Franglais27 Tales

Continuing from Women’s History Month’s celebration of women’s achievements and successes, Veuve Clicquot’s Bold Woman Awards carries the torch opening awards season through a female gaze.

Now in its 53rd year, the awards began in 1972, channelling the entrepreneurial, innovative spirit of La Grande Dame herself, Barbe Nicole Clicquot Ponsardin, as the pioneer at the helm of a winemaking business. Madame Clicquot was an inimitable trailblazer and the Bold Woman award is now the longest running international award championing the successes of women in business.

The 2025 ceremony was held at the illustrious Royal Opera House in Covent Garden with a glass of Veuve Clicquot, setting the tone, paired with light canapés on the terrace. Previous recipients of the Bold Award from 2021 were also playing a role in the ceremony in delivering a presentation before the awards announcement.

Outgoing Veuve Clicquot Marketing Director, Carole Bilde, also addressed the audience with an encouragement to think bold within her emotional heavy speech. Bilde outlined her preference not to use the words ‘empowered’ and ‘boosted’ when describing women as her belief is that visibility is a key strategy for women.

The Bold Woman Award was the first of its kind to be launched to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Veuve Clicquot. Its aim is to champion an entrepreneurial dynamic for the future. The 2025 nominees therefore encompassed a diverse range of sectors being Anne Aslett, CEO of Elton John AIDS foundation, Vivian Wong, co-founder of Little Moons and Dame Julia Hoggett, CEO of London Stock Exchange.

The second award presented that night was the Bold Future Award. This award was created in 2014 as a celebration of innovation. The shortlisted nominees equally comprised a range of sectors with Ayesha Ofori, founder and CEO of Propelle, Nina Mohanty, founder and CEO of Bloom Money and Insiya Jafferjee, co-founder and CEO of Shellworks, a company striving for sustainability via reducing plastic waste.

The winners were announced with Julia Hoggett being awarded the Bold Woman Prize. Hoggett spoke of women no longer needing to feel that they should be quiet about their experiences or having to compete with men in spaces. Hoggett’s motivational speech provided several useful tips for future generations of women:

‘You can lead from every seat that you’re in …’
‘Leadership is dancing from the edge of authority’
‘Don’t ask permission …. just do it!’

Jenny Garrett OBE epitomised the sense of entrepreneurial drive whilst presenting the Bold Future Awards onstage. The prize was awarded to Insiya Jafferjee with recognition of Shellworks’ determined sustainability strategies. Jafferjee’s speech discussed the possibilities for the future and her desire to build a world where those possibilities for women become a reality as she believed that it takes an entire village to support creativity.

Additionally, there are other initiatives that Maison Veuve Clicquot has adopted for supporting women in business. Bilde mentioned the Bold Open Database and encouraged audience members to join. Created in 2022, the year of the 250th anniversary celebrations for Veuve Clicquot, this platform connects journalists, investors and other interested parties with women entrepreneurs. Such initiatives may, therefore, assist to close the funding gap encountered by female owned businesses. Other benefits are the platform’s ability to create a community and network of the women to connect with each other.

The nominees and winners mingled after the ceremony with more Veuve Clicquot champagne pouring in celebration. The Bold award ceremony truly is an inspiring event showcasing the talents of many female entrepreneurs as a powerful example of Veuve Clicquot’s legacy.