The Precious Awards 2009

'It was the best one yet'...that's how our sponsors summed up the 2009 Precious Awards, sponsored by Pearson plc, which took place on November 16.

We had asked our guests to 'dress up' (cryptic huh?) but they truly did us proud as finalists and guests arrived in an array of beautiful dresses and stunning shoes. Our co-host Rasheed Ogunlaru even wore a silver suit!

The first part of the evening bore witness to some furious networking - which is what Precious is all about - over some wine and food - and there was a genuine air of positivity and optimism all around.

Then the awards presentation kicked off (hosted beautifully by Rasheed and Jessica Huie) and for me it all passed in a flurry, thank goodness we recorded it. Some of the most poignant moments included Jessica Elliot, winner of the PRECIOUS Young Entrepreneur of the Year dedicating her award to her friend Daniel De Gale and Jo Behari, the PRECIOUS Entrepreneur of the Year, busting into tears on hearing she had won!

I'm really proud of all our finalists and I was struck by how determined, passionate, humble and indeed how very precious they all were. I wished we could have given awards to all of them, yet as the saying goes and as the judges said repeatedly throughout the judging - they are all winners. Indeed, and we'll be doing our best to support all of them.

Click here for a list of the 2009 PRECIOUS Awards winners

Time to go Bro

I've been a major fan of Big Brother from the start, I even went to Tom's (from BB1) eviction) but even I have to concede that it's time for BB to disappear from our screens - at least for a bit.
It's just plain boring now; everyone seems to have stopped trying, in particular the producers of the show. There are barely any tasks, the housemates are just plain uninteresting - apart from Marcus who looks as if he could tear down the house in a heartbeat if someone upsets him again - and its now just taking up valuable airtime.
Maybe Channel 4 could do somthing crazy and commission some new programmes from some genuine new talent.

And we're off

It's that time of year already, I can hardly belive it, I'm really excited that the Precious Awards 2009 have launched. www.preciousawards.com Bring on those brilliant female entrepreneurs of colour!

It's great that we are working with Pearson again (our lovely headline sponsors) and we're being supported by our partners at the British Library too. We've also secured another great line-up of judges. Our presenters are pretty special too (yes that's you Jessica Huie and Rasheed Ogunlaru)

Last years' Precious Awards winners have gone from strength to strength, the latest news is that our Entrepreneurs of the Year, La Diosa, are all set to showcase their beautiful brand at Buckingham Palace this month!!

I'm really looking forward to discovering the entrepreneurs that this year's nominations will bring and maybe gain an insight into the effect the recession has had. on those passionate and strong enough to set up or grow a business.

Foluke is the future...apparently!

I was delighted to be named as one of Courvoisier's “The Future 500” a list of the country's top achievers across ten wide-ranging categories.
Whats more I was chuffed to be named as one of the top 100 'Ones to Watch' one of the few women of colour in the list. The full list of 500 was published the Observer newspaper and Courvoisier hosted a spectacular party for the Future 500 at The House of St. Barnabus in Soho in December.

Here's the blurb:

Launched in 2007 The Future 500 (F500) is a network created by Courvoisier, designed to support and promote Britain's most sparkling talent across the UK. Selected by a panel of inspirational judges, all members have achieved significant success in their field - be it as an artist, businessman, entrepreneur or activist
Courvoisier has created a platform for Britain’s brightest talents to connect, share their vision, inspire one another and ultimately collaborate to achieve even greater success.

For me it was a great way to end a really great year and I'm really looking forward to finding out what being in the network involves.

Happy New Year to you all!!
x

And the winners are...

Oh what a night!

The 2008 Precious Awards was an evening to saviour and I'm still reeling from the positivity and warmth this night of celebrating some of the UK's top Black and Asian female entrepreneurs produced.

Our hosts for the evening were Hannah Pool, Guardian writer and author and Rasheed Ogunlaru, the Precious business coach, who opened the event with messages of support from David Cameron, Nick Clegg and Baroness Amos.

The evening proceeded in style with an entertaining, warm and humorous speech from Jennette Arnold, leader of The London Assembly. Recently named as one of the most powerful black women in the UK Jennette had the audience almost entranced as she shared her story of her rise to the top. And then the awards began…

Seeing each of the winners head up to the podium to receive their award reminded me of how difficult the judging process had been. There was lots of healthy discussion and debate between the judges about the winners of each category, which only served to emphasise the high quality of the nominations we received. What was most telling to me was that so many of our winners were so surprised to be recognised. This enforced for me why the Precious Awards are necessary to play a role in celebrating the dedication, passion and sheer hard work that Black and Asian female entrepreneurs display to achieve success.

And the winners were:
Best Business: Samantha Alfred, Jivana Style,
Creative Business of the Year: Imtaz Khaliq: Imtaz Bespoke Tailor,
Best Service Business Paschorina J. Mortty: The One Event,
Best Start Up Business: Annick Adjo: Atelier Annick Ltd,
Best Social Enterprise, Abiola Okubanjo and Yemisi Gibbons: Forefront Training
Young Entrepreneur of the Year, Samata Angel: Samata's Muse,
Inspiring Leader within the Workplace, Nike Folayan: Mott Macdonald UK

The Precious Entrepreneur of the Year: The Judges Prize, went to Natasha Faith and Semhal Zemikael of La Diosa two young incredibly focused inspiring women whose luxury jewellery brand is set to soar even higher. I'm so proud of them and all our finalists and winners.

We're already planning the 2009 Precious Awards... I hope that you will be able to join us.

C'mon lets celebrate

Things are looking great for this year's Precious Awards; we have some great sponsors, a lovely venue and some special judges including Sonita Alleyne, CEO of cross-platform production company Somethin' Else(which is the largest independent radio producer in the UK and a top ten producer of TV entertainment) and Marcia Williams, Head of Diversity at the UK Film Council.

Once again, it was really bought home to me why there is still a need for initiatives such as the Precious Awards.
A few days ago I was chatting to a female entrepreneur via MSN:
"Your name came up just the other day" I said,
"Oh really?" she asked, "Why?"
I explained to her that someone had nominated her or was about to nominate her for a Precious Award.
"Oh no" she said, “I am sure that there are other people out there more deserving than me. Maybe I'll enter next year."
This woman, lets call her Annie, has been running her successful business for about five years, she has a healthy turnover and is respected in her industry yet was reluctant to come forward for some recognition.

"I think the awards are great" Annie said, "I just don't think I am ready yet."

I was disappointed but not surprised. There are so many women of colour running successful businesses up and down the country, yet they feel unsure or nervous of accepting recognition.

The Awards are not just about celebrating entrepreneurs, they are about creating role models too. We are trying to create a legacy, where young girls and women are surrounded by the stories of successful women who look like them too. Where its commonplace to hear of a women of colour setting up her first, second or third business or heading to the top in corporate UK, and firmly believe that they can do it too.
That's what the awards are all about, the Precious Awards are about women like 'Annie'. So, if you know of a woman of colour, who is running a great business or is steering a leadership role within corporate UK, then nominate her today. Just head to: www.preciousawards.com

Testing Times

At Precious HQ, we've just launched a social networking aspect to the main site: The Precious Network. Why? Well, we've had lots of requests from our members, asking how they can connect with each other online and we always try to do as our members ask!

New launches are always exciting, but no matter how big or small the venture, there are always those niggling worries. In this case they were, in no particular order: Will anyone sign up to the network? Will it be genuinely useful for our members? Does it detract from the main Precious brand? How long do we leave it before we move it to another platform?

As we test out the site, I am also thinking of the other areas that Precious is looking to branch into and its made me more determined to get on and just have a go! That's the great thing about being in business, you just HAVE to try different things and go on new entrepreneurial adventures. That's what it's all about.

If the idea of connecting with some Precious women appeals, then please do sign up to the Precious Network here. Enjoy!