National Small Business Campaign puts Calne Entrepreneur in the Spotlight at the House of Lords

London, 4 March 2020: Small business campaign f:Entrepreneur, which highlights inspiring female business leaders across the UK, celebrated its #ialso100 list of female business owners for the second year on Wednesday – with an exclusive reception at the House of Lords, attended by local entrepreneur Emma Boatman from Calne, Wiltshire.

The #ialso100 is a collection of female entrepreneurs, recognised for inspiring their peers and communities through their businesses and wider activities. This year’s list includes Emma Boatman, who founded Boatman Admin Services Ltd a virtual admin (VA) company in 2015, and was chosen for her additional work and achievements including:

• Assisting her husband, John Boatman, with his independent financial advisory business, Boatman Financial Ltd.
• In September 2018, establishing another business which helps people reduce their monthly expenditure.
• Being a national finalist in the PA Life Awards for VA of the Year and being shortlisted as South West VA of the Year, all in 2019.
• Being shortlisted for South West Female Entrepreneur of the Year in 2020.
• Establishing a free networking group called the Wiltshire VA Support Hub. The group allows fellow virtual assistants in the area to meet on a bi-monthly basis to enjoy some tea and cake, share business experiences.
• Holding a voluntary secretary role with a local charity in 2019.
• Boatman Admin Services Ltd was also included in the Small Biz 100 awards in 2018. · Writing a personal lifestyle blog, HappyWiseOwl which includes a section celebrating other local small independent businesses.
• On top of this, Emma is busy being a wife, daughter, sister and friend!

The aim of f:Entrepreneur is to showcase multi-achieving women in the #ialso100, to provide lessons of challenge and success for all small business founders – both men and women.

The campaign is built around a programme of content, stories and events including roundtables, Q&A sessions and panels as well as larger all-day events in the lead-up to International Women’s Day on 8 March.

f:Entrepreneur is run by Small Business Britain, the UK’s leading champion of small businesses which offers support, knowledge and access to the country’s 5.8 million small businesses – no matter their location, their industry, or their size.

Both f:Entrepreneur and Small Business Britain were founded by Michelle Ovens MBE, who is also director of Small Business Saturday. Michelle spoke at the House of Lords event alongside event host and former cabinet secretary Lord Young of Graffham, and chef, restaurant manager and entrepreneur Sarah Ali Choudhury – who was included in the #ialso100 2019. The event was supported by fintech business banking platform Tide.

Michelle Ovens MBE said:

“The idea for the #ialso campaign was born from International Women’s Day 2018, during a breakfast event where the phrase used most by the gathered entrepreneurs was “I also…”, with each woman describing their work as being much more than a single-job career. It led us to want to highlight the work of incredible women, creating the most amazing opportunities for their communities and doing so much more than just a day job.

“We are making the case that the word ‘entrepreneur’ should not be reserved for men – with the word ‘female’ tagged onto the start for women who have started small businesses. f:Entrepreneur demonstrates the breadth of sectors women are leading in and the value they bring to so many people’s lives.”

On being listed in the #ialso100, Emma Boatman said:

“I am thrilled to be part of this year’s #ialso campaign. It’s wonderful to be recognised not only for Boatman Admin Services but also the extra work that happens behind the scenes. The breakfast at the House of Lords was fantastic – so many inspiring ladies all together celebrating all that we’ve achieved.