A BUSINESSWOMAN who describes herself as an ‘accidental entrepreneur’ is set to tell her story at the next meeting of the City of Newport Business Club.

Penny Power, who has been in business for more than 35 years and pioneered connecting businesspeople online, will be guest speaker at the event at the Celtic Manor Resort on Thursday, November 7.

The meeting will start at 5.30pm with a tour of the new ICC Wales before moving to the Celtic Manor Resort’s Manor Suite for the main event, which includes a two-course meal.

Penny worked in the IT industry until 1998 when she created the world’s first social network for business – Ecademy – which eventually grew into a global online community of more than 650,000 business owners.

Disrupted by the power of LinkedIn, which launched four years after Ecademy, Penny closed the network in 2012 but continues to use social networks to influence and innovate.

She is currently working on bringing a new meeting space concept, the Business Café, to market while running an online Facebook community called Business Is Personal.

Awarded the OBE in 2014 for her contribution to entrepreneurship in the social digital sector, Penny was this year named among the UK’s top 100 influential entrepreneurs.

Tickets to hear Penny speak are available now on the City of Newport Business Club’s website – newportbusinessclub.co.uk Tickets cost £20 and include a two-course meal. Discounts are available for multiple bookings.

Information about how to become a member or sponsor of the club are also available on the website.