women’s Day, MSDUK held a prestigious reception in London on 4^th March.

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Over 60 MSDUK corporate members, ethnic minority businesses and strategic partners attended Celebrating Women of Colour, hosted by Baroness Lorely Burt of Solihull, Liberal Democrat Peer and spokeswoman for women and equalities.

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An impressive panel of high-profile female entrepreneurs participated in a lively and inspiring discussion about the successes, challenges and the opportunities faced by ethnic minority women in business.

(From left to right) Olivia Ahn, Alecia Esson, Reshma Sheikh, Farida Gibbs, Nisha Parmar

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The 5 panellists from different ethnicities and industry sectors across the UK were:

• Farida Gibbs, CEO, Gibbs Hybrid
• Reshma Sheikh, Managing Director, Octavian
• Alecia Esson, Co-founder, NXSteps
• Olivia Ahn, Co-founder, Polipop
• Nisha Parmar, Private Chef & Food Consultant / Semi-finalist, MasterChef 2018

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During the introduction, Barbara Armstrong, Head of Membership and Business Engagement, outlined some of the challenges facing women of colour and shared a quote from Dr Hade Turkmen’s 2019 study – Barriers to BAME Women Participating in the Economy:

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“They talk about a glass ceiling for women.  I talk about a triple glazed, black glass ceiling which is even more difficult for ethnic minority women to break through.”