|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
    |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||
|
Blackburn woman triumphs over adversity to be named one of the UK's top 10 new business heroes in national awards
A Blackburn woman, who has triumphed over personal adversity to successfully establish her own business, has been named one of the country's Top 10 business heroes in The Barclays Trading Places Awards. The Awards, which are supported by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Jobcentre Plus and The Prince's Trust, were launched in March to recognise men and women who have overcome various barriers and battled against the odds to positively change their lives by setting up a business. Debra Reynolds, who started School of Sign Language, is now hoping to go on to scoop the top prize worth over £7,000 at a glittering gala Awards Dinner, to be held in London on 2nd October. In 2003, Debra was battling depression. A single mother of two little girls, she was in debt and struggling to make ends meet. Moreover, Debra has impaired hearing, which meant she had struggled through school and left with no qualifications. In spite of her problems, she wanted to help other young people with hearing difficulties and enrolled as a volunteer for a local Deaf Charity. The bills were still piling up, but Debra found a new sense of purpose. She took a British Sign Language course and discovered there was something she was good at, that could make a difference to other people's lives. When she was offered a part-time paid position at the Charity she thought her dreams of becoming a British Sign Language Interpreter were about to come true but then, just four weeks before Christmas, her manager told her that funding for her job had run out. Refusing to give up, Debra struggled on, continuing to study while providing communication support for other deaf students at colleges in her area. Then she realised she could achieve far more by setting up her own business. The School of Sign Language was established in April 2006 to provide on-site British Sign Language and Deaf Awareness courses, an interpreting service and a recruitment agency for Communication Support Workers. It aims to break down barriers between the deaf and hearing communities, address the dire shortage of interpreters and create employment opportunities for deaf people. The last 12 months have seen highs and lows for Debra. In July she nearly lost her life, due to a severe internal haemorrhage, then she was nominated as 'Linguist of the Year'. She has moved into offices, employed a staff of deaf and hearing workers, full-timers and volunteers, and has delivered taster courses in signing to more than 5,000 children, as well as picking up a good range of clients. With her health still a major issue, Debra is full of plans for the future, including raising funds to franchise her School of Sign Language, and is adamant that if you have a dream, nothing should stop you achieving it. Barclays, which is spearheading the Awards, aims to champion small companies by providing extensive localised knowledge and award winning services - 80,000 fledgling entrepreneurs got their feet off the ground last year with Barclays' support. Barclays Local Business Manager, Shahan Aljilani, said: "Trading Places is a celebration of unsung heroes who, in spite of great personal challenges, have taken steps to establish a sustainable business and, in doing so, changed the direction of their lives for the better." "The School of Sign Language shines out as a real-life example of an outstanding business that has thrived despite what seemed like impossible odds." "I congratulate Debra on reaching the National Finals and hope her inspiring story will prove to other people in Blackburn that self employment can be possible if you've got a dream and the guts and determination to make it work." As part of their prize, the 10 National Finalists will all attend a glittering gala Awards Dinner in London at the Marriott Hotel, Grosvenor Square, on October 2nd, where they will each receive £2,000 worth of free business advertising from Thomson Local Directories, plus software worth £450 courtesy of Microsoft. In addition, the winner and runner-up, to be announced on the night, will also collect £5,000 and £3,000 respectively, courtesy of Barclays. National judges include John Bird, founder and editor-in-chief of the Big Issue; John Davis, Barclays Marketing Director for Local Business; Ian King, Business Editor of The Sun; Robert Cuming of The Prince's Trust; Eileen Thomson of Jobcentre Plus; Ann Carter-Gray of the DTI; Raj Kakar of Thomson Local Directories and Jane Fletcher of Leonard Cheshire.
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||
