Surrey Women Enterprise Events are the brain child of Surrey based business women Jan, Jo, Bev and Ida. The women met in 2007 through a Business Link initiative called SHE’S THE BUSINNESS. This programme supports women that are either new to business or who are established but want to develop their business skills further. Since the end of the programme the 11 participating women have remained in touch, mostly meeting monthly for mutual support.
It was at one of these monthly meetings that the idea behind Surrey Women Enterprise events was born. Both Jo and Ida had participated in events where they had paid a lot of money to organisers who had failed to sufficiently advertise, as a result the turn out for the event was poor and exhibitors had lost a significant amount of money as well as morale. Generally as start up businesses we do not have a lot of money to pay for advertising and therefore rely on events where we can show case our businesses at reasonable cost; however these sorts of events are limited. Other group members suggested that we organise our own events and invite other women in our situation to participate. This was agreed and with the New Year upon us we set about developing the idea by identifying suitable dates, booking venues and inviting others to join us.
Surrey Women Enterprise events aim to achieve successful sales events at low cost by:
1.Sharing equally between the exhibitors any direct costs (such as hall hire and advertising print work)
2.Sharing in the promotion of the event. This may be done by using all the free and low cost methods there are available (networking, email, free listings etc).
3.To provide mutual support and accountability through monthly networking events
There is no money made in the staging and organisation of the event itself, all exhibitors work as a team and although team members may have different responsibilities the overall work load is shared. The founders Jan, Jo, Bev and Ida provide a framework for the events and co-ordinate the exhibitors.
About us
Ida Horner
Is the founder and owner of Ethnic Supplies Ltd, has BA (Hons) in Housing Management and Development as well as HND in Hotel Management. Ida visited the south west part of her native Uganda in December 2006 and the poverty that she witnessed prompted her to quit her job as a Housing Manager for a London council and to set up Ethnic Supplies Ltd, an on line business that sells a range of fairly traded and ethical products made by poverty stricken African women.
www.ethnicsupplies.co.uk,
Joanna London
Is a Surface Designer and Designer-Maker. Starting working life with a BSc (Hons) in Nutrition she worked for ten years as an NHS Dietitian and still holds an active interest in diet related health. A passion for design, combined with a career break looking after her three children, allowed her to achieve a Foundation Degree in Surface Design and thereby obtain sufficient skills to create her own designer product. Joanna London Print Decorated Ceramics creates and sells designer and bespoke tableware. www.joannalondon.com
Janet Hodgson
Janet is a teacher and has a background in IT training and documentation. After graduating with a BSc(Hons) in Business and German she worked in the UK and USA as an IT trainer before taking a career break to bring up three children. She retrained as a teacher and has worked for the last 4 years as a primary teacher. She started Abacus ICT last year when she realised there was a real need for people who are new to computers and who didn’t have the training our children have to acquire the necessary skills to participate in our computer-driven world.
After being made redundant from a large corporation, working in an accounting environment, Beverley Fowler saw this as a great opportunity to change direction and re-trained in complementary therapies. She is now offering on-site seated massage and reflexology in the workplace, improving the health and wellbeing of staff, leaving them motivated and in a state of alert relaxation. www.beverleyfowler.co.uk
Our first Surrey Women’s Enterprise event is being held on Sunday 30th March at King Georges Hall Esher and will be opened by the Mayor of Elmbridge.
This year’s Sales Events
Sunday 30th March 2008 10.00am – 3.00pm King Georges Hall Esher
Saturday 7th June 2008 10.00am – 3.00pm Kingston
Saturday 6th December 2008 10.00am – 3.00pm Kingston
Networking sessions are monthly please contact us for dates and venue details
Contact:
www.surreywomensenterprise.co.uk,
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