Inspiring Women - 29 November 2007 - THE SPEAKERS

Karen Darby
Founder, SimplySwitch


Karen Darby is a highly successful and inspirational entrepreneur with a classic rags to riches story.  One of five children, Karen grew up on a council estate in Mitcham and left school at 16 with one GCSE.  SimplySwitch is her third and most successful venture to date.  She initially launched as Simply Energy Ltd in 2002 offering consumers a comparison and switching service for gas and electricity.

In August 2006 SimplySwitch was sold to DMGT (Daily Mail & General Trust) for £22m and Karen remains a spokesperson and consultant to the business.  Karen was a finalist in Cosmopolitan's Woman of Tomorrow award.  In June 2006 she won the Finance Award at the CBI's First Women Awards and was a finalist in the 2006 National Business Awards.

She is also a regular guest on BBC News, Sky News and BBC Radio 5 Live.

Matthew Rock, Caspian Publishing has said of Karen, “....she is a super-inspirational entrepreneur. Her story, of creating several major business success stories while also juggling a real life at home, is a tale of our times – of what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur, woman and mother in the 21st century."

Adele Blakebrough, MBE
Co-founder and Chief Executive, Community Action Network


Adele co-founded Community Action Network, (CAN) in 1998, when it began as a membership organisation whose aim was to identify and create a network of social entrepreneurs across the UK.  CAN has always believed that businesses, through partnering with social enterprises, can have a mutually-beneficial relationship and in 2005 CAN created ‘Breakthrough’ with private equity firm Permira to invest in the scaling up of social enterprises

CAN is now recognised as one of the UK’s leading organisations for the development, promotion and support of social entrepreneurs and social enterprises.  Adele is also a trustee for Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) and a founding partner and trustee of UnLtd.

In 2006, Adele was awarded an MBE for services to social enterprise and in July 2007 received the prestigious Business in the Community (BITC) Awards in Excellence - the Marks and Spencer Sieff Award for her work in collaborating with the corporate sector for social benefit, which was presented to her by HRH The Prince of Wales and Al Gore.




Andrew Mallett
Director, Present Action



Andrew is a facilitator, coach and consultant specialising in presentation skills.  He set up Present Action in 2001 following a career as a journalist and an actor.  Since then he has built up an impressively diverse client list which includes Swiss Re, Shelter, Cushman & Wakefield, Deutsche Bank and Oxford University Press.  He’s committed to helping clients reach their potential as communicators and to have the inner confidence to remain themselves when doing business.

He devotes half a day per week to volunteer work as a group psychotherapist and at the end of it all he takes out his aggression on the poker table.  He became a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Arts in 2005.