Emma Watkinson
Born1986 (age 37–38)
NationalityBritish
Alma materUniversity of Liverpool
Occupation(s)Entrepreneur, CEO
EmployerSilkFred.com

Emma Watkinson is a British entrepreneur who co-founded and is chief executive officer of the online retail business SilkFred.[1]

Biography

Early life and education

Emma Watkinson was born in Liverpool in 1986. Her parents were entrepreneurs — her mother ran her own fashion boutiques, while her father started on a market stall and later owned pubs and nightclubs in Liverpool.[1] Watkinson attended Merchant Taylors' Girls' School until 2000. Watkinson and her family moved to Marbella, Spain in 2001 where she attended The English International College. She graduated from the University of Liverpool in 2008 with a bachelor's degree in English. She began her career working part-time on the shop floor at Whistles in 2005 whilst studying at university and then went on to work on buying and merchandising teams for various retailers, including my-wardrobe.com.[2]

In 2010, Watkinson lived in New York City[3] and interned for various fashion magazines and websites, including Guest of a Guest.[1]

SilkFred.com

In 2011, at the age of 24,[2] Watkinson and her co-founders Stephen Jackson and Kate Jackson set up SilkFred,[4] an online fashion retail platform that sells fashion from independent and emerging brands.[5] They funded the venture with seed funding from angel investors, with additional capital through crowdfunding platform Crowdcube[6][7] and later private equity firm Livingbridge.[8] The Daily Telegraph reported that the company had sales of £11m in 2016, and generates 90% of sales through social media.[9]

Mentorship and recognition

Watkinson is an advocate for female entrepreneurship and is an ambassador for Facebook’s "She Means Business" campaign.[10] She is a mentor at the London College of Fashion and is listed there as an Inspirational Speaker. Watkinson has also taken part in 10 Downing Street's "Business is Great Britain" campaign to promote small UK businesses.[11]

Watkinson was a finalist for "Entrepreneur of the Year" at the London Business Awards 2014,[2] and for "Young Champion of the Year" at The Champion of Women Awards 2017.

References

  1. ^ a b c Joanna Bourke (29 March 2016). "Growing in style — the fashion start-up reeling in Rihanna & Co to shop online". Evening Standard. Retrieved 28 November 2018.
  2. ^ a b c Graeme Moran (11 December 2015). "My Fashion Life: etailer SilkFred founder Emma Watkinson on her love of independent labels '". Drapers. Retrieved 28 November 2018.
  3. ^ Alice Abbiadati (21 October 2016). "Emma Watkinson: "Più free wifi per tutti"" [Emma Watkinson: 'More free wifi for all']. Vanity Fair (in Italian). Retrieved 28 November 2018.
  4. ^ Hannah Baker (29 March 2016). "'When women succeed economies do better'". Bristol Post. Retrieved 28 November 2018.
  5. ^ James Caan (18 March 2015). "Starting a business: how to be better than the competition". The Guardian. Retrieved 28 November 2018.
  6. ^ "4 Opciones para conseguir un préstamo de dinero y cumplir tus sueños" [4 Options to get a loan of money and fulfill your dreams]. Cosmopolitan (in Spanish). 16 July 2018. Archived from the original on 14 December 2018. Retrieved 28 November 2018.
  7. ^ James Caan (20 November 2013). "Startup success: the key to securing second phase funding". The Guardian. Retrieved 28 November 2018.
  8. ^ "SilkFred". Livingbridge. Archived from the original on 14 December 2018. Retrieved 30 November 2018.
  9. ^ Ashley Armstrong (10 December 2016). "SilkFred fashions a £100m stock market listing". The Telegraph. Retrieved 30 November 2018. ...on track to make £11m in sales this year... ... and generates 90pc of its sales through social media.
  10. ^ "Meet Emma". Facebook. Retrieved 28 November 2018.
  11. ^ "London Fashion Week SS16: Our 5 fashion tech leaders". Archived from the original on 21 March 2016. Retrieved 30 November 2018.((cite web)): CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)


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