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Debbie Wosskow

British entrepreneur

Deborah Jane Wosskow is a multi exit entrepreneur, Chair, Non Executive Director and Business Advisor from Sheffield, UK. She is the former CEO of Love Home Swap, a subscription-based home exchange business, which she sold for $53m to Wyndham Destination Networks in July 2017. Debbie co-founded AllBright, a club and community that celebrates and connects women at work.2

From Wikipedia’s article on Debbie Wosskow (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Born 1974.1

About

Wosskow is also an influential advocate of the sharing economy and is the former Chair of Sharing Economy UK. In 2015 she led the independent government review ‘Unlocking the Sharing Economy’ - also known as the Wosskow Report. She is a Member of the Mayor of London's Business Advisory Board and sits on the Board of the Women’s Fiction Prize. In 2016, she was awarded an OBE for services to business.

From Wikipedia’s article on Debbie Wosskow, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.2

Companies

Early life and education

  • Date not recordedNew College3

Wosskow was born in Sheffield, South Yorkshire in February 1974. and later moved to Leeds at the age of ten.

From Wikipedia’s article on Debbie Wosskow (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Career

Occupation: business executive.5

Entrepreneurial success

By the age of 25 Wosskow had co-founded Mantra PR with Lawrence Dore. In 2001 she was selected as one of Management Today’s 35 Women Under 35, while Mantra was sold to the Loewy Group for several million dollars in 2007. In 2008 Wosskow co-founded Maidthorn Partners, an investment and advisory firm aimed particularly at assisting media and tech companies.

In 2011 Wosskow launched Love Home Swap, which is now the world’s leading home-swapping platform. After an unsatisfactory hotel-based holiday with her two young children, Wosskow watched The Holiday, starring Kate Winslet and Cameron Diaz, and was inspired to create a business that would enable subscribers from across the world to exchange their homes. An investment of £7.5m from Wyndham Worldwide, along with the acquisition of 1stHomeExchange and HomeForExchange, have helped Love Home Swap to grow exponentially – its website now features more than 100,000 homes from 150 countries.

In 2017 Wosskow sold Love Home Swap to Wyndham for $53 million.

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Supporting female entrepreneurs and AllBright

As an Angel Investor, Wosskow has frequently backed female-founded companies and is outspoken about the need to improve gender imbalances in entrepreneurial activity as a way of creating greater equality and unlocking new sources of economic growth. In 2018, she teamed up with Anna Jones, then CEO of Hearst Magazines, UK, to co-found AllBright, an education and networking organisation designed to provide a platform, skills and connections to working women across the UK. AllBright comprises Members’ clubs, Academy and Live Events to celebrate and connect working women.

From Wikipedia’s article on Debbie Wosskow (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Awards

  • Date not recordedOfficer of the Order of the British Empire6

Sources

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