WHAT happens when you get a dozen female entrepreneurs together to brainstorm the biggest problems facing their businesses and the customers on whom they depend? They emerge more motivated.
Last week (Wednesday May 17) the Times was invited to join a group of some of the most successful businesswomen in Tunbridge Wells as part of the Make It Your Business (MIYB) group, brought together by Siobhan Stirling of Sharp Minds Communications.
Participants included Deborah Richards of Maddisons Residential, Victoria Sampson of CooperBurnett, Denise Hamilton of Childrensalon, Maddy Bishop of Green Planet Living, Claire Burrows of Ansacom, Amanda Redman of Amanda Redman Financial Planning, Gillian Palmer of The Finance Hub and The Property Hub, Pam Loch of Loch Associates Group, and Wendy Read of HR Revolution.
With businesses delivering a wide range of goods and services represented in one room, perhaps it was no surprise that one of the most widespread challenges identified was the transition from start-up to established business – and beyond.
Through a process of identifying the challenges facing each businesswoman, before breaking away into groups to brainstorm solutions, each participant was given a chance to address her own challenges, find support from one another, and feel part of a wider community of empowered women in business.
Over the course of the event, it became apparent that although each business faced unique challenges, there was a universality. Each businesswoman in the room had walked similar journeys, from start-ups to success.
In that realisation alone, the businesswomen stand galvanised in support for one another.
