Festival of Female Entrepreneurs: Edwina Dunn

Earlier this year I saw a talk entitled “How Big Data Changed Retailing” by Edwina Dunn who created the Tesco Clubcard. She launched the Tesco Clubcard which was basically the first loyalty card in 1995 and the success of the Tesco Clubcard took Tesco to the number 1 spot in 3 years.

Now most retailers have some form of card/loyalty scheme. These schemes help retailers understand their customers, in a short space of time. Edwina talked about how she grew her global company and told her story.

As with all success stories it was interesting, but what I wanted to share with you is the initiatives that she has gone on to do as I personally find these the most inspirational.

Your life

Edwina Dunn chairs the Your Life Campaign. It is a three-year STEM campaign to ensure the UK has the Maths and Physics skills it needs to succeed in today’s competitive global economy. The Your Life campaign prioritises offering experiences and information to enable young people to make informed subject choices post-16, inspiring them to study Maths and Physics as a gateway to wide-ranging careers whilst also triggering employers to recruit and retain that talent.

There is also a companion app: Future Finder. The app shows students which jobs are growing and helps them to understand how what they learn in the classroom is relevant to the outside world. Future Finder features 430 different jobs and draws on a variety of labour market data feeds from credible sources such as UCAS, UKCES and the Russell Group. The STEM School finder helps parents and ranks schools on their ability in ‘STEM’ (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) A Level subjects.

I think this is a fantastic programme as I can really see that students will benefit from campaigns like this.

The Female Lead

The Female Lead is a non-profit organisation dedicated to making women’s stories more visible and offering alternative role models to those ever-present in popular culture. Founded by Edwina Dunn, the project highlights the breadth of female achievement in order to offer inspiration for future generations.

The Female Lead creates a variety of spaces to present these stories including a book of 60 amazing women from around the world (which launched in February 2017), an online and social media presence, and an outreach programme for girls in schools, celebrating female role models who shape the world.

The other fantastic thing about this campaign is that you can nominate a school (in UK or in the US) to get a free copy of the book and teaching materials. Just click on the link and fill in their details.

Find your inspiration…. #shesmyinspiration