Emma Watkinson is a British entrepreneur who co-founded and is

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

of the online retail business SilkFred.

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 A market stall or a booth is a structure used by merchants to display and house their merchandise in a street market, fairs and conventions. Some commercial marketplaces, including market squares or flea markets, may permit more permanent stal ...

and later owned pubs and nightclubs in Liverpool. Watkinson attended

Merchant Taylors' Girls' School Merchant Taylors' Girls' School is a selective independent girls' school in Great Crosby, Merseyside, England. History Merchant Taylors' Girls' School was established in 1888, having inherited the buildings from the boys' school that had move ...

until 2000. Watkinson and her family moved to Marbella,

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

in 2001 where she attended The English International College. She graduated from the

University of Liverpool , mottoeng = These days of peace foster learning , established = 1881 – University College Liverpool1884 – affiliated to the federal Victoria Universityhttp://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/2004/4 University of Manchester Act 200 ...

in 2008 with a bachelor's degree in English. She began her career working part-time on the shop floor at

Whistles Whistling without the use of an artificial whistle is achieved by creating a small opening with one's lips, usually after applying moisture (licking one's lips or placing water upon them) and then blowing or sucking air through the space. The a ...

in 2005 whilst studying at university and then went on to work on buying and

merchandising Merchandising is any practice which contributes to the sale of products to a retail consumer. At a retail in-store level, merchandising refers to displaying products that are for sale in a creative way that entices customers to purchase more i ...

teams for various retailers, including my-wardrobe.com. In 2010, Watkinson lived in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and interned for various fashion magazines and websites, including Guest of a Guest.

SilkFred.com

In 2011, at the age of 24, Watkinson and her co-founders Stephen Jackson and Kate Jackson set up SilkFred, an online fashion retail platform that sells

fashion Fashion is a form of self-expression and autonomy at a particular period and place and in a specific context, of clothing, footwear, lifestyle, accessories, makeup, hairstyle, and body posture. The term implies a look defined by the fashion in ...

from independent and emerging brands. They funded the venture with seed funding from

angel investor An angel investor (also known as a business angel, informal investor, angel funder, private investor, or seed investor) is an individual who provides capital for a business or businesses start-up, usually in exchange for convertible debt or owners ...

s, with additional capital through

crowdfunding Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and alternative finance. In 2015, over was raised worldwide by crow ...

platform Crowdcube and later

private equity In the field of finance, the term private equity (PE) refers to investment funds, usually limited partnerships (LP), which buy and restructure financially weak companies that produce goods and provide services. A private-equity fund is both a ty ...

firm

Livingbridge Livingbridge is a mid-market private equity firm launched in 1995. Headquartered in London, the firm also has offices in, Melbourne, Australia and Boston, US. Livingbridge was known until November 2014 as Isis Equity Partners, but rebranded as ...

. ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

'' reported that the company had sales of £11m in 2016, and generates 90% of sales through

social media Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...

Mentorship and recognition

Watkinson is an advocate for female entrepreneurship and is an ambassador for

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

’s "She Means Business" campaign. She is a mentor at the

London College of Fashion The London College of Fashion is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London, in London, England. It offers undergraduate, postgraduate, short courses, study abroad courses and business-training in fashion, make-up, beauty-therap ...

and is listed there as an Inspirational Speaker. Watkinson has also taken part in

10 Downing Street 10 Downing Street in London, also known colloquially in the United Kingdom as Number 10, is the official residence and executive office of the first lord of the treasury, usually, by convention, the prime minister of the United Kingdom. Along wi ...

's "Business is Great Britain" campaign to promote small UK businesses. Watkinson was a finalist for "Entrepreneur of the Year" at the London Business Awards 2014, and for "Young Champion of the Year" at The Champion of Women Awards 2017.

References

British women company founders English businesspeople in fashion People educated at Merchant Taylors' Girls' School Alumni of the University of Liverpool British women chief executives 1983 births Living people Businesspeople from Merseyside {{fashion-bio-stub