News

The Region’s Women Entrepreneurs Walk the Red Carpet

(29 November 2005)

Hundreds of female entrepreneurs, their colleagues and business professionals from across the region gathered at the Hilton Hotel in Newcastle/Gateshead on Friday 18th November to see Anne Ganley of Sunderland builders’ merchant, Thompson Building Centres win the Susan Dobson Award for Entrepreneurship and be named “North East Woman Entrepreneur of the Year 2005”.

The North East Woman Entrepreneur of the Year Awards, developed and organised by Women Into the Network (WIN) of Durham Business School, sponsored by One NorthEast and compered by Julia Hankin of BBC Radio Newcastle, saw over 450 people walk up the red carpet to hear the results and help to celebrate the achievements of our women entrepreneurs.

The nine categories on offer were sponsored by a host of organisations across the region – NetPark, South Tyneside Council, A4e, The North Eastern and Cumbrian Coop, Arts Council England, The Journal, Northumberland County Council, the New Technology Institute and The Susan Dobson Memorial Fund

Other winners on the evening were:

Most Innovative Idea – Tina Ffrench of C.S.I. Workshops
Young Woman Entrepreneur Supporter of Women’s Business – Lynn Elves of Business Link Tyne & Wear
Woman Social Entrepreneur – Sandra Kennedy of Coulkenny (TWMM) Ltd
Best Cultural and Creative Business - Carol Metcalfe & Hilary Turner of Musa Fine Art Ltd
Best Newcomer – Daniele Bainbridge of 1st Fix Recruitment
Best Rural Woman Entrepreneur – Ann Darlington of Hall Hill Farm
Woman in IT – Charlotte Gaisford, Crafty Computer Paper
An award for Outstanding Achievement in Women’s Enterprise was presented to Sadie Ayton, better known as Sadie The Bra Lady.

Lisa Vickers, WIN's Events and Communications Manager, said, "The Awards are growing year on year, showing a phenomenal amount of talent in the region. WIN, together with our sponsors, are pleased to be able to celebrate and recognise these women who are contributing to the economic growth of the region and acting as role models for our future entrepreneurs. The evening was a great success in all respects -, tickets were a sell-out, we have already had offers of sponsorship for next year and provisional bookings of tickets!"

On winning the award, Anne said, "It's a great honour to have been selected as the winner from a very strong field. These aAwards are important because they reflect the increasingly prominent role of women in senior positions in business, as well as the self-starters who are going out there with an idea and setting up their own firm.

Thompson's has come a long way in the past two years and our success is down to a lot of hard work from the entire team. I'm particularly proud to be associated with Susan Dobson through this award, she's an inspiration to many women and I'll be doing my best over the coming year to live up to her reputation”.

Attending the Awards was Martin Wyn Griffith, Chief Executive of the Small Business Service who said, “"I was delighted return to the North East to add my personal support, and that of the DTI’s Small Business Service, at this year's Awards.

From a national policy perspective, the development of women's enterprise offers regional and national economies enormous untapped potential, and is a key area of focus for the DTI and the Small Business Service. I am looking forward to continuing our productive relationship with regional partners such as One NorthEast and Women Into the Network and offer my congratulations on such a truly motivating and inspirational event once again."