26 Martha Lane Fox

Martha Lane Fox has spent the past year pursuing the huge task to get the 10 million British adults who don’t have access to the internet online. Predominantly older people, those from less privileged backgrounds and often women, Lane Fox realises there is a chunk of the population who aren’t digitally engaged.

The campaign has already encouraged 1.3 million people online and is looking to increase this in the run-up to the 2012 Olympics.

Using her retail clout, she has encouraged several retailers to sign up as partners to the campaign, including Comet and Marks & Spencer. In June, Lane Fox signed up John Lewis, which promised to help its 21,000 partners become digital champions, helping customers to get online and shop via the internet.

There is huge potential for the etail sector if Lane Fox succeeds in getting people online, which comes at an important time for ecommerce as its growth over the past few years begins to slow.

Lane Fox still maintains links with retailers, holding director positions with both M&S and Mydeco.com, giving her invaluable insight into the challenges that retailers both big and small face.