She Starts Smart: Helping women-led businesses get found and chosen

When looking for an accountant, creative agency, or business consultant, where do you actually find them? More importantly, which exceptional businesses never even make it onto your radar in the first place?   

For women-led service businesses, delivering great work is rarely the bottleneck—getting discovered, gaining credibility, and accessing high-value commercial pipelines is where the real friction lies. At the same time, buyers wanting to procure services responsibly often lack a simple, vetted route to discover trusted female founders.   

In this session, finance educator, author, and mentor Tara Askham introduces She Starts Smart—a dedicated platform built to bridge that gap and connect buyers with verified, women-led service providers.   

Tara will unpack the origin of the initiative, demonstrate the platform, and discuss how intentional vetting and visibility can change how businesses buy and sell services.   

We'll explore:

-Why conventional procurement and search routes overlook exceptional women-led service firms   

-The story behind She Starts Smart and the commercial challenges it aims to solve   

-How the vetting and review process works to ensure buyer confidence and trust   

-A live walkthrough of the platform for prospective buyers and service providers   

-How founders and the wider business community can get involved and support female-led enterprises   

Whether you run a service business, commission external suppliers, or want to support women founders, come along to see a live demo of the platform and join the discussion.