Novi, a leading network of women in business championing gender equality (formerly known as Forward Ladies), has today announced the shortlist for its prestigious 14th Annual Novi Awards. This year’s awards recognize 84 exceptional women leaders from diverse companies who are redefining leadership models and shaping the future of business despite the barriers. 

Women Breaking Barriers: Celebrating Excellence and Innovation 

With the theme “Women Breaking Barriers,” the Novi Awards shine a spotlight on leaders who have overcome exceptional odds to achieve excellence across various sectors in the UK and beyond. The awards celebrate role models who are shattering glass ceilings, inspiring their teams, uplifting communities, and paving the way for the next generation of talent. 

Griselda Togobo, Founder and CEO of Novi, commented: 

“When you find yourself in a position where you can give others a platform or exposure, you realize that you can do a lot to raise aspirations and to amplify women’s voices and their impact. Women today are facing an ever-evolving business landscape that requires resilience and adaptability. Although significant progress has been made for equality in the business, there is more to be done to ensure all women thrive, whether as corporate executives, founders, or community leaders. 

We want our shortlists to know that the work they have given their life or passion to is seen, and we want to honour them for it. Over the years, we have given awards to exceptional women who have the courage to fight not only for themselves but the strength to fight for others. These awards have shortlisted over 1000 women over the years and represents an inspirational and dynamic group of women who are challenging the status quo and breaking through barriers. 

Emma Wright – 2023 Business Woman of the Year Partner Harbottel and Lewis, commented: “Being nominated and winning a Novi award was such a hugely positive experience for me- Griselda has built a wonderful network of accomplished women and I have found it such an honour to be able to join that network and when the battle cry came to support the investHER movement they didn’t hesitate.” 

Award Categories 

The 84 shortlisted candidates will compete across 14 categories, including: 

• Transformational Leader of the Year
• Emerging Leader of the Year
• Rising Star of the Year
• STEM Leader of the Year
• Inspiring Mentor of the Year
• Education/Academic Leader of the Year
• Social Impact of the Year
• International Leader of the Year
• Public/Third Sector Leader of the Year
• Start-Up of the Year
• Female Entrepreneur of the Year
• Women on Boards
• Disruptor/Innovator of the Year
• Young Entrepreneur of the Year

An overall Businesswoman of the Year will also be selected from among the category winners. 

The full shortlist for The Novi Awards 2024: 

Transformational Leader of the Year;  

Erica Katsambis, VP Partnerships, Railsr; Kate Philpot, Vice President, Getty Images; Kathryn Dolan, Chief People Officer, Bureau Veritas; Kizzy Augustin, Equity Partner, Mishcon De Reya; Nikki Stenson, Chief Marketing Officer, Credentially; Poonam Kaur, CEO, fds Director Services Limited; Sophia Aluko, Transformation Director, Barclays Bank; Ugo Ojike, Senior Director of Contract Management (Legal), UK, Ireland & Africa, ACN. 

Emerging Leader of the Year;  

Cassie Gasson, Co-CEO, Thrive; Chadya El Karimi, Planner, BOUYGUES UK; Elin Ng, Chief of Staff, Griffin; Farzana Naz, Director/Solicitor, Saracens Solicitors; Georgia Marchant, Head of Global External Communications, Fluke Corporation; Vanessa Viney, UK Innovations Manager, Airbus; Tolulope Osobu, Management Consultant, Accenture; Victoria Thorpe, UK Technology Strategy and Advisory Lead – Health and Public Sector, Accenture 

Rising Star of the Year; 

Alisha Kasobya, Apprentice, MBDA; Emily Carlson, Digital Accessibility Lead, KPMG UK; Isabella Rocha, UX Designer, IBM; Khalia Ismain, Black Entrepreneurs Programme Manager, Lloyds Bank; Swati Raipancholia, Management Consultant, Accenture 

STEM Leader of the Year; 

Krystina Pearson-Rampeearee, Engineering Delivery Lead, BAE Systems; Mivy James, Chief Technology Officer Ministry of Defence; Monica Sasso, Global Financial Services Digital Transformation Lead, Red Hat; Susan McDonald, Energy Transition Lead Deloitte’s Sustainability & Climate Strategy practice; Cheryl Razzell, Head of compute, AWS; Sue Partridge, Head of Airbus Filton and Head of Wing of Tomorrow Programme, Airbus

Inspiring Mentor of the Year; 

Abadesi Osunsade, CEO & Founder, Hustle Crew; Cordelia OSEWA-EDIAE, Director and Consultant, Cemsed Consultancy Ltd; Elizabeth Ward, Principal, Virtuoso Legal; Kasia Hayward, Consultant, incluverse; Liz Byrne, Founder, Believe Solutions Ltd; Hanaa Bengtsson, Founder CEO, OHeeBA; Ramita Anand, Founder, ElevateRA;  Sallee Poinsette-Nash, Founder, Director and Brand Strategist, Brandable & Co; Angela Browne, CEO/Founder, BEING LUMINARY. 

Public Third Sector Leader of the Year 

Emma Oldham, Environmentalist, public speaker and accomplished author, Newark and Sherwood District Council; Julie Hammond, GP, Dr Shimmins and Partners – NHS; Rehana Ramesh, Acting Director of Customer Service, Digital and Data, London Borough of Hackney. 

Education/Academic Leader of the Year;  

Asra Aslam, Research Fellow @University of Leeds, Principal Investigator @Alan Turing Institute, and Founder/Director @YourAlly, University of Leeds, Alan Turing Institute, YourAlly; Bernadine Idowu, Professor of Biomedical Sciences/Course Leader, University of West London; Camille Baker, Professor Interactive and Immersive Arts, Royal College of Art; Joanitha Ntangeki, Lecturer, University of Plymouth; Rebecca Padgett, Senior Teaching Fellow, Leeds University Business School; Tamsin Bowers-Brown, Director of the Office for Institutional Equity, Leeds Trinity University. 

Social Impact Leader of the Year; 

Abimbola Ajala, Executive Director, Lend a hand initiative; Hannah Wilson, Founder/Director, Diverse Educators; Jane Knight, Director, Successful Mums Career Academy; Julie Feest, CEO, EDT (Engineering Development Trust); Keranjeet Kaur Virdee, CEO & Artistic Director, South Asian Arts UK (SAA-uk); Pawlet Brookes, CEO and Artistic Director, Serendipity Institute for Black Arts and Heritage; Premila Puri, Interim CEO, Be Kind Movement; Rav Bumbra, Founder and CEO, Cajigo; Victoria Kinkaid, Co-founder, The FGM Education Project. 

International Leader of the Year  

Dakshika Weerasinghe, Program Manager, IFS; Erani Srikantha, Director Software Engineering, IFS; Laila Berchane, CEO and Co-founder, Robots & More; Sofia Bourhim, Research Scientist, MEF; Sonja Jost, Co-Founder & CEO, DUDE CHEM; Rohia Munavar Shaik, Senior Product Marketing Manager, Enlighta.  

Woman on Board of the Year 

Diana Madibekova, Board Member, Scholar, University of Liverpool; Chetal Patel, Head of Immigration and Partner, Bates Wells; Gisela Abbam, Chair of the General Pharmaceutical Council, The General Pharmaceutical Council; Elizabeth Vega, Group CEO, Informed Solutions. 

Startup of the Year; 

Aletha Shepherd, Producer, Shot Of Tea; Bianca Cefalo, CEO & co-founder at Space DOTS, Space DOTS Inc; Carol Mead, Founder/creator, Elyse; Nzinga Graham-Smith, CEO, The ForeverGreen Group; Sona Kaur, Clinical Psychologist / Director, Serenity Psychological and Home Services; Victoria Crampton, Director, Create Us Online and Maxwell Richards. 

Female Entrepreneur of the Year; 

Helen Neal, CEO and Founder, HN Communications; Jessica Gwaringa, Managing Director, Moonrise 24hr Recruitment; Katie Harrison, Director, Picture News; Lucy Litwack, Owner & CEO, Coco de Mer; Natalie Burkinshaw, Founder, Crush Design. 

Disruptor / Innovator of the Year; 
Vivian Bertseka, Co-founder, COO, Head of Climate, BlueLayer; Elsa Gayle Zekeng, Founder & CEO, SökerData Ltd; Nikki Garg, Co-founder & CEO, The Good Pea Limited; Pauldy Otermans, COO and Head of Research in AI, OIAI by Otermans Institute; Sejal Assi, Founder/Director, Amaura London; Vassiliki Somaraki, Founder, V&V Health Innovations Ltd. 

Young Entrepreneur of the Year; 

Caitlyn Sheldon, Director, CVS-Technical; Katherine Keddie, Co-founder Adopter; Katie Callaghan, Founder/Chair, Cards for Bravery 

Selection Process 

An esteemed panel of judges, comprising leaders from some of the world’s most renowned organizations, will evaluate each candidate based on criteria including leadership, personal insight and influence, business awareness and impact, and community involvement. 

Event Details 

The live awards ceremony will take place on November 22, 2024, at the Londoner Hotel from 10:30 am to 3:30 pm. The event will feature a leadership summit alongside the awards ceremony, offering attendees a unique opportunity to network and gain insights from some of the most influential women in business and honourees from this year’s 2nd Advocates for Gender Equality. 

Novi extends its gratitude to this year’s sponsors: BASF, The Open University, GKN Aerospace.  

The organization also acknowledges its charity partners, Ella’s. 

For more information about the Novi Awards and to view the full shortlist, please visit https://www.thenoviawards.com/.  

Tickets for the awards ceremony and leadership summit are now available for purchase at https://www.thenoviawards.com/