Our Leading Ladies series hears from some of the nation's inspiring female entrepreneurs. We learn more about their career and lessons learnt along the way. The series is open to all and not aimed solely at a female audience, our Leading Ladies can inspire the most senior of business people across the region. 

Poonam will be accompanied by two of the regions leading female entrepeneurs for a panel Q&A session at the end of the event. Join us for breakfast as we learn more from these inspiring Leading Ladies.

Dr Poonam Gupta OBE

Dr Poonam Gupta OBE is a leading UK entrepreneur and CEO of one of Scotland’s most successful export businesses, PG Paper. Her portfolio of companies now has an annual turnover of circa $100 million, operating in over 60 countries, with offices in India, the US, China, Sweden, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.

With a career-long interest in strengthening and enabling greater collaboration between Scotland and India; Poonam led a successful Scottish Chambers Task Force to India in 2019.  She has been recognised as one of the ‘100 Most Influential in UK-India Relations’ by India Inc Group. Poonam is currently Chair of the Manufacturing Sector Committee of the FICCI UK Council, the largest and oldest apex business organisation in India.

Poonam is Vice President of the Scottish Chambers of Commerce and her entrepreneurial and business efforts have also been acknowledged by her peer group and the industry at large; for which she has received several business awards; most recently Ernst & Young’s ‘Entrepreneur of the Year’ in 2019. In recognition for her service to charity and business, she was awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the Queen’s New Year Honours List in 2016.

Poonam is a benefactor of a number of local, national and international charities; with a particular focus on woman-centric issues, disadvantaged children, gender equality and animal conservation.

Panel Members:

Sarah Petrie, Director, Innovation and Operations, MSIP                        

Kirsty Macari, Co-Head of Undergraduate Programmes (Architecture and Urban Planning / Contemporary Art Practice), University of Dundee