Worcestershire entrepreneur one of 2024’s most impressive female founders
Rhea Freeman from Worcestershire has been crowned one of the UK’s most impressive female entrepreneurs by Small Business Britain’s ‘f:Entrepreneur #IAlso100’ campaign.
Rhea, who founded her business to support small businesses in growing, promoting themselves better, and achieving their goals through coaching and mentoring, is being profiled among 100 inspirational female entrepreneurs from across the country, as part of the campaign to celebrate the multi-achievements of women running businesses in the UK today.
Other female entrepreneurs from across the region who are also included in the list of 100 include Betsy Benn from Cheltenham. Betsy makes luxury personalised gifts, notebooks, homewares and Christmas decorations – making everything in house and sends out about 20,000 gifts per year. Sustainability is high on the agenda with all odds of ribbon, mis engraved notebooks, offcuts of wood all redistributed to schools and creative clubs and group.
Pippa Birch runs Pipster Solutions, based at Westbury in Wiltshire, which provides practical help for winning public sector work in the highways industry, offering versatile and bespoke solutions.
The company’s core services focus on public sector bids, mainly in highways and civil engineering, and include consultation, management, coordination, writing, and review.
Rakha Madahar is a Surface Pattern Designer and Illustrator and produces bold and vibrant digital patterns and prints on products that she sells online, as well in-person events throughout Warwickshire and bordering counties. Ranging from stationery and homeware, her products include wrapping paper to lampshades and is passionate about supporting local businesses through desgn.prnt.
From AI companies to female-run tradeswoman platforms and sustainable fashion designers, the f:Entrepreneur ‘#IAlso100’ line-up particularly showcases trailblazing female founders who lead purpose-driven businesses alongside a roster of other responsibilities, such as volunteering, mentoring and community support.
Rhea said: “I’m absolutely delighted to have been selected as one of this year’s 100. Being able to support women in business is something I am hugely passionate about, and being seen in this way by the brilliant people behind f:Entrepreneur is beyond touching. There are 99 amazing people I’m sharing this excitement with, and I can’t wait to get to know them and their businesses over the next few months”.
Launched in 2017 by Small Business Britain – which champions small businesses in the UK - the f:Entrepreneur campaign aims to raise greater awareness of the impact of incredible female business owners across the country, and help provide inspiration and role models to the wider small business community.
The campaign offers events, training, and networking opportunities to boost skills, capability, and confidence.
Michelle Ovens CBE, founder of Small Business Britain, said: “It is so important that we call out the incredible contribution of women running businesses across the UK. As well as growing economic prosperity across the UK, they are also having a tremendous, wider positive impact on local communities too. Despite all of the challenges of recent times, it is fantastic to see female entrepreneurship continuing to grow and flourish in the UK, and we must do all we can to encourage and build this further.”
