The Whole Point launches in Newcastle
Last Wednesday, The Whole Point’s Newcastle board celebrated its official launch with a fantastic event at The Biscuit Factory’s Garden Room.
With 100+ leaders, founders, and investors in the room, the venue was buzzing with energy and support for women-led businesses. As The Whole Point’s co-founder, Zandra Moore MBE, said in her opening remarks, “I’ve been in too many rooms where there’s lots of nice talking. Now, we need to act.”
A panel discussion between members of the Newcastle board stressed the importance of network and collaboration in the region, challenging Newcastle’s professional community to work more cohesively to back high-growth, women-led businesses.
“Women-led businesses do not have lesser ideas or products — they’re just as good or better. But women are less able to scale because of a lack of funding. We need to open more doors for women. We need to lift each other up,“ said Debra Leeves, Chair of The Whole Point’s Newcastle board.
In Newcastle, women-led businesses receive just 7.3% of funding (May 2026 data from The Data City). The launch felt like a pivotal moment in turning that around.
Thank you to our sponsors for the evening: Lloyds Banking Group, Lloyds Business & Commercial, Perspective Financial Group Ltd, Square One Law | B Corp™, and The Biscuit Factory.
The ‘Elevate Series’ is back
In this issue, we’re elevating Debra Leeves, C-level exec, investor, and board advisor. Deb’s experience on both sides of the investment table can shed light on parts of the fundraising process that female leaders don’t get to see:
“I believe it’s important for women to recognise that there are multiple funding routes available, and they don’t need to be tied to just one.”
Read the full interview with Debra here.
And thank you to the powerhouses behind this edition: The Whole Point Newcastle’s board members, Jo Clough, Social Sustainability Director at Lloyds, and Naomi Allen Seales, Investment Manager at Northstar Ventures.
Welcome, Lauren and Maxine!
We’re so pleased to welcome Lauren Bennett to The Whole Point team. With 13+ years of experience in branding, marketing, and communications, Lauren has joined us as Marketing and Communications Manager. Lauren’s based in Newcastle but her role supports all of our boards and she’ll be driving awareness of The Whole Point across the regions.
In other Newcastle news, Maxine Fox has joined The Whole Point’s Newcastle board. Maxine is the Managing Director of full-service business consultancy 5 Circles, and was instrumental in the success of last night’s launch party. Great to have you here, Maxine.
Five regions. UK-wide change.
Keep up to date with the latest from The Whole Point’s five regional boards here on LinkedIn and on Instagram (@thewholepointuk).
We’re stronger together
Ready to make change? Share this update with the high-growth female business leaders in your network.
And invite them to join The Whole Point ecosystem https://thewholepoint.co.uk/join-the-whole-point-ecosystem/