The Precious Awards 2008

I'm already looking forward to the Precious Awards which take place in November during Enterprise Week. It’s our chance to celebrate women of colour entrepreneurs, and show how women in business are really making their mark on UK plc. That's why I launched Precious; to celebrate the achievements of women of colour and the awards are a great arena to do that. There’s already been a lot of interest in the event and with a fashion show, high profile patrons, and some really exciting new categories in the offing; it looks set to be even better this year.

As many of you will know, the preparation for a ceremony of this kind starts early and over the last few weeks, have been putting the call out for sponsors and supporters for the event - getting sponsorship isn't easy, even in these days of corporations putting 'diversity at the heart of their agenda'. But in a strange kind of way I have been enjoying the process; putting together the proposal, tweaking said proposal, working with our branding specialist to make the proposal look good(thanks Rene!), the phone calls, emails, and other conversations, its all been an experience.

Since last year Precious Awards, I have been watching the progress of our winners with interest. The Precious Entrepreneur of the Year; Jessica Huie of Colorblind cards, has simply gone from strength to strength, her business has recently launched in the States and she made a confident and assured appearance as one of the experts on the BBC's Apprentice - You're Fired show a couple of weeks ago. Natasha Faith and Semhal Zemikael, the two young women behind luxury jewellery brand La Diosa, and winner of Best Start Up, stock their products in Harrods, have been profiled in Fashion bible Vogue and are being hailed as a big luxury brand of the future. I am really proud of all our winners!

I cannot wait to discover the entrepreneurial gems set to enter the awards this year; my fervent wish is that the Precious Awards truly gives them a chance to shine.