A prominent figure in the City of London has said she will champion many more women becoming business owners in the armed forces community.
Diane Côté, former Chief Risk Officer at the London Stock Exchange Group was speaking after it was announced she has been appointed as a Non-Executive Director of X-Forces Enterprise which helps and supports members of the Armed Forces Community start their own business.
Diane added: ‘We are seeing now more investors increasing their investments in female entrepreneurs. In the post pandemic landscape there will be plenty of opportunities for people to get their business ideas off the ground.
‘We need to provide women with all the support required to ensure they can seize these opportunities and achieve their dream of becoming entrepreneurs,’ she added. Diane has played a major role in launching and supporting programmes to increase the representation of women at senior and board levels in companies and also to increase the number of women launching their own company.
Ren Kapur MBE, the founder and CEO of X-Forces Enterprise said Diane’s appointment ushered in an important new era for the company:
‘Diane is absolutely right when she talks about helping women entrepreneurs into business. Since X-Forces Enterprise was launched in 2013 we have supported many hundreds of women from the armed forces community into business, and we aim to help many more.’
In addition, the MoD is placing an increased importance on support for the spouses and partners of serving personnel, both male and female. Ren added:
‘Spouses and partners play an important role in the retention of armed forces personnel and have many exceptional attributes that can be channelled into enterprise and business ownership.
‘Diane has a brilliant track record in the City of London and her experience will be so useful to us.’
Lieutenant General Richard Nugee CB, CVO, CBE, the British army’s former Chief of Defence People and patron of X-Forces Enterprise said that Diane’s appointment is a sign of XFE’s success at matching the integrity, energy, passion, leadership skills and adaptability of those in the armed forces community and making them into successful entrepreneurs.
‘Diane brings with her outstanding experience, is very high calibre and a very well regarded figure in the City who will bring invaluable knowledge, significant commercial experience and proven leadership skills to the Board. It’s a very exciting future at X-Forces Enterprise.’
