The head of a North East firm that helps people into better work or starting their own business has won a £50,000 innovation award for women.
Charlotte Windebank, from Gateshead firm First, is one of the winners of Innovate UK’s Women in Innovation Award, which aim to empower pioneering women across the UK to scale their innovative businesses. The prize for business leaders developing solutions to major social, environmental and economic challenges includes a £50,000 grant plus one-to-one business coaching, and a suite of networking, role modelling, and training opportunities.
The prizes have been announced on International Women’s Day, with Ms Windebank honoured alongside companies working in a range of sectors, including the arts and public protection. First has created safe, peer learning spaces where people can develop enterprise skills and experience, working particularly with learners in some of the region’s most under-resourced communities in the region.
