We were lucky enough to win not one, but two twitter awards in July. Jacqueline Gold CBE Women On Wednesday award on the 13th July and Theo Pathitis' Small Business Sunday award on the 31st July.
Jacqueline is chief executive of the lingerie retailers Ann Summers and Knickerbox, the Vice President of The Children's Trust and ambassador of Retail Trust.
In June 2011 Jacqueline launched a campaign, Women On Wednesday to support women in business, an area she is incredibly passionate about. Every Wednesday between 1-3pm female business owners tweet Jacqueline about their business. Jacqueline then picks her three top entries for that week and which she re-tweets and profiles, sharing details of the businesses with her existing WOW network and over 55,000 followers.
Jacqueline says “For me #WOW is all about inspiring, celebrating and connecting women in business. There are so many great businesses launching every day and whilst it’s an extremely exciting time, it can also be filled with uncertainty . My vision is that #WOW offers a place for women to network and celebrate each other’s successes, whilst gaining support and advice to grow their businesses. Every week I am so proud of all the incredible women that enter and am thrilled to see so many proving how alive the UK’s entrepreneurial spirit is, especially for women.”
Theo is well known for his role on Dragon's Den. He owns the stationary chain Ryman, the homewares specialist Robert Dyas and lingerie retailer Boux Avenue. Theo is also a Director of Comic Relief, is a patron for Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital and set up Theo Paphitis Charitable Trust which assists smaller UK charities that have difficulty in gaining funds from other organisations.
Small Business Sunday, shortened to the hashtag #SBS on Twitter, was created by Theo in October 2010. Every Sunday between 5-7.30pm , businesses tweet Theo about their business. Theo then chooses his favourite lucky six who are then re-tweeted on Monday night after 8pm. As he has over 502,000 followers, this provides a massive boost to the chosen lucky businesses. Winners also get their own profile on the #SBS website.
Theo says, "I admire people who have passion and energy. If you cannot bore your friends to death about your own small business then something is seriously wrong. I was struck by the number of business owners on Twitter who wanted to tell me about their new products and services. Small Business Sunday was born so that people have a specific time slot to tweet and can pitch their 'sell' directly to me. My vision is that everyone who has ever won an #SBS re-tweet from me becomes part of a friendly club. Like-minded individuals can share successes and learnings. This website will give a valuable profile to the winners chosen to date and should help those who have not yet won but want some tips on how to do so."
We were absolutely delighted to be chosen by two people that are highly regarded within the business world. Both the twitter award communities have been so welcoming and it is lovely to 'meet' like minded people x
