Coconut Creatives’ Director of Media, Sally Anne Butters, received her latest accolade as Woman Service Provider of the Year at the 2014 NatWest EWIF Awards yesterday. This is the fifth time the awards have been held and, interestingly, this award was won by Coconut’s founding director Sarah Carlile back in 2010.
EWIF (Encouraging Women Into Franchising) is a not-for-profit organisation that aims to encourage women to get involved in franchising, whether buying one or developing their existing business into a franchise opportunity, running regular meetings across the UK. This year, their awards event was even bigger and better thanks to the hard work of all their volunteers from the franchise industry.
Commenting on the day Louise Bruce, co-chair of EWIF, said, “As ever, a wonderful day, positive in both theme and spirit. Every year our judges struggle to choose between the worthy entrants who make it through to the finals and this year was no different.”
Louise Harris, co-chair of EWIF, concurred, “It’s great to know we have honoured some of the best in the industry, both upcoming and established women in franchising. We hope it will inspire women everywhere to take a closer look at franchising an as option, either buying into one of the many women-friendly businesses available or franchising their own business.”
Marcelle Ingrouille, Head of Franchise Recruitment, at Merry Maids who sponsored the Woman Service Provider of the Year award explained that Sally had been chosen as the winner due not only to the significant growth in her own business but also the great results for her clients showing a real return on investment from their franchise recruitment marketing activities.
Sally realised she was the winner when Marcelle mentioned her latest fundraising attempt with the Three Peaks Challenge, “At that point, I realised it must be me they were talking about. How many other people in the room could have been mad enough to try such a challenge on the hottest day of last summer?!”
“In all seriousness, it is a real honour to receive the award and it’s great to be recognised for a job well done. EWIF is a great organisation be part of and we’d like to thank the Louises for the tremendous developments they have led over the last two years as co-chairs.”
Graeme Jones, Head of Franchising at NatWest said, “Franchising has proven itself once again to be a great way to get into business. EWIF provide a tremendous source of support and we are delighted to celebrate these awards.”
If you would like to encourage more women into your franchise network, why not contact us!