Allbright, a global collective of women in business, has acquired Everywoman, an international learning and development organisation, to create “a global powerhouse for women’s career advancement”.
The purchase of Everywoman will support Allbright’s mission to accelerate women’s career advancement, achieve gender equality and support leading businesses.
Currently, the two businesses have a combined client base of more than 8.25 million employees. But this is expected to grow to 20 million professionals worldwide by 2030.
The acquisition will be made through a new holding company Allbright Investco, which was set up to enable further growth
Everywoman’s events, awards, top-tier training programs and content collaborations will continue to promote women’s progress. This, in turn, will drive business growth for the amalgamated business and help reduce wider gender inequality.
Research from Moody’s, conducted in 2023, found that closing the gender gap in work participation and in management in OECD countries could raise global economic activity by around 7 percent or $7 trillion. Closing the gaps in large emerging economies, including India, would raise that potential further.
Post M&A focus
Following the acquisition, Allbright said it will focus on growing learning and development for women and businesses, offering a dynamic learning platform, enhancing its high-value global memberships, and amplifying partnership business. This will be key to boosting economic growth as women are set to drive 75 percent of consumer decisions.
Viviane Paxinos, CEO of Allbright and Allbright Investco, will continue to lead the business and Everywoman founders Karen Gill and Maxine Benson will invest in the new company and remain as advisers to the business.
Everywoman chair Rosaleen Blair will also invest alongside majority shareholder Cain International.
Paxinos 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 percent of FTSE 100 boards having a woman.”
Business ecosystem
But Paxinos said: “There’s still a lot of work to do across the business ecosystem given all female teams only received 2 percent of funding in 2022 and only 1 percent of all businesses that sold a majority stake in the past 10 years were female-founded.”
She continued: “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 at Cain International, said: “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.”
Pioneers
Founders of Everywoman, Gill and Benson, added: “Twenty-five 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.
“The power of the combined business offering will give our clients, and women around the world, access to more resources and networks.”
Quarter of a century
In 2024, Everywoman celebrates its 25th anniversary.
Since it was set up, it has trained more than 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.
Allbright’s community counts nearly half a million individuals globally, with a client list featuring Guggenheim Investments, British Airways, Chelsea Women’s Football Club, Pandora, HSBC, BNY Mellon, Tissot, Google and Samsung.
