Julie Collison entrepreneur was a winner in the UK and Ireland’s longest-running recognition programme for female founders, the Tide everywoman Entrepreneur Awards, in association with BGF. The Scale Up Award, sponsored by BGF, which celebrates a woman who has founded a company in a period of high growth, was presented to Julie Collison, director of Clear Strategy Limited.
The prestigious event was held on 2nd December 2025 at The Londoner Hotel in Leicester Square, where over 300 business leaders, investors and supporters of female entrepreneurs united to celebrate the achievements of these extraordinary women and their businesses.
The winners span a vast array of industries and stages of their entrepreneurial journey, from pioneering start-ups disrupting traditional sectors to established leaders steering multi-million-pound enterprises and purpose-led founders using business as a force for good.
Julie Collison wins Tide everywoman Entrepreneur Awards
Data from the Female Business Owners Index 2025 from Tide and everywoman paints a picture of a challenging year for women-led enterprises, with the most common setbacks including falling consumer spending, inflation and political uncertainty. Yet female entrepreneurs across the UK are displaying remarkable resilience in the face of economic headwinds with 67% expecting their revenues to grow over the next year.
Nicole Goodwin and Sophie Catto, joint managing directors of AllBright everywoman, said: “Female entrepreneurs across the UK and Ireland are demonstrating extraordinary perseverance, optimism and ambition in one of the toughest business climates in recent years. Female founders are working longer hours and navigating multiple pressure points, yet their determination has never been stronger.
“By bringing together a powerful community of role models, investors, mentors and partners, these awards not only celebrate success stories but actively create them by opening doors to funding, commercial opportunities and strategic support. This year’s finalists and winners are bold innovators, breaking down deep-rooted barriers for the next generation of female founders. We are immensely proud to celebrate their achievements and champion the unstoppable women who are reshaping the UK’s entrepreneurial landscape.”
Julie’s entrepreneurial journey has been defined by long-term vision, ambition and extraordinary resilience. She founded Clear Strategy, a data and analytics consultancy, in 2018 while raising three young children as a single mother. With no external funding, Julie and her business partner built the company from the ground up, playing multiple roles while laying the foundations for sustainable, scalable growth. Julie has steered Clear Strategy to compete successfully in a market dominated by global consulting giants. As a woman in a highly technical and male-dominated sector, Julie has faced bias and felt the need to prove her credibility, but her expertise and exceptional delivery track record have earned the trust of C-suite leaders across many industries. Julie’s ability to balance personal responsibility with professional ambition is a powerful testament to her grit, personal drive and impact, overcoming significant challenges to build one of Ireland’s fastest-growing data firms.
On accepting the award, Julie said: “This award isn’t just for me – it goes out to our team and my business partner. I never dreamed eight years ago we would be anywhere near the size we are today. I would like to thank everywoman for this platform. Women are still underrepresented in the tech industry, and it’s incredible to get this recognition.”
George Schmidt, Tide UK/Europe CEO, said: “This year’s winners and nominees capture exactly what makes female entrepreneurship such a powerful force. Many women have been navigating tougher conditions, yet the founders recognised today have shown remarkable ambition and creativity in how they are building and growing their businesses.
“The Tide everywoman Entrepreneur Awards do more than celebrate individual success stories. They help create the conditions for those successes by giving founders greater visibility, stronger networks and access to opportunities that too many women are still denied.
“At Tide, we’re committed to helping women-led businesses start, scale and thrive, which is why our partnership with everywoman is so important to us. The founders honoured this year are reshaping their sectors and inspiring the next generation of entrepreneurs. We’re proud to stand alongside them and support the momentum they are creating.”
Gemma Hamilton, Head of Origination at BGF, said: “At BGF, we’re committed to championing the successes of female founders, which is why we are delighted to be associate sponsor of the 2025 everywoman Entrepreneur Awards for the fourth year running. It’s so important to recognise the outstanding contribution that talented female founders make to the wider economy.”
THE 2025 WINNERS ARE:
WOMAN OF THE YEAR AWARD: Toria Chan and Jules Shiel-Boulger, co-founders of STEPS Rehabilitation, from Sheffield.
TIDE GRANT OF £20,000 for an exceptional female-founded SME: Zoe Williams, founder of Aegle’s, from London.
BRAND OF THE FUTURE AWARD – sponsored by The White Company: Daisy Knatchbull, Founder and CEO of Knatchbull, from London.
THE BALANCE AWARD: Rana Righton, managing director of The Gluten Free Bakery, from London.
ENTREPRENEUR FOR GOOD AWARD – sponsored by Specsavers: Ruby Raut, CEO of WUKA Ltd, from Welwyn Garden City.
INTERNATIONAL EXPANSION AWARD – sponsored by Rathbone Financial Planning: Karen Hewitt, chief of retail at Character.com, from Swansea.
THE NEXT LEVEL AWARD – Sponsored by Saffery: Charlotte Stagg and Jessica Lancaster, co-founders and CEOs of Coconut Lane UK and Cocopup London, from Witney.
SCALE UP AWARD – sponsored by BGF: Julie Collison, director of Clear Strategy Limited, from Dublin.
SOCIAL STAR AWARD: Daisy Kelly, founder & CEO of Glow For It, from Hammersmith.
SOLOPRENEUR AWARD: Katy Fridman, founder of Flexible Working People, from London.
SMALL ENTERPRISE AWARD – sponsored by Tide: Rosie Skuse, founder & CEO of Molto Music Group, from London. Tide also presented an additional £1,000 grant to Rosie and Molto Music Group.
TECH INNOVATOR AWARD – Sponsored by Farrer & Co: Emma O’Brien, founder & CEO of Embridge Consulting, from Kent.
The 2025 winners were chosen by a judging panel comprising some of the UK’s most successful women in business, as well as VCS and investors who are at the forefront of closing the funding gap with their diverse portfolios. Judges included Chrissie Rucker (founder of The White Company), Susan Allen (co-founder at Here We Flo), Kelli Aspland (director of Solar Buddies), Yvonne Nagawa (chief of staff at Black Seed Ventures), Sarah Anderson CBE (chief executive at The Listening Place), and Nell Daly (founder & managing partner at Revenge Capital), amongst others.
About everywoman – Changing the world of work for women
everywoman is a global learning and development organisation that drives positive change by empowering women to achieve their professional potential. Established in 1999, everywoman works with leading corporations and organisations across 130 countries, improving productivity and performance through its membership offering and unique tailored blend of products and services which unlock female potential and powers businesses to accelerate their gender inclusion goals. The everywomanNetwork includes over 45,000 members who benefit from over 2,000 dedicated learning and development resources and 21,000 annually attending group classes. As part of its portfolio, everywoman’s cross-industry awards and forums have created thousands of female role models and male allies, and inspired generations of future leaders.? For more information visit www.everywoman.com
About Tide:
Launched in 2017, Tide is the leading business management platform in the UK. Tide helps small businesses save time and money by not only offering business accounts and related admin services, but also a comprehensive set of highly usable and connected administrative solutions from invoicing to accounting and adjacent commercial services such as web-site building.
Tide has nearly 800,000 SME members in the UK (14% market share) and more than
800,000 SMEs in India. Tide launched in Germany in May 2024 and France in September 2025. Tide has also been recognised with the Great Place to Work certification three years in a row. Tide has been funded by Anthemis, the Apax Digital Funds, Augmentum Fintech, Creandum, Salica Investments, Latitude, LocalGlobe, SBI Group, Speedinvest and TPG, amongst others. It employs more than 2,500 Tideans worldwide. Tide’s long-term ambition is to be the leading business management platform globally.
About BGF:
BGF is the UK and Ireland’s most active growth capital investor. Since its launch in 2011, BGF has invested £4.7 billion in more than 600 businesses. BGF provides patient capital as a minority equity partner. Initial investments in growth-stage business are between £3 million and £30 million, and between £3 million and £10 million for earlier-stage businesses. BGF provides follow-on funding to support further growth, and tailored value creation support from investment to exit.
Recognised by the ScaleUp Institute as the most active investor in female-led businesses, BGF is also a founding partner of the Invest in Women Taskforce, through which it has committed at least £300 million to female-powered businesses over the next five years.
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