The Women's Organisation Named Digital Champions @SENTogether Awards!

"Being short listed for an award is a great privilege. We were thankful for that. We are over the moon and still in shock that we actually went on to win!" said Jo Austin Digital Marketing Coordinator at The Women's Organisation in the wake of their victory at SEN 'Powerful Together' Awards.

The Women's Organisation were among a number of local social enterprises nominated as Digital Champions at the prestigious event held at the Town Hall, and were shortlisted alongside Sandbox Digital. 

The organisation have worked hard to build digital inclusion not only into their support programmes, but throughout their staff development and everything they do.

Through The Women's Organisation's business start-up programme women are invited to take advantage of free training around 'Selling Online - From Ebay to Etsy', shown how to use Excel for 'Basic Book Keeping' and introduced to the idea of using Social Media for business with 'Building a Social Media Strategy'.  Upon launch of their business they are invited to further build their confidence through master classes on Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, Mailchimp, Hootsuite and Blogging. 

Jo said "Digital literacy is crucial for businesses.  The fear of social media and online trading can be a massive barrier for people.  We have worked hard over the last few years to develop a full training programme to show people that e-marketing, social media and ICT practices don't have to be terrifying and complicated."

Maggie O'Carroll, Helen Millne &
Jo Austin collecting their award

And removing the fear of digital doesn't just translate to the clients of The Women's Organisation. Jo and team have been regularly supporting the staff at the organisation to grow in digital confidence and they now are awarding 'Social Media Star of the Week' for the member of staff who has boldly put some of their new found digital courage into practice. 

"From our front of house admin team right through to senior management, everyone is working to keep developing their skills so we can all be confident ambassadors of digital practices, and in turn offer brilliant support to the women who approach us for help" said Jo.

Over the last few years The Women's Organisation's digital reach has gone international, as they worked alongside partners from Slovenia, Ireland and Norway to develop a range of training modules through 'E-Business Enterprise Learning' (E-BEL) Project. Through E-BEL The Women's Organisation took the lead on developing a number of training resources and webinars that can be used by women entrepreneurs across the world to develop their e-marketing skills and understand key principles of Social Media Marketing.

The Social Enterprise Network's Awards event held on Friday 3rd October and gave recognition to the amazing work carried out by local Social Enterprises with 16 awards being presented on the night.  Host Paul Corcoran of Agent Marketing told the audience they were at the "best party in town" and the rapturous applause showed they were in complete agreement. 

The Women's Organisation would like to thank Social Enterprise Network for this award and their ongoing encouragement. 

To find out more about the work of The Women's Organisation and why they are 'Digital Champions' please visit www.thewomensorganisation.org.uk