The Power of Conversation. Successful Mums and City Hall Join Forces to Champion Networking

Howard Dawber, Deputy Mayor of London for Business and Growth, and Jane Knight, Founder of Successful Mums Career Academy, host joint networking event for women returners and entrepreneurs.

Jane Knight built Successful Mums Career Academy from a single conversation. Howard Dawber, Deputy Mayor of London for Business and Growth, has spent his career doing the same, connecting people, ideas, and opportunity to grow London’s economy.

Now the two are joining forces for a networking event designed to prove a simple point: the right conversation, at the right moment, can change everything.

“I didn’t initially build Successful Mums from a business plan,” says Jane Knight, Successful Mums founder and winner of National Business Women’s Lifetime Achievement Award. “I built it from talking to other mums in the playground, talking to my network and asking for help to get started. Twelve years and 12,000 women later, I still believe networking is the single most underused tool for growth, especially for women rebuilding a career or starting a business after time away from the workplace.”

Howard Dawber, Deputy Mayor of Business and Growth, who has championed London’s small businesses and entrepreneurs since taking office, agrees.

“London’s economy is built on connection, between businesses, between people, between ideas that wouldn’t otherwise meet. That’s exactly what this event is about.”

The friendly, interactive event forms part of a growing conversation around women’s economic participation in London. Research shows women remain underrepresented in business ownership and are more likely to reduce their economic activity after having children, despite research consistently showing that increasing women’s participation in the workforce and in business ownership could deliver a significant boost to the UK economy.

After 12 years of supporting women back into the workplace after a career break, Knight knows the most common barriers for women returning to the workplace are confidence, career advice, and childcare. She founded Successful Mums Career Academy to combat all three, rebuilding confidence, and providing relevant skills and the ability to network in all women who participate. Dawber’s priorities in growing the economy are clear too.

Going from strength to strength, the joint event will bring together women returners, aspiring female entrepreneurs, and established business owners for an afternoon of genuine, structured networking, career advice, and conversation, with both Knight and Dawber sharing their own experiences of how a single connection changed the course of their work. Dawber brings a wealth of experience from his career as a strategic advisor and managing director. Having previously worked on projects that included the London 2012 Olympic Bid and legacy and Elizabeth Line (Crossrail) project design before taking office, Dawber is well placed to share powerful insights.

“This isn’t a lecture,” adds Knight. “It’s proof that you don’t need a perfect plan to start, you need one conversation, and the courage to speak up.” The practical, hands-on workshop and guided networking session is designed to help women grow their careers, businesses and confidence. Knight adds “Government stats show 69% of Adult Skills Fund learners are women, demonstrating both the scale of the challenge and the appetite among women to re-engage with learning and their careers”.

She goes on to say:

“Successful Mums delivers against London’s current Inclusive Talent and Growth agenda by helping women – particularly mothers and women facing barriers to employment – rebuild confidence, gain relevant skills and progress into good work”.