AllBright acquires everywoman to create a global powerhouse for women’s advancement

AllBright will continue to be led by CEO Viviane Paxinos under the new structure, with everywoman founders Karen Gill MBE and Maxine Benson MBE investing in the new company and remaining as advisers. everywoman’s Chair, Rosaleen Blair CBE, will also be an investor alongside majority shareholder, Cain International.

The acquisition will support AllBright’s ambition of reaching 20 million professionals by 2030 and addressing the gender parity gap projected by the World Economic Forum to take 132 years to close. everywoman’s offerings will enhance the business with events, awards, top-tier training programmes, and content collaborations, promoting women's progress, driving business growth, and reducing gender inequality, which could add $7 trillion [1] to the global economy.

Celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, everywoman has provided training to over 200,000 women across its 70 global corporate clients, including Accenture, Amazon, FedEx, Bupa, American Express, Meta, Google, Lloyds Banking Group, and The Ministry of Defence. Established AllBright’s community consists of nearly half a million individuals globally, with a client list featuring industry leaders such as Guggenheim Investments, British Airways, Chelsea Women's Football Club, Pandora, HSBC, BNY Mellon, Tissot, Google, and Samsung.

Following the acquisition, AllBright will focus on four key areas of growth to deliver comprehensive, transformative solutions for members and clients:

• Learning and development for women and businesses: With an expanded suite of B2B and consulting services, AllBright will leverage the expertise of both organisations to help companies advance gender equality and women's leadership.
• Dynamic learning platform: Its integrated technology will tailor development programmes to the needs of women at all stages of their careers.
• Enhancing, high-value global memberships: It will combine the very best of AllBright's and everywoman's member benefits, learning resources, awards, forums, online and in person communities.
• Amplifying partnership business: With women set to drive 75% [2] of consumer decisions, AllBright will further invest in its creative studio, crafting compelling content, media solutions, and experiences tailored for brands seeking authentic connections with women.

Viviane Paxinos, CEO of AllBright and AllBright InvestCo, said: “We are super excited to announce our partnership with everywoman. Founded by two brilliant and successful women, it has a proven track record of changing the world of work for women. Together we will double down on our shared mission to create a world where every woman can thrive and achieve her full potential. We are thrilled to see progress being made at board level with 42.6% [3] of FTSE 100 boards having a woman, but there’s still a lot of work to do across the business ecosystem given all female teams only received 2% of funding in 2022 [4] and only 1% of all businesses that sold a majority stake in the past 10 years were female-founded [5]. Our partnership is a great example of a female-led organisation, selling to another female-led organisation and doing it successfully and collaboratively.”

Jonathan Goldstein, CEO, Cain International, commented: “We are delighted to continue our commitment to and support of AllBright as it takes the next step in its growth with the everywoman partnership. The opportunity to empower more women to thrive in their careers is not only good for business but good for society. We look forward to working together to build a global network for career-driven women.”

Founders of everywoman, Karen Gill MBE and Maxine Benson MBE, added: “25 years ago when we started everywoman, we were pioneering in this approach. Today, the world of work is totally different, and as we enter into our anniversary year coinciding with a new economic and political outlook for Britain, we couldn’t be more positive about this next step for everywoman. The power of the combined everywoman and Allbright offerings will give our clients and women around the world, access to more resources and networks.”

Sources:

[1] Moody’s Closing the Gender Gap

[2] Nielsen Wise Up To Women Report

[3] FTSE Women Leaders Review

[4] British Business Bank Small Business Equity Tracker

[5] Buzzacott Trends in female-founded exits