March 2008

March was an interesting Month at Ethnic Supplies in one way or another, it was also a busy month that involved a lot of planning and brought new opportunities too, not to mention the challenges, the greatest of which was not having access to a fully functioning Broadband service

On the 1st of the month we had a memorial service for Dad and I had the toughest job of delivering the testimonials. This was a real challenge but it also gave me a chance to reflect on what sort of business man my father was, amongst other things. My father was unique in the sense that when he made a decision to go work for himself all he had was a strong conviction that he would succeed. This would carry him through the first month for you see; having set himself up as an architect he had no customers for a whole month, but he had this incredible belief that his luck would turn and it did indeed, in more ways than he could have anticipated.

As a new business Ethnic Supplies Ltd certainly faces some challenges will I like my father have the courage, patience or the self belief to stay the whole course? Someone told me once, as your travel to your destination it’s best not to think of the whole route ahead!


On 5th of March I was invited to participate in a road show by my local Business Link called “what is stopping you?” I appeared as a panellist and addressed local women trying to set up in business. What an incredible experience. I was especially touched by 2 women who walked up to me after the event and said that as a result of my appearance they were going to change their business idea and set up something similar to Ethnic Supplies to help women in the Gambia! What a success!

I threw myself into getting this project off the ground with the help of so many good and generous friends and Wow what a journey



The month of March also saw the launch of Surrey Women’s Enterprise of which I am a co-founder and Director. What started out as a support group for us women new to business ended up a fully pledged Social Enterprise registered with Company House. As our first event was due on 30th we had a mad dash to get everything finished. This meant late night meetings in Fetcham and Bookham, organising and sending off press releases, getting participants on board, handling objections Phew!

Further details at www.surreywomensenterprise.co.uk/

With all that going on in March by the 1st week of April I was truly run down and was down with the flue for a few days