Women in Business — Ethnic Supplies

Spreading the word

May 30, 2011 By idahorner

Image via Wikipedia

Hmmm, it has been way too quiet here for several reasons- but hopefully that will not happen again. I will promptly pick up where I left off- NIKKI P’s 30 Day Blogging challenge, here is the last post

Today’s challenge is about spreading the word- promoting someone else’s blog specifically one of a fellow participant in the 30 day blogging challenge

I have selected 2 people to promote

Pippa Haines a part time web designer I like this post Have you got The X-Factor about Cheryl Cole’s sacking from The X-Factor, I have never sat through an entire episode/series of the The X-Factor so what I know about the show can be written on the back of a stamp. But Pippa gives sound advice and tips on where and how to find inspiration for blog posts and why this matters for a small business.

The other reason by reading Pippa’s post made me revisit a post here about Cheryl Cole’s malaria episode- Will things improve for the poor girl?

Amanda Barber makes soap and other bathroom goodies- her blog post how to make Bath Bombs is full of tips on how to make your own soap but also on the necessary EU regulations that might affect you. I loved this post and Amanda’s blog generally because I love all things handmade and the idea of self sustaining is really appealing

This is a short post to enable you to go an explore both Pippa and Amanda’s blogs- but please do come back and share what your thoughts here

Filed Under: Latest, Women in Business Tagged With: Africa, CHERYL COLE, Daily Mirror, Nicole Scherzinger, Paula Abdul, Pippa Middleton, Simon Cowell, Twitter, United States, X Factor

#30dayblog- A day in the life of

April 4, 2011 By idahorner

Yesterday’s challenge in this 30 day blog challenge was about the Women in my life and today’s challenge is for me to tell you about my typical working day.

Planting trees at the Villages in Action conference in Uganda

I really do not have a typical working day but as online enterprise there are things that I must do daily and these things make up my marketing strategy

My working day begins at 6AM and the things I usually do at this time are

check and send emails
this is also a good time to call suppliers in East Africa, given the time difference which ranges 2-3 hours depending on the time of the year
I schedule the day’s tweets
catch up with folk on Facebook, Business fights poverty and LinkedIn
I write the day’s blog post if I didn’t do so the night before
I oversee Africa on the Blog to ensure that there is a post for that day
update the website with either new products or take off those that have sold

Depending on the time of the year normally the first half of the year where it is very quite I will take on additional work outside of Ethnic supplies to make the books balance, so I might be gone working for someone else for the entire day. Phone calls are mostly scheduled, so that I can give the caller undivided attention

Other activities taht may fill my day include

reading to upgrade my knowledge and my preferred reading is the Poverty blog on The Guardian
contacting and following up buyers
face to face networking
planing speaking engagements
Coordinating the work of LTHT
I also collaborate with others so depending on what it is an entire day maybe taken up by such projects or it might be a Skype chat with others involved
looking for new customers

But most of that can change depending on where I am in the world as part of my work involves hands on project management on the ground.

Filed Under: Latest, Women in Business Tagged With: Africa, Business, East africa, Facebook, LinkedIn, Skype, Social network, Twitter

The women in my life

April 3, 2011 By idahorner

Day 6 of Nikki P’s 30 day blog challenge- day 5 was about writing a guest post for another site. My challenge for today is to write about someone else and tell you how awesome they are!

I often tell you about the women behind the fabulous products at Ethnic Supplies but you never hear about the women that make it all work once the products arrive here in the UK. This post is therefore is about those women. They are many and I can’t possibly name them all!

These women share their skills and time with me to ensure that I can be effective at what I do and for that I am grateful. I can honestly say I could not do what I do without them.

Freda

Freda-I met Freda on Twitter a few months ago and I cannot begin to tell you how generous she has been with her time thus far. Freda is an Electrical Engineer and terribly response job but since meeting her she has found time to cover a speaking engagement for me when I was double booked, help out at exhibitions in London and to promote Ethnic Supplies on line. In Freda I have found someone that is as passionate about I do as I am.

Sarah- I met Sarah on Ecademy nearly 3 years ago and as they say the rest is history. Sarah is a firm advocate of

Sarah

my work and takes ever opportunity to promote my work amongst her huge network online.

Sarah is the Communications Manager at Arrow Light Haulage. Sarah is one of the leading bloggers here in the UK and specializes in Multi Author blogs and when I approached about an idea for all Africa blog she promptly indulged me and the result is AFRICA ON THE BLOG- Sarah also takes time out of her busy schedule to contribute to this blog

BIRDS- this is a team of women who blog on the aptly named BIRDS ON THE BLOGwhich is led by Sarah. This team are not only fab friends but support my work at LET THEM HELP THEMSELVES OUT OF POVERTY by ensuring that 2 orphaned GIRLS have access to education. The BIRDS encourage folk in their individual networks to support and donate money for the various community initiatives in Ruhanga SW Uganda and one such initiative was the distribution of 250 mosquito nets to the folk of Ruhanga

Nathalie Jamois- I met Nat on ecademy as well and she is the brains behind the fab Ethnic Suppli es

Nathalie Jamois

website. She is terribly creative and has done her best to help me understand how websites etc work, but the jury is still out as to whether she has succeeded. As well as knowing her in a professional capacity, she is a personal friend and a confidant. She sometimes drives me mad but I love her to bits

Nawale- I met Nawale when I appeared as a panelist at one of the Business Link road shows for women CALLED what is stopping you. She got in touch and 2 years on she has taken over the sales side of Ethnic Supplies.

Foluke Akinlose- I met Foluke 2 years ago when I was nominated for the PRECIOUS AWARDS.

Foluke Akinlose

I am grateful to Foluke as she uses every opportunity to promote my work including inviting me to contribute to her latest book The PRECIOUS book of quotes

Irina

Irina- I met Irina through Nat- I have never met her in person as she lives in Russia but I am proud to count her amongst my good friends and we have been known to spend hours chatting on skype. Irina is the brains behind the design of this website as well as the LTHT charity webiste and I grateful to her for being so generous as a friend and for sharing her skills with me

Ces

Ces is the brains behind Brand Buzz. She too is an avid advocate for my work and has used her expertise in branding to develop a whole new look for the LTHT website. I was pleasantly surprised when her and lovely hubby dropped in one evening to understand what I do and how they can help, bearing in mind that they lived in Liverpool at the time.

Grace

Grace is a fellow Ugandan and I met her on UgPulse an online for Ugandans. Grace has been there since the early days and is one of the people I turn to when stuff doesn’t make sense. She is very grounded and calm even when the rest of the world is flapping. She is generous with her time and has been called on many times than I can remember to represent Ethnic Supplies.

They are so many women that make my life easy, I would be here all day if I tried to name them all. You know who you are girlies, I am grateful to you all ladies!

Filed Under: Women in Business Tagged With: Africa, Mother's day, Twitter, Uganda, Women