£3,000 Sponsors Confirmed for 2015-2016 Competition

#IAmEnterprising was such a great success in 2014/2015 that City of Liverpool College and The Women's Organisation have teamed up again to offer students support to develop their business ideas.  

#IAmEnterprising will offer students support to develop their business ideas over a series of events between now and April 2016, competing against one another to win an overall £3,000 prize package of investment.  

Morecrofts solicitors have confirmed that they are delighted to again fund £1,000 cash sponsorship towards the prize package. £2,000 worth of business services will also be given to the winner to help them to launch and sustain their business. Also contributing to the prize package by way of services to support business start up are Pink Media, Bold Online Marketing Lewis Evans Accountants and The Women's Organisation. 

Contact iamenterprising@thewo.org.uk for details or

Contact Melanie Williams at LEX Room 2.47 for more info

#IAmEnterprising Ambassador, Gemma Longworth of The Button Boutique Brings Christmas To The Baltic Triangle…

One of our #IAmEnterprising Ambassadors and owner of The Button Boutique is bringing something very exciting to The Baltic Triangle this Christmas, her very own Santa’s Grotto!

The Button Boutique located on Brick Street was launched by textile artist, Gemma Longworth in early 2011 and is there to help others develop a love of all things textile and craft.

The Button Boutique is an art & craft studio based in Liverpool’s Baltic Triangle. A bright and colourful studio with a friendly, welcoming and relaxing environment, it was set up to inspire and stimulate people from all walks of life providing them with the opportunities to explore their creativity.

Gemma credits the City of Liverpool College in helping her learn her craft and decide which direction she wanted to take. The College with its large and varied range of courses was the perfect place for Gemma to learn more about the art and design industry and become accomplished at many different skills.

The Button Boutique runs workshops and parties of all different kind and this Christmas is launching a Santa’s Grotto for the public to come and enjoy! Gemma says:

‘Father Christmas himself and his lovely chief elf sparkles will be joining us at The Button Boutique for another year as they had such a lovely time with us last year. This will be the 2nd year running of hosting our grotto after the amazing feedback we received last year.

Here at The Button Boutique we transform our independent studio into a magical winter wonderland. Our cosy home from home, warm and friendly environment takes all the stress out of the usual annual visit to Father Christmas. No queuing in the rain; instead book your slot in our warm and inviting studio. While you wait for your visit to Father Christmas the younger ones will enjoy super glittery Christmas craft activities. Sparkles the magic elf will know when it’s your turn to see Santa.

Now for the extra special bit, our magical Santa will spend time talking to your children and tell them all about their most loved favourite things, how they are doing at school, even sing along to their favourite song...they will be surprised how much he knows...as will you!

Each child receives a special present from Santa and has a photo taken with him for you to take home.

After your time with Father Christmas enjoy a hot drink, mince pies, gingerbread, and loads of fantastic festive food some of the whilst chilling in our magical Christmas wond

erland. Festive music and Christmas films will be the soundtrack to your fabulous grotto experience.

Yes we are biased, but our independent grotto is something special.’

If you want to take your family or friends to The Button Boutique’s Santa’s Grotto, then head over to their website to find out all the information about booking your slot! 

Book Your Slot At The Button Boutique's Santa's Grotto! 

#IAmEnterprising Competition for City of Liverpool College Students Returns For Second Year

The #IAmEnterprising Competition, a partnership between The Women’s Organisation and City of Liverpool College, launched last week as it returns for its second year running, giving students the chance to win a £3,000 prize package for their enterprising business ideas.

As the competition was launched last week at The Learning Exchange Centre of City of Liverpool College, student will have between now and April 2016 to engage with the #IAmEnterprising team in a series of activities that will help them develop their business knowledge through different rounds of the competition.

This is the second time that the City of Liverpool College has linked with local enterprise support agency, The Women’s Organisation to showcase the entrepreneurial talent lying within their students through an innovative programme culminating in a business pitch competition.

The £3,000 prize package is made up of a combination of cash and business expertise that has kindly been donated by local business; Morecrofts Solicitors, Pink Media Ltd, Bold Online Marketing, Lewis Evans Chartered Accountants and The Women’s Organisation.

The headline sponsors, Morecrofts Solicitors, are donating a £1,000 cash prize for the winner for the second time running. Donal Bannon, Commercial Partner at Morecrofts Solicitors, said: ‘Morecrofts are delighted to be sponsoring the #IAmEnterprising project for a second time. The show of talent demonstrated in the participants in the first round was exceptional and I have no doubt we will see more bright and bold entrepreneurs shine through this in the months ahead.”

“The City of Liverpool College are known for their forward thinking approach to promoting enterprise and with the help of The Women’s Organisation the possibilities are really exciting. I wish the best of luck to everyone who is entering the competition.”

In 2015, over 20 business propositions made it to the final stages of judging before being whittled down to 8 businesses who were invited to pitch in the Championship Event, with the winner being announced as student, Kate Johnson and her business idea Gallery Cocoa.

Since winning #IAmEnterprising, Kate has launched her business, Gallery Cocoa, making fine chocolates and patisseries. She has been working closely with City of Liverpool College, The Women’s Organisation and the partners of the competition who have offered their business expertise. 

Kate says; “I was over the moon to have won. It was so reassuring to know that other people thought that my business idea was strong enough and believed I could do it. The support from the sponsoring businesses has been brilliant.”

To keep in touch with the developments of the programme follow #IAmEnterprising along with @TheWomensOrgLiv, @TheWomensOrg and @COLCollege on Twitter 

And if you are a student at City of Liverpool College, get in touch to find out how you could be in a with a chance of winning the £3,000 prize package.

You can email us on iamenterprising@thewo.org.uk

OR 

Fill in your THIS questionnaire with some details of your business idea!

#IAmEnterprising 2015 Winner, Kate Johnson of Gallery Cocoa Starts Her Business As 2016 Competition Commences!

With the return of our #IAmEnterprising competition with City of Liverpool College for the second year running, close on the horizon, what better opportunity was there to catch up with last year’s winner; Kate Johnson! Kate went on a roller coaster journey with us last year and was crowned the first ever winner of the #IAmEnterprising competition, receiving a £3,000 prize package which included £1,000 cash from Morecrofts Solicitors to help her get her business underway. We sat down with Kate to find out what she’s been up to and how she found the #IAmEnterprising competition!

Want to win big like Kate? #IAmEnterprising is for all City of Liverpool College students to enter! If you’ve got the seed of a business idea and want to turn it into a reality, then you’ve got to get involved! You could win a £3,000 prize package, including £1,000 cash from our wonderful headline sponsors, Morecrofts. The journey is starting soon, so if you are a student yourself, or know someone who is, be sure to tell them about #IAmEnterprising. They can find out more using the contact details below!

If there is one woman who can wiggle her way into the Pastry Kitchen of The Savoy Hotel in London whilst there for afternoon tea, it’s the talented Kate Johnson! Kate, the winner of our #IAmEnterprising competition with City of Liverpool College and founder of Gallery Cocoa and maker of fine chocolates and patisserie has such a passion and energy for her craft that we weren’t at all surprised that she wiggled her way into the professional pastry kitchens for a look around!

The Women’s Organisation first met Kate back in February of 2014 when we were part of City of Liverpool College’s Enterprise Club and she was completing her NVQ Level 3 in Patisserie and Confectionary. She then found out about the #IAmEnterprising Competition that we were running with the college, giving students the chance to win a massive £3000 prize bundle to help them start up their own businesses. Following Business Bootcamp, Kate worked closely with Melanie Williams from City of Liverpool College's Enterprise Club. Then followed a nerve-wracking pitch in front of judges, business experts and #IAmEnterprising sponsors, Kate was crowned the winner of the competition, and has been working hard all year on her business, Gallery Cocoa. 

We finally got the chance to sit down and have a chat with her about her journey, the #IAmEnterprising experience and the future of Gallery Cocoa.As well as running her business, Kate also works in museum and gallery education and has done for the past 15 years, at the moment she is splitting her time between this and developing her own business. 

But how did it all start? Where did her passion come from? ‘It started with me just experimenting at home, using cookbooks and TV programmes and I started to do more and more. At that time it was mostly baking, and then I found out about a 6 week course at City of Liverpool College, run by Claire Lara, the winner of MasterChef. I took her 6 week fine dining course, and that’s how my relationship with the college began’. After this she took another 6 week course before signing up to Level 2 ABC Pastry and began thinking about setting up her own business, although she says; ‘The timing was just never right for me to do it at that point.’

Although things began to align when she signed up to complete her Level 3 at City of Liverpool College, a day time session, meaning she dropped one day at her other work and spent one day a week with her tutor; Siobhan Sweet, expanding her knowledge and skills of patisserie and pastry. When Kate saw our signs for the #IAmEnterprising completion, she knew she should just give it a go; ‘The competition just forced me to go and do it. Rather than thinking about it all the time.’ Kate herself admits that she is the type of person who likes to plan and plan rather than dive straight into something. ‘Especially with my own business, I was worried about getting it wrong.’

But she didn’t get it wrong! Kate attended our Business Boot Camp and went away again to develop her business plan further using the templates and guidance from friends and her tutor, Siobhan Sweet who she says; ‘Is an amazing chef and brilliant support.’ Kate then pitched and made chocolates for the judges to try so they could see her work. And what was her reaction when she found out she had won? ‘I was over the moon! It was so reassuring to know that other people thought that my business idea was strong enough and believed I could do it. It was a massive boost! The support from the sponsoring businesses has been brilliant.’

Since the end of the competition, Kate has been working closely with The Women’s Organisation and Senior Business Adviser, Francine Taylor, as well as attending nearly all of Bernie’s Social Media training courses! ‘Francine has been great and the support here has been brilliant.’ As well as this she has been busy developing (and tasting!) her products, sourcing her lovely packaging and starting to think about the brand of Gallery Cocoa. Next year will have even bigger plans in store for Kate as she will soon out-grow the Production Kitchen she’s installed in her own home and will need larger premises to be able to properly store and make her delights! ‘I would also like a retail shop or premises; I think there is a space for that in Liverpool, so that’s something to think about for next year too.’

So is Kate glad that she made the jump and entered the #IAmEnterprising Competition – we think so. She says; ‘The instant support network that it created, of people who are so willing to help, has been brilliant! It’s also made me think about areas that I would not have previously thought about and forced me to actually get on with it and put together my business.’ And getting on, she is! 

We can’t wait to see what the next year holds for Kate and Gallery Cocoa and are delighted that #IAmEnterprising, City of Liverpool College and The Enterprise Club helped to make her plans and ideas into a reality! 

Want to enter #IAmEnterprising?

Email -  iamenterprising@thewo.org.uk

And check out Enterprise Club

And follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram - @IAmEnterprising 

College has been out for summer but the students have carried or regardless

College may have been out for the summer, but the #IAmEnterprising Students certainly didn’t let that stop them building on their knowledge from the competition and progressing their business ideas. As the new academic year is about to start, we thought it would be good to take five minutes and see exactly where a couple of the competition entrants are up to.

Kate Johnson

Kate was our competition winner and since May has been working hard with The Women’s Organisation to develop her ideas for her winning business idea, Gallery Cocoa. Gallery Cocoa will be a luxury chocolate and patisserie business that retails Kate’s home made goodies to individuals and businesses.  

Following winning the competition she was paired up with Business Advisor, Francine Taylor, and has attended many of the courses on offer here. These courses include; Planning for Success; a one day business planning courses which gives you all the ‘need to know’s’ about writing a business plan. 

Then for Social Media Skills, Kate has attendeda series of short workshops to learn about using social media platforms such asTwitter and Facebook for business.   

Kate has been in contact with all of the sponsors to take us the fantastic elements of the prize package , including her £1000 cash from Morecrofts Solicitors and we can’t wait until it all comes together and she is ready to launch! Did we mention as well that her chocolates are absolutely delish?? No, well we have now!

We asked Kate how she felt like things were going since the competition and this is what she had to say:

'The support has been unbelievable and I am learning so much about business. I can't wait to get going and couldn't have done it without the support of the #IAmEnterprising project'

Watch this space because we will be shouting about Kate and her business when she officially launches later in the year.

Kiara Mako

Kiara was one of the runner-up’s of the competition and has been developing her business as a Photographer and Graphic Designer with The Women's Organisation. On the day of the final pitch in the competition she brought a show reel with her of some of her fantastic photography and designs that wowed us so much, we asked her to come and do some work for us here at The Women’s Organisation.

After attending some of the courses and working with her Business Advisor, John Jones, we invited Kiara to come in and photograph some of the other women that we have been helping along in their business journeys. Kiara came in and photographed 10 women across the day and these images will be able to be used by the businesses to help them look more professional. Kiara has also been helping us to design a logo for our new and improved Business Club.

We're really proud of Kate, Kiara, and all of the other students who have also been in to see us over the holidays attending courses and taking on our advice. Self Employment doesn't only operate during term time like college does,  it's more of a 24/7 set up so the students are really setting themselves in good steed for the future by dedicating all of the extra time to their planning. 

So as we all get ready to gear up for a new academic year, we are looking forward to being back in touch with The City of Liverpool College and their students and excited at what a new term will bring. 

In the mean time if there's any students of the college that want to speak to us about their ideas, don't hesitate, as always, to give us a shout! 

Telephone: 0151 706 8111 Email: hello@thewo.org.uk

#IAmEnterprising Competition Finale And The Future of #IAmEnteprising...

The #IAmEnterprising Competition came to an exciting finale at the end of April with the 8 students pitching their business ideas. Read all about how the day went below, and remember to keep your eyes and ears peeled for future events and opportunities. The Women's Organisation are delighted to be continuing to work with students from the City of Liverpool College. Our door is always open to students from CoLC who are interested in starting their own business, or even if they are looking to gain experience in different fields, careers and sectors. Please don't hesitate to get in touch with us at hello@thewo.org.uk if you are a CoLC student and would like to speak to us about future opportunities! 

#IAmEnterprising Final - April 29th 2015

The big day had finally arrived for the 8 student finalists who were in the running to become the winner of our #IAmEnterprising project that we have been running with the City of Liverpool College. The setting for the day was the incredibly grand boardroom at the Learning Exchange Centre on Roscoe Street.

Our 8 finalists were: Kiara Makoo with her Photography and Graphic Design Business, Kate Johnson with The Chocolate Gallery, Olga Bokova with her Accountancy Practice, Jessica Pierce with 4 Liverpool, Buy Liverpool, Suzie Higgins with her handmade phone cases, Ashley Rose Standish with Rare Rose Designs, Daniel Curran and John Wilson in a joint partnership with Front Row Plumbing Services and Michael Patrick with his Photography business.

Although the students were bound to be nervous as we had asked the to prepare a 10 minute presentation to be followed by a question and answer session from a panel of judges, they had been well-prepared with our Business Boot Camp day and drop-in sessions in the run up to the big day.

We had a fantastic panel of judges, who were representatives from our sponsors and partners. These were Donal Bannon from our lead sponsor Morecrofts Solicitors, Darren McLeod from Agent Marketing, Heather Heaton from City of Liverpool College and our own Enterprise Director, Jackie Williams.

The standard of the student’s presentations was extraordinarily high, and the judges knew they were going to be in for a tough decision when they had to decide the overall winner. After much deliberation and a last minute change, it was decided that the standard was so high that there would be three runners up instead of two, and an overall winner.

Our fantastic runners up were Kiara Makoo, Daniel Curran and John Wilson, and Ashley Rose Standish, and the overall winner of the #IAmEnterprising Championship was Kate Johnson with The Chocolate Gallery, who gave a great presentation, and who the judges all agreed would benefit greatly from the prize package, and be growing her business substantially very soon!

The #IAmEnterprising Project has been fantastic, from the very first drop-ins with the students, to the action-packed Business Boot Camp, all the way through to the Championship Day. We, at The Women’s Organisation would like to thank our sponsors, Morecrofts Solicitors, Agent Marketing, Chic Networking, Downtown in Business Liverpool and our partner City of Liverpool College.

 The project has shown the need for such competitions, as the finalists for #IAmEnterprising had fantastic business ideas, passion for their work, and the drive to continue working towards their goals. And as it said on their certificates; ‘Nothing Worth Having Comes Easy’ – it won’t be an easy ride for these students, but we are positive they will all reach their goals in the end!

And the finalists are......

The final 8 City of Liverpool College Enterprise Club Students made it through Business Boot Camp, and submitted their business plans to be in with the chance to win a £3,000 prize package at next week’s #IAmEnterprising Championship Event.

#IAmEnterprising has offered students the support to develop their business ideas with a series of events over the past few months, in order to win an over £3,000 prize package of investment. The prize includes £1,000 cash sponsorship from Morecrofts Solicitors.

The remaining £2,000 will be made up of business services to help the winner to launch and sustain their business. Contributing to the price package by way of services to support business start-up are partners; Chic Networking, Downtown in Business and Agent Marketing.

The shortlisted candidates are: 

Olga Bokova, Danny Curran and John Wilson, Suzie Higgins, Katie Johnson, Kiara Mako, Jessica Peirce, Mikey Peterson and Ashley Rose Standish. 

Between them they have an exciting range of business ideas to take forward and are all current students at the college.

Donal Bannon, Head of Commercial at Morecrofts Solicitors says ‘We are delighted with the quality of business propositions submitted by the students and are looking forward to meeting the finalists and hearing their pitches at the final event next Wednesday. Congratulations to all who have taken part in the process. The drive and determination shown by the students is essential to succeed in business.’

The City of Liverpool College Enterprise Club Students who had registered their interest in the #IAmEnterprising Project, after registering their interesting and submitting a short business brief were invited to Business Boot Camp, hosted by The Women’s Organisation and attended by Former Lord Mayor and Councillor Gary Millar who spoke to the students about the business landscape of Liverpool. Here the students learnt and developed their skills in finance, marketing, presentation and other vital areas in order to prepare them for their next challenge.

Over 20 business propositions were then submitted to The Women’s Organisation and from here a shortlist of 8 have been chosen. These finalists will be present at the Championship Event on Wednesday 29^th April 2015 at the Learning Exchange Centre on Roscoe Street, to compete for the chance to win the £3,000 prize package.

At the Championship Event, the finalists will have to pitch their business ideas before a panel of esteemed judges, made up of business representatives from the college, and partner organisations; Morecrofts Solicitors, Chic Networking, Downtown in Business and Agent Marketing.

Once the winner for the #IAmEnterprising project has been announced they will receive the prize money to launch their business, a launch event from Chic Networking, branding and design support from Agent Marketing and a year’s Business Club sponsorship from Downtown in Business. 

Well done and GOOD LUCK to all of the finalists!

#IAmEnterprising Deadline Tomorrow...

#IAmEnterprising Update

The #IAmEnterprising Project is nearly over! Today we have been down at the Learning Exchange Centre on Roscoe Street for a last-minute drop in session!

The students have been working hard over the Easter holidays to get their Business Briefs up to scratch before the submission deadline which is tomorrow (Tuesday 21^st April) at MIDNIGHT!

Both the students and The Women’s Organisation had a great day at Business Boot Camp on April 1^st and we are looking forward to reading some fantastic business briefs before the Championship event on Wednesday 29^th April.

As the deadline gets closer and closer, the pressure is really mounting. With such a fantastic prize on offer, the City of Liverpool College students are getting serious about their business ideas.

In case you had forgotten, the prize is really something else, and it includes…

£1,000 cash donated from Moorcroft’s Solicitors and £2,000 worth of business support and advice from Agent Marketing, Downtown in Business and Chic Networking and Events.

Agent Marketing will offer the winning student a day of design consultancy with their leading creative consultant to help them bring their brand alive!

 Chic Networking and Events will work with the students to plan an incredible launch party for their business.

And Downtown in Business will offer the student membership to their networking club as well as crucial introductions and contacts in the business world.

With such an incredible prize up for grabs, the business ideas will have to be top notch. The next step for those students who have submitted their briefs by MIDNIGHT tomorrow will be the Championship event.

On Wednesday 29^th April the judges will choose which entries will make it through to compete in the #IAmEnterprising Championship. There the students will pitch their business idea to our panel of judges and convince them WHY their business idea is worth the £3,000 prize!

We can’t wait to see what happens and we will be sure to keep you updated on what happens next…

If you would like to find out more about the #IAmEnterprising Project then please feel free to contact us on iamenterprising@thewo.org.uk