The 51% Club, the Midlands’ fastest-growing community for ambitious female founders, has announced the return of its flagship IGNITE conference on the 28th September 2026, which will tackle the issues faced by women aiming to scale to seven figures.
Founded in 2024 by Birmingham-based entrepreneur and De Montfort University alumni Tara Attfield-Tomes, The 51% Club has made a tangible difference to women-led wealth, influence and impact. In just two years, the organisation has amassed more than 2,000 members from across the country, with five local hubs based in Birmingham, Leamington Spa, Leicester, London, and Worcester.
Despite the West Midlands having the highest proportion of female-owned companies in the UK, only 3% received external funding in the last five years – nearly 80% less than those owned by men. Additionally, only 2-4% of female-founded businesses in the UK ever reach £1 million in revenue. This inequality doesn’t just affect female founders, it affects the whole of the UK Economy. According to the latest Rose Review Progress Report, the UK is missing out on an additional £250 billion GVA as a result of unscaled female owned businesses – more than twice the expected cost of HS2.
IGNITE26 exists to change that. The theme ‘To Seven Figures and Beyond’ positions the event as the most commercially ambitious female founder conference in the UK, bringing together 250 founders at Millenium Point in Birmingham for a full day of keynotes, fireside chats, and panel discussions focused on what it actually takes to reach that figure.
The agenda boasts an exceptional list of speakers, aiming to prove the power of being based in the regions. This year’s speakers include:
- Sharmadean Reid MBE – Born and raised in Wolverhampton, Sharmadean has spent two decades building businesses that have genuinely changed industries: from WAH Nails to The Stack World (recently acquired) to her latest launch, 39BC. She will join a fireside chat at IGNITE26 to discuss how she transformed her entrepreneurial dreams into an empire, on her own terms.
- Lorna Luxe – Manchester-born Lorna left a career as a Virgin Atlantic flight attendant to build one of the most engaged communities on the internet, amassing over 2 million Instagram followers before turning that trust into two founder-led brands: lifestyle brand LA Space and 98 Beauty. She will join a fireside chat at IGNITE26 to discuss what it really means to turn community, creativity and personal experience into a commercial empire.
- Lucie Macleod – She started Hair Syrup in her student kitchen with £300 and a TikTok account, going on to achieve Forbes 30 Under 30, a place on The Sunday Times 100 fastest-growing UK companies, a deal with Boots, and £6.5 million revenue projected for 2026 – all without a penny of outside investment.
- Maxine Laceby – Maxine started Absolute Collagen in her Gloucestershire kitchen at 50 with no business experience, no investment, and no blueprint. She’s built it to £30 million turnover, a £45 million valuation, and the UK’s number one collagen brand.
- Stefanie Sword-Williams – Originally from Leeds, Stef’s book ‘F**k Being Humble’ became a Sunday Times bestseller and sparked a global conversation about female ambition; earning her Forbes 30 Under 30 and keynote credits with Apple, Google, Nike and the BBC across more than 50 countries. She will close IGNITE26 with a keynote on what it means to be unapologetically ambitious, and why now is the moment to own it.
“IGNITE started as a conference, but three years in, it’s become something bigger than that; it’s become proof of what happens when women are finally given the room they deserve,” Tara Attfield-Tomes, founder of The 51% Club comments.
“Birmingham has always been a city that builds things. Now it’s building the most exciting generation of female entrepreneurs this country has seen. Our speakers – the likes of Sharmadean Reid MBE, Stefanie Sword-Williams, Maxine Laceby, and more – haven’t just cracked the glass ceiling. They’ve ignored it entirely and built something remarkable on their own terms.
Only 2-4% of women-led businesses ever reach £1 million in revenue. That statistic exists because the infrastructure, the investment, and the ambition haven’t always been there for women. IGNITE26 exists to change that, and The 51% Club isn’t stopping until it does,” she concludes.
“For far too long, female entrepreneurs have been overlooked” adds headline speaker, Sharmadean Reid MBE. “We’re constantly underestimated, and we have to fight for every inch of space we take up in the boardroom. As a Midlands girl born and bred, I’m so proud to see our region supporting more female founders than anywhere else in the UK. We’re making steps towards funding equality, but there’s undoubtedly a long way to go, that’s why I’m so grateful that events like IGNITE exist.”
Other confirmed speakers for IGNITE26 include Melissa Snover, the American entrepreneur who came to the UK and built Rem3dy Health in Birmingham, holding 29 patents, producing 500,000 personalised 3D-printed gummies a day, and raising £14 million at an £84 million valuation – the highest-ever female founder seed round in UK history; Scarlett Allen-Horton, the Birmingham-based BBC Apprentice finalist whose seven-figure executive search firm Harper Fox Partners counts Lord Sugar as an investor; and Zandra Moore MBE, who built and sold Panintelligence, a global embedded analytics and AI software business, before founding Leeds-based agentic AI consultancy Zygens, and now sits on the UK Government’s Taskforce for Women-Led High Growth Enterprises.
As well as Geeta Sidhu-Robb (W Corp), Kameese Davis (Nylah’s), Kavita Parmar (Word360), Lisa Shepherd (The Biskery), Minnie Nguyen (BarberBoss), Rose Ovensehi (Flora & Curl). The event will be hosted by award-winning journalist, broadcaster, and ITV Good Morning Britain newsreader, Marverine Cole. Away from broadcasting, Marverine mentors and coaches founders on their messaging and media presence, helping to increase their authority on air, online, and on stages.
This year’s event is taking place at Millennium Point for the first time and is set to welcome over 250 female founders and leaders. Rebecca Delmore, Commercial Director at the venue adds: “Millennium Point is proud to support IGNITE 2026 and The 51% Club’s mission to inspire female leaders. We believe that creating opportunities for women to connect, learn and grow their business is key to increasing economic growth and positive change across the region. IGNITE has created a platform for women to access networks and knowledge needed to build, lead, and grow successful businesses and we are excited to see it take place all within our venue.”
IGNITE26 offers a unique opportunity to gain the tools, confidence, and network to scale beyond wildest dreams. Tickets are on sale now: the51percent.club/ignite.
