Women contribute 7.3% to UK’s economic growth THE number of business start-ups by UK women have on average increased by 52% from 60 000 in 2003 to 126 000 in 2017.
In a statement released by Every Woman Awards recently as they honoured UK’s women entrepreneurs, the organisation said female-owned businesses are now delivering £3.51 billion to the British economy, which amounts to 7.3% of the UK’s economic growth.
Every Woman Awards further pointed out that as self-employment grows, this is the rightful moment to support more women into entrepreneurship.
“It is predicted that by 2020, 50% of the working population will be self-employed, making everywoman’s mission to encourage and support women to build growth businesses as timely as it has ever been,” said Every Woman Awards.
The organisation further announced that it is encouraging that women’s contributions are growing at a time when the country’s economic growth forecasts have been cut amid Brexit negotiations.
“With the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) cutting growth forecasts for the UK in November and Brexit negotiations continuing to cause economic uncertainty, this recognition of the contribution that female entrepreneurs make to the country’s economy could not have come at a more pertinent time,” the statement noted.
The Awards The ceremony saw a dozen awards being dished out to different successful female entrepreneurs with the NatWest Every Women Award going to Victoria Robertshaw of Keelham Farm Shop.
2017 NatWest Everywoman Award – Victoria Robertshaw Victoria was honoured for her business acumen and the tenacity shown when overcoming the many obstacles faced on her journey to creating an immensely successful business.
Victoria took Keelham from years of generating £2 million per year, to an annual turnover of £21 million, producing and selling fresh produce to over 1 million customers in the last 12 months alone.
After her father died, Victoria took over the business and used the expertise and experience she gained from working in London for 13 years in accountancy and corporate strategy for some of the UK’s biggest retailers, to transform the business.
Spirit of Everywoman Award – Prue Leith Created to recognise a woman whose determination, commitment and pioneering spirit has helped change the landscape for women in business in the UK and paved the way for others, the award went to Prue Leith CBE, entrepreneur, restaurateur, TV presenter and 2017 Great British Bakeoff judge.
Everywoman Ambassodor Award – Charlotte Tilbury Charlotte Tilbury was honoured with this award for founding the eponymous beauty and skincare brand, Charlotte Tilbury.
The award recognises that by so doing, Charlotte is a role model to young women considering entrepreneurship.
The Artenis Award – Sandra Sassow The Artenis Award which recognises the most inspirational woman running a business trading for 18 months to 3 years went to Sandra Sassow of SEaB Energy.
According to the Every Woman Award Sandra entered the market by inventing and developing small-scale appliances allowing people to process their own waste and convert it into renewable energy, water and fertiliser.
“Sandra is making it normal to talk about waste, which is not only a big achievement, but also a necessary one, and SEaB’s customer base now includes Fortune 500 companies, hospitals, hypermarkets and multinational property developers,” the statement said.
The Demeter Award – Julie Wilson and Amy Livingstone Sponsored by Nutriment Limited, the Demeter Award went to Julie Wilson and Amy Livingstone of Cheeky Chompers, manufacturers of the world’s first chewable dribble bib for teething tots, which has just sold its millionth product.
The two are said to have started from a simple idea inspired by their own experience of having to constantly re-sanitise their children’s dropped teethers, Julie and Amy spotted a gap in the market and created Cheeky Chompers from scratch.
“After personally designing the bibs, sourcing the best materials and testing each product for quality, Cheeky Chompers hit the shelves in 2013 and can now be found in some of the UK’s best-loved retailers such as John Lewis and Marks and Spencer,” said Every Woman Award.
The Athena Award – Anne Timpany This Athena Award was scooped by Anne Timpany of On Tap Plumbers from London. As Every Woman Award summarises it, after leaving New Zealand to travel the world, Anne found herself in London where she launched On Tap Plumbers with her husband.
Just as they started the company, Anne became pregnant but didn’t let this stop her from hitting the ground running, publicising their services and gaining new business.
This start-up commercial plumbing business, in an industry dominated by major construction companies, has since become extremely competitive and worked for some of London’s most iconic buildings including Facebook’s London Headquarters.
She is passionate about educating the next generation of plumbers in the UK and visits colleges to inspire students to consider it as a career path.
The Hera Award – Jo Stroud For successfully running a jewellery business for more than 10 years Jo Stroud was awarded the Hera Award.
Through her company Mantra Jewellery, Jo designs meaningful pieces of jewellery engraved with inspirational and uplifting quotes, designed to have a positive impact on the way the customer feels.
Before establishing the brand, Jo was one of the first high street stockists of many leading jewellery brands, including Pandora and Thomas Sabo, through her retail stores, Fabulous.
After her suppliers pulled out to start their own stand-alone high street stores, they soon became her competitors. Jo decided to tackle this head on by focusing on developing her own brands, including Mantra Jewellery, taking her from being a curator to a creator.
The Gaia Award – Dulma Clark
Designed to honour the most inspirational and successful female founder of a social enterprise who has combined strong community benefit with a sustainable business model the Gaia Award went to Dulma of Soul Africa.
Established in South Africa and recently registered in the UK, Soul of Africa is dedicated to providing local women and young people in Africa with invaluable skills and employment through the production of shoes made from all-natural materials.
It has generated over $2 million worth of wages, supported over 18,000 children and partnered with charities to allow tribesmen in Namibia to commercialise their craft for making sandals.
Beyond Office and Schuh in the UK, Soul of Africa is currently selling shoes in 20 different countries worldwide.
The Aprodite Award – Kate Ball Sponsored by the Daily Mail, the award is designed to cherish to efforts of a woman who founded her business whilst raising a child/children aged 12 or under.
This year it went to Kate Ball, founder of Mini First Aid. She , began as a sole trader offering life-saving baby and toddler first aid classes to parents and carers in Leeds. After a successful year, Kate saw huge potential for growth and Mini First Aid now has 40 franchisees, providing a range of training classes to adults and children as young as three years old across the UK.
After unexpectedly having twins while her business was expanding, Kate persevered through the early hours of the morning and has now gained interest in the USA, Australia and Dubai, where she plans to continue raising awareness about the importance of life-saving training
Brand of the Future Award – Whitney Bromberg Hawkings
Sponsored by The White Company, the award recognises the efforts of a female entrepreneur whose early stage business demonstrates huge potential for growth.
The award went to Whitney Bromberg Hawkings of FLOWERBX. Whitney worked for TOM FORD for 18 years, working her way up to Senior Vice President of Communications, before deciding to chance a new business idea.
She now owns FLOWERBX, an online, wholesale flower-delivery website that is revolutionising the way individuals buy flowers. FLOWERBX cuts out the middleman by sourcing flowers directly from a supplier in Holland, which allows competitive prices and international delivery in as quickly as two days.
Whitney is now working towards launching FLOWERBX internationally, starting with the Middle East market.