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You are reading an article from the Women in business series, to read more about this you can visit the series homepage.
It appears as though the only thing growing faster than the notion of the celebrity entrepreneur is the Victoria Beckham empire, as the one time Spice Girl was yesterday named the UK's most successful entrepreneur of 2014.

The rankings, which take into account both turnover growth and job creation over a five year period, show a diverse range of businesses and individuals experiencing success in the UK with heads of betting companies, energy groups and IT providers making up the top 10. Joining Beckham in the list of 10 best performing entrepreneurs are fellow businesswomen Meeta Patel (second place) - joint founder of pharmaceutical company Auden Mckenzie and Denise Coates (sixth place) - head of betting giants BET365.

But it will rightly be the unassailable success of Beckham which will grab the headlines, with the designer's stunning growth resulting in the opening of an exclusive Mayfair boutique in central London just last month. The figures go some way in speaking for themselves, with the Victoria Beckham brand registering sales growth of 2,900 percent and employment growth of 3,233 percent.

Those responsible for putting the rankings together were keen to point out that the numbers registered by the country's top entrepreneurs were not just good news for the individuals involved, but through job creation and economic growth many more were set to benefit.

Her Victoria Beckham operation has grown from £1m turnover to £30m in the past five years.

"Her Victoria Beckham operation, fresh from the triumphant opening of its first shop in London's Mayfair, has grown from £1m turnover to £30m in the past five years, and staff numbers are up from three to 100 in the same period. Deservedly, she is number one in these two crucial measurements for success in the MT Top 100," commented Philip Beresford of Management Today.

"For the wider British economy, the good news about the success of our Top 100 is evident in our figures on jobs and turnover over the past five years. When we last undertook the MT 100 list in 2011, the 100 we then identified had increased their turnover from around £9.3bn to £16.7bn. This year's crop have gone much higher: from £16.1bn to £30.2bn, which represents an 88% rise and a huge amount of economic activity going on at the coalface of business in the UK."

In total the 100 list contains 15 female entrepreneurs, an increase of four from when the rankings were last published in 2011.
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Victoria Beckham named Britain's most successful entrepreneur of 2014

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You are reading an article from the Women in business series, to read more about this you can visit the series homepage. It appears as though the only thing growing faster than the notion of the celebrity entrepreneur is the Victoria Beckham empire, as the one time Spice Girl was yesterday named the UK's most successful entrepreneur of 2014.

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The discourse around gender parity is typically depressing. Whether it's the paucity of women in the boardroom or the fact that the pay gap remains at 19.7 per cent for average earnings, the news is rarely positive. However, new research from Expert Market has gone against the trend and revealed that some regions around the world have made significant progress in redressing the gender balance.

You are reading an article from the Women in business series, to read more about this you can visit the series homepage.
Investigating the number of women in managerial roles, researchers found that Jamaica produced the most interesting findings - women account for 60 per cent of the managing workforce, meaning employees are far more likely to have a female superior than a male one. In essence, Jamaica has reversed the gender bias - but how?

On March 8th, 2011 (International Women's Day) the Jamaican government announced the launch of a ground-breaking initiative; the National Policy for Gender Equality (NPGE). Monitored by the Bureau of Women's Affairs (BWA), and with funding of $7.5million from the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), the aim of the policy is to eradicate gender discrimination across all aspects of Jamaican society by "increasing the economic and political influence of women in private and public sector organisations".

The NPGE calls for an increase in the number of women decision makers in public and private sector companies and more opportunities for at least 4,500 unemployed and underemployed women. The most promising target is to ensure that a minimum 200 organisations have adopted feasible gender diversity schemes.

The organisations are comprised of government ministries, religious groups, not-for-profit associations, businesses and labour unions - ensuring the changes stretch right across communities.

With strong government backing and clear, measurable objectives, the role of women in Jamaica appears to be at a pivotal stage. Continued support from the UN has resulted in Jamaican women having increased access to resources, meaning their contribution to the country's economy will be felt. Through big communications campaigns such as The Way Out, the Jamaican government are leading the way in public education about recognising the valuable input women make in achieving sustainable development.

Women have surpassed men in their educational attainment, yet their political empowerment appears limited.

Targeted projects like those implemented by the Caribbean Policy Development Centre (CPDC) ensure women farmers in Jamaica are being empowered to harness their farming and production capabilities in order to fend for themselves.

Progress is also being seen within the private sector. Like most countries around the world, the presence of women in Jamaica's corporate boardrooms is small but growing. Marlene Forest, the General Manager at the Jamaica stock exchange launched activist group 51 per cent Coalition which seeks to engage and recruit women into the upper echelons of business.

Forest maintains that appointments to board positions should be based purely on competency and not on sex.

Talking to the UN Women she said: "We do not believe a woman or man should be on a board solely because they are male or female but rather that they can contribute based on the requirements of the board."

Evidently women's managerial talents are crucial to Jamaican businesses and workshops hosted by Forest's groups will hopefully instil women with the confidence to enter more senior level positions so we see a similar trend at board level in years to come.

The 2014 Gender Gap Report ranked Jamaica 52nd which may force some to question the efficacy of the NPGE. Women have surpassed men in their educational attainment, yet their political empowerment appears limited and the wage disparity remains significant. However, the country ranks much higher than some of our European neighbours (Greece and Poland to name a few) who are part of the wider Western campaign against the gender gap.

Whilst it indisputable that Jamaica still has a considerable way to go, the NPGE demonstrates the country's unwavering commitment to ensuring gender equality remains at the top of the political agenda. Where the West has been equipping itself with all the catchy campaign slogans and social hashtags, Central and South America have opted for one tactic: they got on with it.
This is a guest blog and may not represent the views of Virgin.com. Please see virgin.com/terms for more details. Thumbnail from gettyimages.

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