What a fantastic day!
The first winner of the YWofB Award is being announced on Thursday 20 September, and the announcement will feature in the Daily Post and on BBC Wales.
Giving the winner help and support is the aim of the award, and getting coverage in a significant Welsh newspaper and via the BBC radio network is extraordinary. Deservedly so however, as the winner is extraordinary herself.
Beth Coslett is just 25, but has started her business Glamour Fix which in her own words, she started because:
"Women's confidence and enjoyment of a night out or special occasion was inextricably linked to how they looked and felt about themselves. I wanted to give ordinary women affordable access to their own professional hair and beauty team and gain the confidence that looking their best brings"
I could not be more excited that Beth is the winner. She is talented, driven, and extremely enthusiastic and the award will give her:
- 6 months of mentoring from me
- 6 months of PR and marketing support from wispa Limited
- A personal congratulatory letter from the Secretary of State for Wales
- Access to all my business contacts
- Regular featuring of the progress during the 6 months here on Huffington Post
- The announcement of her win live on BBC Radio
- BBC Radio Wales will then follow Beth's progress during the 6 months
- Daily Post will make the announcement in their business section
- The Daily Post Business section will then follow Beth's progress through the 6 months
- FSB are going to follow and write about Beth's progress through the award during the 6months
- Beth will get a promotional image to put on her website to show her achievement
Beth's concept for Glamour Fix is beautifully simple.
Girls, women, ladies who are heading for a night out or a special occasion can access a group of trained professional hair and beauty specialists who will make sure that they all look fabulous before heading out.
Now, I know nothing about the hair and beauty industry, but I do know how it makes me feel when I have made an effort to look good. The prospect of having professionals make me look great for relatively small sums of money, and with my girlfriends all with me just sounds like a brilliant start to an evening.
As a start up, there is a lot that Beth needs help with, not least of all the considerations of transitioning from a Sole Trader to a registered Limited Company. These and many more things will be where I can help her to minimise the problems that this can cause....and I am thoroughly looking forward to working with Beth to make her as successful as she wants to be.
She has already created up to 20 part time positions, and it is this in part that has attracted the attention of David Jones MP (Secretary of State for Wales) who is extremely Wales and Business positive. His team have worked with us to understand what the winner will receive, who she is and what the Wales Office can do to ensure that Beth's enthusiasm and determination to succeed is rewarded.
With attention like that and with business leaders such as Hilary Devey, and Jacqueline Gold lending their support to the award, I can only hope that other businesses take their own initiative and find a way to mentor just one or two young entrepreneurs a year. They can even get in touch with me and I will gladly tell them how I went about it.
Beth has created 20 jobs.
Imagine if 100 business leaders took the time to mentor just 2 entrepreneurs a year.
Imagine a 1000...
Imagine 10000...