NES Entrepreneur of Year 2008 Winner

Congratulations to Sally O’Donnell who scooped £1000 and the top award of NES Entrepreneur of Year 2008 on 10 April at the NES Regional Graduation in Preston.

The graduation was hosted by the University of Central Lancashire (UCLAN). Over 200 guests attended to network and celebrate NES achievements - which includes 1500 NES business start-ups in the North West since the programme began in 2000, and over 5000 start-ups nationally. NES Regional Manager, Dominic Martinez hosted the event, noting that the North West has supported the greatest number of NES businesses and has the highest average turnover for NES businesses in England, with particular support for women entrepreneurs with 46% of NES scholars being female, compared to a national average of 12%. Dominic also thanked the National Federation of Enterprise Agencies, the Association of Business Schools, and the Prince’s Trust for their continued support of NES.

Nurturing talent

Guest speaker Dr Nick Lancaster, Deputy Director of Knowledge Transfer at UCLAN welcomed NES scholars to the Media Factory, where the event was hosted. UCLAN’s newest building launched in January 2008, it offers state-of-the-art facilities and is fully equipped with studios and digital equipment. It also holds an incubation space to support graduate start-ups through business support programme, Northern Lights. “We’re keen to nurture graduate talent and expand business capability,” explained Nick. “Our aim is to help develop the North West as a major centre for entrepreneurial activity.”

“Encouraging enterprise and entrepreneurship are amongst the most important things that universities can do,” added Nick. “My advice to NES scholars is twofold. Firstly, there are a host of services out there for you, but you need to navigate round them to find the most appropriate ones for you. And secondly, entrepreneurship is not a ‘lonely only’ activity – companies thrive when they network, so use networking as a tool to build and expand your business. Finally, congratulations to all the scholars – you’ve earned and deserved your graduation, and good luck in the future!”

Entrepreneurial insight

Special guest speaker on the night was businesswoman Shirley Jaffrey, an inspirational entrepreneur who set up The Hemp Company and offers product range, Tattoo Aftercare. Shirley told her inspirational story about creating her business with her husband in their kitchen when they were both on benefits, building it into a company that last year sold £600,000 worth of products and sells online to a worldwide market. She advised: “Think about selling your products from the customer’s point of view. I made sure all our marketing materials were very clear and easy to read. I made it really easy to order from us too online. It only takes 3 easy steps, wherever you are in the world and I’ve put currency converter and information about postage on the website too so customers can quickly work out all the costs.”

“Think about how you would like someone to approach you if they were trying to sell you something,” she added. “We taught ourselves by experience, which included banging my head against a wall sometimes! But remember that it’s a global economy, so make it easy for anyone, anywhere to buy your products and services.”

Over 200 graduates

The key part of the evening for many scholars was their graduation ceremony. With certificates handed out by Shirley Jaffrey, NES tutors proudly announced the graduating scholars from their own cohorts. Michelle Dougherty announced 7 scholars graduating from Barrow-in-Furness - home of Lorraine Corrance, last year’s NES North West Entrepreneur of the Year who went on to become the National NES Entrepreneur of the Year. Jean Hewitt from the University of Cumbria announced 9 graduates from Cumbria, including Carlisle and Blackpool. David Drake and Peter Brown announced Lancashire graduates, incorporating those from Preston and Burnley.

Gladstone Minzie from MMU Business School congratulated 33 scholars attending from Manchester and Oldham. Amanda Smith from Liverpool Chamber of Commerce congratulated 23 Merseyside graduates. Dominic Martinez from MMU Business School welcomed 2 scholars from Skelmersdale who took the NES programme at Edge Hill University. Finally, Jennie Morgan, Rochdale Business Adviser, congratulated 9 Rochdale graduates. Though not all scholars could make it on the night, in all over 200 entrepreneurs from the North West have graduated from the NES programme this year.

NES Entrepreneur of Year

The NES Business Competition winners were also announced at the event, with Lancashire businesswoman Sally O’Donnell of QHS Consultancy fighting off stiff competition from other Area Winners to win the title. Sally from Burnley also scooped the £1,000 prize money which was donated by Blue Orchid Management Consultants and presented by their Managing Director, Heather Hayes. “It was a tough decision because all of the finalists were winners in their own right and presented very robust business plans,” explained John Monaghan, North West Regional Manager of The Prince’s Trust and Chair of the Judges Panel. “Sally stood out because she’s really worked hard to build up her business which offers consultancy on all health and safety matters, and brings enormous passion and commitment to her enterprise.”

The other finalists were also commended by the judges and received £250 each. They were Adrienne Taylor of Liverpool who runs the Good Food Store; Simon Whyatt from Manchester who set up Primal Fitness; and Edie Harbord from Cumbria who runs Gardening in Eden.