Card retailer Olivia Reilly boosts female businesses with House Of Lords trip
Little Boat Gifts’ co-owner Olivia Reilly has just got back from a visit to somewhere that’s fast becoming the indie retailer’s second home – the Houses Of Parliament!
“I’ve been a few times now with Small Business Britain,” laughed Olivia, who has been recognised for building up the Brightlingsea store, “and this is the second time for f:Entrepreneur.”
The trip to the House Of Lords on Wednesday, 11 September, was for the launch of the Female Entrepreneurship: Moving Forward report with speeches from Women & Equalities minister Anneliese Dodds MP, Samina Hussain-Letch, executive director UK at contactless payments firm Square, and female entrepreneur Nazia Anwar, founder of Social Blox, which provides digital tools, skills and knowledge to communities and not-profits.
The f:Entrepreneur campaign celebrates the inspirational businesses run by women in the UK and is run by small business enterprise expert Michelle Ovens CBC, who also founded and runs Small Business Britain.
Olivia, who started Little Boat Gifts in 2015 and now works with her husband Peter, said: “The room was full of incredible female business owners celebrating their amazing achievements and looking at how we can support women starting their own businesses.”
And it was also a great opportunity to catch up with Jo Williams, who runs Joco Gifts in Nuneaton, after the pair first met when they were both chosen as part of the 2023 f:Entrepreneurs #iAlso100 campaign featuring 100 women who run their own businesses, creating a community for collaboration, support, friendship and inspiration.
“It was lovely to talk all things retail with someone who understands,” Olivia added. “It’s always humbling being in a room with so many amazing female entrepreneurs and this event was almost bursting with the inspiring stories being shared.
“Coming away from these events I always feel uplifted. This year has been challenging and it was great to discuss topics with other small business owners. The report is important to see how far we have come and what still needs to be done to encourage and support female entrepreneurs. It was lovely to be invited to such an important launch.”
The report, which can be downloaded here, has been compiled by Small Business Britain, Square and Clearpay to understand the opportunities and challenges for female entrepreneurs in the UK.
It included a survey of 1,000 women entrepreneurs, interviews and case studies of female founders to understand the opportunities and the challenges as they start and grow their business.
With a quarter of those surveyed being in retail like Olivia and Jo, the report revealed 58% of female founders have never taken out external finance, with 79% self-funding their start-ups and 13% even relying on personal credit cards.
Along with the Small Business Britain accolades, Olivia was one of Theo Paphitis’ #SBS Small Business Sunday winners back in 2020, where he picks six names each weekend who tweet, comment, or post an image to @TheoPaphitis on social media platforms X and Instagram, and is still involved in the community, attending this year’s conference in February and a bootcamp in May where she met the retail entrepreneur himself.
