Tean Dallaway, the group finance director instrumental in turning around Airsprung Furniture Group, has been named ‘Businesswoman of The Year’ in the first ever Women In Furnishing Awards.
Organised by the Furnishing Industry Trust, the sector’s charity, the awards are designed to recognise an individual or group of women who made an exceptional contribution to the business or through their efforts for charity
The organisers said Dallaway had guided the Airsprung Group through a highly volatile period with strict financial disciplines based on a sound business understanding. In four years she turned substantial losses into a profit.
The award for Inspirational Woman of the Year went to Wendy Shorter of Wendy Shorter Interiors for changing the face of training and qualification standards in the upholstery and soft furnishings sector.
An unexpected presentation of a Lifetime Achievement Award was made to Parker and Farr managing director Norma Kerry.
Other finalists to be honoured at the awards were: publisher Joanne Miller, co-owner of Interiors Media, for establishing a leading trade title for the sector despite launching in the depths of a recession; and Helen Williams of the Assessment and Training Company (Adrian Vaughan) who started her career as ‘one of the boys’ working as a flooring fitter and worked her way up to become a trainer and assessor.
Mark Symes, managing director of Willis & Gambier and a sponsor of the awards said: ‘Unlike some other sectors, the furnishing industry still tends to be a fairly male dominated environment.’
‘Holding the awards has been a fantastic opportunity to turn the spotlight onto the increasing number of very talented and high achieving women who now work in the trade and hopefully these awards will act as inspiration to women within the industry as they develop their careers.’
Tags: furnishing, inspiration, small business, small businesses, sme, SMEs, Starting a Business, success, tabitha cole
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