For International Women's Day, a panel debate and networking event celebrating the women working in Tower Hamlets chaired by Josie Cox, business editor at The Independent.

Panelists are Sadia Ahmed, Deputy Youth Major of Tower Hamlets; Jessica Ayaji-Ola from Suppy Ready Tower Hamlets; Shuhena Bhanu, senior associate at the FCA; Nicola Millson founder of She Leads Change.

We'll be asking: How can more women succeed in business? What can we do on a local level to help? How can we work together more to build our businesses?

8th March 2018 - International Women's Day - 7-9pm. Free drinks and nibbles provided by The Canvas.

This is a free event.

JOSIE COX is a columnist and the business editor of The Independent. She has a passion for writing about entrepreneurialism, startups, workplace culture and diversity. She particularly enjoys profiling business people who are passionate about questioning norms and facilitating change. She grew up in Switzerland and started her career working for Reuters in Germany. Before joining The Independent, she was a market reporter for The Wall Street Journal.

SADIA AHMED is the Deputy Young Mayor of Tower Hamlets, as well as an A level student. She enjoys taking part in community projects, and is currently the editor of a journalism club. In her free time, Sadia enjoys volunteering for various organisations, writing, and travelling.

JESSICA AYAJI-OLA is a Procurement Advisor at Supply Ready – a high profile business support programme that enables supply chain diversification and readiness. Pioneering change for small businesses and supporting businesses to attain ground breaking results and growth, the work being delivered is invaluable.

SHUHENA BHANU is the first of her family to go to university. She trained as a lawyer at Clifford Chance, and was seconded to their Dubai office. Shuhena is now a Senior Associate at the Financial Conduct Authority, working mainly on Policy and Brexit law. A passionate advocate for diversity, she mentors young girls and took initiative to be a Reverse Mentor for an FCA Executive Director. Her personal achievements include published poetry, abseiling Table Mountain, and fundraising £10,000 for charity.

NICOLA MILLSON is curious about the best way to co-create collective solutions to societal challenges, at scale. She believes that together we can learn our way into a better future. She applies this collaborative learning approach within some of the world’s most pioneering companies to achieve both commercial and sustainable outcomes. She has worked with M&S, Interface, Lloyds Bank, ARUP, Tetrapak, SABMiller, Carbon Trust and others to shift their strategies, ignite their people and deliver an innovation agenda toward better business.