Women in Business Awards Winners Announced
25/09/2010
The Met Hotel, Leeds hosted an awards ceremony celebrating Yorkshire Womens contribution to the economy.
The ceremony, hosted by Liz Green, celebrated the work of all the shortlisted business women. Etta Cohen founder of Forward Ladies paid tribute to the thousands of businesswomen in the region, who are playing an active role within businesses, or who are running their own companies, and contributing to the success of the regional economy.
She said: “We are celebrating the success of our worthy winners, but we were overwhelmed by the response to these first awards. Women play a key role in business and industry, as well as bringing up families and we wanted to celebrate their considerable achievements. All the entrants deserve to be congratulated.”
The Full List of Women in Business Award Winners
Innovative Business Woman of the Year sponsored by O2:
Ann Harding is a founding director of the industrial provident society, Settle Hydro, which is one of the first community benefit hydro electricity companies in the country. Settle Hydro delivers around 185,000KWH of electricity to the national grid from a weir on the River Weir.
Ann’s “day” job is as project manager for the creation and development of the National Dry Stone Walling Exhibition and Training Centre at Craven College.
Manufacturing Business Woman of the Year sponsored by the Yorkshire and Humber Manufacturing Advisory Service:
Sue Taylor, Managing Director of Craftwork Cards based in Leeds, caught the card making bug while working in a stationery shop. With a background in graphic design and print, she spotted an opportunity in this niche market for supplying ideas and raw material for hobby card-makers to make their own bespoke designs.
Last year, TV shopping channel QVC approached her to supply their viewers with card-making ideas and kits. The first kits went on air last autumn and sold out within seconds. TV exposure and increased orders have increased turnover by 40%.
International Business Woman of the Year sponsored by HSBC:
Stephanie Thomson is Global Production Director for Authentix, based in Dunnington, York, and is a global leader in product authentication, providing world class technology to detect and prevent counterfeiting and smuggling.
The company’s authentication and tracking solutions safeguard consumers from harmful products and prevents corporate and government revenues being lost to illegal activities such as drug trafficking and terrorism. Clients include Fortune 500 companies and national governments, and they have recovered more than £5million in lost revenues in the oil, gas, pharmaceutical, agrochemical, tobacco, spirits and consumer goods industries.
She is developing standard operating procedures and specifications for third party manufacturers in Brazil, Kenya and Malaysia, to further improve service to clients.
Young Business Woman of the Year sponsored by Business Link
Ella Gascoigne of Startup PR is the former head of PR for a London publishing company which worked with entrepreneurs including author Rachel Elnaugh. She was made redundant in 2008, but decided to move back to Harrogate for a better lifestyle.
She contacted all the small business owners she knew to research the market for PR opportunities. That convinced her to set up Startup PR for small and medium businesses. She recently set up Business Ladies around Harrogate (BLaH), a support network and social forum for businesswomen to overcome challenges faced by female sole traders.
Start-Up Business Woman of the Year sponsored by the Yorkshire Post
Jill Thomas established her Sheffield business, Future Life Wealth Management, to provide a bespoke financial planning to individuals, SMEs and inheritors of wealth, after thirty years in the financial service sector – the last 14 as a financial planner.
Her company organises clients’ family affairs from the cradle to grave, creating wealth and mitigating taxation. She has invested in highly experienced and professional staff and within 12 months will have achieved chartered accreditation – one of only 300 firms with this status in the UK.
Technology Business Woman of the Year sponsored by Science City, York
Carolyn Pearson from Leeds, took redundancy to set up maiden-voyage.com, a social network aimed at corporate female business travellers. The free, secure site is used globally by professional women to enable them to connect up and meet for dinner or social engagement whilst away on business. All members are personally contacted to ensure safety and security, while the site provides regularly updated travel safety tips, editorial and female-friendly hotel information.
Corporate Business Woman of the Year sponsored by Bibi’s Italianissimo
Vicki Davenport from the The Pink Link, which in the past five years has achieved consistent and controlled growth. She is a seasoned transport professional, having worked for various parcel distribution companies.
She became sales manager for her father’s company – which he had bought for £1 but with £250K worth of debt. Their combined skills put them back into the black and the company was renamed The Pink Link in 1998. Together with her brother Richard, who also joined the company, they now employ 22 members of staff and 17 drivers.
Home-Based Business Woman of the Year, sponsored by Hobbs
Claire Morley-Jones of HR180°. Claire was told by a male competitor that her business would fail. Determined to prove him wrong, she has gone on to establish Yorkshire’s fastest growing HR consultancy from her home in Aberford.
Starting with just £2,000 working capital and three clients, she has built hr 180° into a nine-strong team in the space of four years, almost doubling turnover and personnel in the past 12 months, despite the recession. Her flexible approach to working has allowed her to secure high calibre candidates – all her staff is experienced, choosing to work for the company over competitors and higher salaries due to its innovative working structure. Many are mothers working from home, allowing them to balance both work and home life while still maintaining a professional career.
Not-for Profit business woman of the year, sponsored by East Coast was won by Sarah Dunwell from the Create Foundation. Sarah also won the Business Woman of the Year award.
Read about Sarah's win.