British handbag designer Anya Hindmarch has earned the title of Veuve Clicquot Businesswoman of the Year. She received the award at a glittering ceremony in Mayfair this week attended by prominent British businesspeople including Sir Stuart Rose, Sir David Frost, and Karen Brady.
There’s no doubting her business acumen. Hindmarch launched her fashion career at the tender age of 19 when she opened a small boutique on London’s Walton Street. She sparked an eco-revolution on launching her “I’m Not a Plastic Bag” tote in 2007 and received an MBE for her services to Britain’s fashion industry in 2009. Today she lends her name to some 57 fashion stores around the world.
Hindmarch beat out feminist business champion and founder of the 30% Club Helena Morrisey and the River Café’s creator Ruth Rogers for the title.
In a recent interview on Jeff Randall Live, Hindmarch spoke of the importance of women in the workplace.
“It’s important to encourage women to enjoy working and be businesswomen and not to do it through quotas but to do it through shouting out through awards like these,” she explained. “To be an entrepreneur is brilliant for a woman because you can actually be reasonably flexible and you don’t have to pretend to be a man as you might perhaps in other industries.“
Do you think Anya Hindmarch is a worthy winner?
[Image Source: Yamada Kazuyuki/Flickr]
