Shortlisted candidates in the Women in Business awards
On 29th September I travelled to Newcastle to attend the Forward Ladies National Women in Business awards luncheon, having been shortlisted in the SME Emerging Business (under 10 employees) category.
Although I didn’t go on to win this Yorkshire & North East regional heat, it was still a fabulous day. Up against some amazing ladies, some with companies turning over millions or with their own TV slots, I felt very honoured to have featured among the select few to get that far.
Sponsored by HSBC, the annual awards for entrepreneurial female business leaders from start-ups to multi-million pound organisations, are in their sixth year. The judging panel is made up of leading business personalities and entrepreneurs including Karen Boswell, the managing director of Hitachi Rail Europe, Ajaz Ahmed, the founder of Freeserve and Debra White, the Regional Director of Small Businesses at HSBC.
I’d been sceptical about even applying, but was encouraged to do so by a former client contact and it did teach me a valuable lesson; never underestimate yourself. I routinely encourage clients to enter awards and help with writing copy for their applications, but this was the first time I’d knuckled down to have a go myself, and look how far I got!
More to the point, as a PR exercise it has been fantastic, with so much encouragement and feedback from business associates. The coverage I’ve gained has already got me in front of one new client who had no previous knowledge of Manifest.
So, as one of my clients said to me the day before the ceremony (thank you, Caroline Duckworth of High Trenhouse for this) “eyes on the prize” – if you are thinking of entering your business for any awards – just DO IT, you really have nothing to lose and so much to gain!