Housewares Business-to-business magazine for housewares retailers and their suppliers
Spring Fair has announced that leading businesswoman Karren Brady will be a keynote speaker at the event.
The trade show takes place from February 5 to February 9 at the NEC in Birmingham and Karren will be delivering a presentation on Tuesday February 7 in the Trends and Innovations Theatre at 1:55pm, offering advice and suggestions for success as a retail entrepreneur.
Karren is vice-chairman of West Ham United FC, and senior non-executive director on the boards of Syco Entertainment and retail multinational Arcadia Group. She is also the government’s Small Business Ambassador.
Born in Edmonton, North London, Karren began her career in advertising sales straight after leaving school.
In 1993, aged just 23, she was appointed managing director of Birmingham City Football Club when the club was in administration.
Four years later, she became the youngest managing director of a UK plc, when she floated the club on the London Stock Exchange.
Having turned Birmingham City around, Karren negotiated the club’s sale in 2009. She was appointed vice-chairman of West Ham United FC in 2010, and led a successful bid for the club’s move to London’s Olympic Stadium. Under her leadership, West Ham has become one of the five fastest-growing brands in world football.
She has served on the boards of Channel 4 Television and retailer Mothercare and is also an ambassador for Range Rover and Pantene.
Karren has won many awards for services to business, including being named Business Woman of the Year and Most Inspirational Woman of the Year. She received the coveted Spirit of Everywoman Award in recognition of her outstanding achievements in changing the landscape for women in business.
In 2013 she was awarded a CBE for services to women in business and entrepreneurship; the following August, she was elevated to the House of Lords by the prime minister, taking the title Baroness Karren Brady of Knightsbridge.
Karren is a regular columnist for ‘The Sun’ newspaper and for ‘Woman & Home’ and ‘Cosmopolitan’ magazines. She is a judge, alongside Lord Alan Sugar, on BBC1’s reality game show ‘The Apprentice’.
