Last month I had the pleasure of attending BGF’s first Women in Entrepreneurship and on Boards Forum — and what a day it was. The room was buzzing with talent, experience, and an unwavering commitment to making progress for women in leadership and entrepreneurship.
Events like this matter. They create space to share lessons and have the real, sometimes uncomfortable, conversations that can drive change — not just for the next generation of female leaders, but for the businesses we’re scaling today.
Here are a few reflections I took away:
Purpose as your anchor
It’s easy to get caught in the mechanics of scaling businesses and building boards, but Fiona English’s point really struck home: purpose is a choice. If you choose it deliberately, it will sustain you through the inevitable highs and lows.
I see this every day with the founders and leaders I work with — those with a clear sense of purpose create more resilient cultures and more adaptive businesses.
The importance of boundaries
Karen Blackett CBE’s advice resonated strongly: protect your time, and don’t feel guilty about it. For many women in leadership, the instinct is to be endlessly available — to clients, teams, boards, families. But that’s not sustainable. If we are to scale our businesses and our impact, we must scale ourselves first — and that means being disciplined about where we spend our time and energy.
Scaling from the inside out
The leadership panel was a standout for me. Self-awareness, embracing discomfort, surrounding yourself with the right support — these are principles I coach and live by. Scaling is not just about headcount, revenue, or capital raised — it’s about scaling yourself as a leader so that your organisation can follow.
Moving the needle on capital and equity
I was inspired by the clear call to action on funding for female founders and the urgent need for more women in investment and leadership roles. This is a systemic issue that requires collective will and bold conversations — and forums like this are critical in helping to maintain momentum.
Why events like this matter
At Excelerator Partners, much of our work involves helping founders and boards scale in ways that are purposeful, human, and commercially sound. Events like BGF’s remind me how important it is to stay connected to this broader community of women building and leading — not just to learn, but to contribute.
I’m grateful to the team at BGF and all the speakers and attendees for creating such an energising and thought-provoking space. I’ll be carrying these insights forward in my own work, and I look forward to seeing how this forum evolves.
About the author:
Suzy Rowley, Founder & CEO
As both an intrapreneur and entrepreneur, Suzy has launched and accelerated growth in several PE & Founder backed businesses. As part of the founding leadership team of global talent firm AMS, together they grew the business through 4 highly successful management buy-outs to a $1.1billion valuation in 2018. Having since built a varied portfolio career as a Board & Strategic Advisor to scaling businesses, in 2023 Suzy identified a value creation gap in the scale-up eco-system and founded Excelerator Partners.
