Intellect’s Women in IT Forum seeks to inspire, lead and influence the action to increase the number of women in IT. The forum advises ministers on programmes that need to be undertaken and the likely impact they will have. Topics that the forum focuses on include the difficulties in producing a business case for diversity, sharing best practice, legislation updates and retention issues. The Forum holds meetings regularly, mainly in London but is open to all.

OVERVEW ARC Retail provides support services to the retail industry delivered by retail practitioners with a deep working knowledge of the sector. Our real-world retail expertise helps us to deliver rapid and visible results. Our methodology is simple, so simple we named our company after it. ARC stands for Analysis, Recommendation, Change – the 3 elements we deliver to support our clients across a wide range of business problems and opportunities. We are specialists in Merchandise Planning, Demand Forecasting, Supply Chain & Inventory Management and Business Intelligence. We offer business analysts; consultants and subject matter experts; Project, Programme and Change managers; Interim operational resources; Systems specialists and Tailored training. OUR PHILOSOPHY We base our business philosophy on the same principles as most other successful businesses. Minimise overheads, Maximise revenues Ensure in everything we do we put the customer first. As it happens, the same principles apply to the worlds leading retailers. We apply these principles to pass on savings to our customers. This enables us to offer world class quality and service at a fraction of the price typically charged by the larger consultancies and software houses. We believe that a good reputation and ethical practice earns rewards today and …

The Society for Health, Environment and Women’s Development (SHEWD) is a non-governmental not-for-profit grassroots organization working in the rural Lalitpur district of Nepal. The people of the Lalitpur district are among the poorest in the whole country. The majority are farmers and craftspeople with an average annual income of less than 250 USD. This income clearly falls below the UN’s poverty line of 1 USD per day. Malnutrition, inadequate housing, illiteracy, lack of educational and vocational training for young people, unemployment, and lack of proper healthcare are just some of the problems residents face. There had been only little not-for-profit intervention in the area until 1998, when local villagers decided it was time to take action to combat the poverty. Since its founding, SHEWD has been dedicated to working for the interests of the poor on issues of health, income-generation, environment and women’s empowerment. Today, our NGO has a board of 8 and over 60 local volunteers. Our entire staff works on a voluntary basis, meaning all funding flows directly into our projects.