6 November 2008

Mentor Competition Winners Announced in Ceremony at the BT Tower

Here Come the Girls – Mentor Competition Winners Announced in Ceremony at the BT Tower

(3 November 2008) Ten women from London will have their dreams of being mentored by some of the most successful women in business become a reality next week as FreshIdeas Events announces the winners of this year’s Mentor Competition.
Eager entrepreneurs from across London entered the competition in the hope of having their ideas put into practice with the help of the best in the industry.

On Friday 7th November press are invited to the awards ceremony on the 34th floor of the prestigious BT Tower where the winners of the competition will be announced and the women will meet their mentors for the first time.

The panel of ‘Make a Difference’ (MAD) Women who will be guiding the aspiring businesswomen in London to success include Saima Butt, Managing Director of Enterprise Business Technologies, who has run her own business successfully for over three years. Saima now has a customer base of 35,000 SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises) and employs 22 people.

Saima says: “The competition is an excellent opportunity for us to give aspiring entrepreneurs essential advice to help guide them through the first few months of their business enterprise. Winning this competition could change women’s lives irrevocably as we can inject knowledge and experience into their businesses and help them achieve their goals.”

This extraordinary panel of women who unquestionably ‘Make A Difference’ when it comes to female success in business are from a variety of sectors and background. The eclectic panel joining Saima include:

• Karen Darby, inspirational entrepreneur and founder of SimplySwitch, which was sold to the Daily Mail in 2006 for £22m

• Karen Hanton, Founder and Chief Executive of toptable.co.uk; Karen was named as one of today's top 30 entrepreneurs in New Business Magazine

• Sumerah Ahmad, Co-Founder and Director of Club Asia Radio 963+972AM is no stranger to success and winning awards. Since launching Club Asia five years ago, she has scooped the Asian Women of Achievement Award and was listed in Management Today’s Top 35 Women Under 35, while her radio station, which she launched with her sister, was named the Brightest New Business in 2005 at the HSBC Start-Up Stars Awards

• Jo Haigh, Author and Head of Corporate Finance of MGR, has bought and sold over 300 companies in the last 20 years. One busy lady, Jo is also Partner of fds, a successful training and consultancy organisation; the author of three successful business books, one of which sold out in the first five days after going on sale; and has made her way into the 2008 edition of “Who’s Who of Britain’s Business Elite”

• Kresse Wesling, Director of EAKO, Babaloo and Bio-Supplies, is passionate about all things eco. She won the Entrepreneurial Woman of the Future award at the Real Business Awards in 2007, and was named in Management Today’s “35 Women Under 35”

• Polly Gowers, Founder of Everyclick.com, a search engine that gives half of its revenue to charity. Polly was voted WEBA Ethical Entrepreneur of the Year 2007 and a Blackberry Woman in Technology Award winner in 2008.

• Krista Madden, Founder and Editor of widely read online magazine, www.beautyandthedirt.com, who has been running her own businesses for the past 17 years.

• Lucy Unger, Managing Partner EMEA for renowned international design consultancy, Fitch.

• Caroline Plumb, CEO of FreshMinds Group, the business she co-founded in September 2000 straight after leaving Oxford University. With a 75-strong team, FreshMinds was crowned ‘Most Innovative Employer’ at the Market Research Awards in 2006 as well as ‘Best Agency’ which they won for the second year running in 2007.

Jackie Brennan, Director of FreshIdeas Events, the independent company that helps women to succeed in business says: “Mentoring is an excellent way to give entrepreneurs confidence as well as essential knowledge and skills. The winners will have the chance to learn from some of the best women in business and to benefit from the array of valuable experience the women have.”

Business Link provides help and advice to businesses is also supporting the competition. Fran Currie from Business Link in London says: “We are proud to be supporting the competition as it gives women from the capital the opportunity to start and grow their businesses with the confidence of having an experienced mentor advising them on their way to success.”

Further details about the competition can be found at www.freshideasevents.com.
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How to set up a home office ...

Before you set up a work station at home, check out our Seven Top Tips on how to work from home:

Your Home Office
Ideally, you will have a spare room to create a home office. If not, a corner of another room, will be fine as long as you are not constantly distracted in the family fast lane. Set up your kitSet up your computer, files and phone to give you maximum comfort for long hours. Have enough plug points for PC, printer, phone, scanner, mobile charger, fax machine and answer phone. Even better get an all in once mod con to save on a jumble of cables and wires.

Pick your desk location
You should be able to see the door of the office from where you are sitting or at least more of your surroundings. Beware of facing the garden and the bird bath – too tempting to watch the world go by! A hard chair will give you backache so spend a little extra on a good one.

Working Hours
Working outside 'normal' working hours helps to balance your work and home life so don't feel guilty dashing off to take the lads to footie after school, as long as you get your work done. Catching up in the early morning or later in the evening works well, but also watch out for going OTT. Make sure you close down and walk away at some point or the family will go hungry.

Have a breather
No matter what kind of work you do or what home you do it in, you can go bonkers if you spend 24 hours a day at it. Get out, whenever you can, to clear your head and to see other people. Use lunch time as a good break to pop down to pick up groceries for dinner, step outside to feed the birds during your coffee break or walk the dog around the block to clear the cobwebs. This is also a great way to mull over a document or get inspiration for new ideas.

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Have no fear that your social life at work comes to an end if you leave your office to work from home, in fact in some cases your relationship with your colleagues may improve. Email is instant but be careful of 'funnies' – they can eat up a huge chunk of time. Chat through business issues by phone and meet for a quick bite every now and then.

Goal scoring
Give yourself little goals and objectives and then reward yourself when they are complete. Make sure family and friends know your hours or days of working at home and stick to that. Don't be tempted to pop over for a coffee or cook a large meal. Give yourself this time as a reward for getting up early on a Monday to finish a long-winded report. Or if you score well with a new client take five to put your feet up before the school run. Whatever incentives work for you, use them to motivate yourself to balance your time around your other responsibilities.

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