Rochdale Businesswomen Enjoy “Made in Rochdale” Event

Made in Rochdale Exhibition stands

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Rochdale celebrated the first of the “Made in Rochdale” event on Tuesday morning, 7 March as exhibitors from over 40 female run Rochdale businesses showcased themselves at the Town Hall. Rochdale’s Womens Enterprise Initiative hosted the event which marked the celebration of International Womens Day.

The public flocked to the town hall when its doors opened at 11am to get a taste for what was on show, whilst business visitors sought to improve their connections and to network with the exhibiting businesses. As well as providing an insight into the success of businesswomen in Rochdale, the event allowed businesses to gain some important support and advice, which was provided by the Rochdale Business Support group and by keynote speaker Nighat Awan (OBE), who provided an inspiring speech.

Nighat told the women, “It’s a pleasure for me to be speaking to you. We are so inspired by the work you have put in today. Women are becoming increasingly important in business and that is no more evident that at today’s event.” Councillor, and Rochdale’s Deputy Mayor, Jean Hornby then took to the stage to officially open the event. She announced, “I’m delighted to be here and what a pleasure it is to open the first event based solely around female business and entrepreneurs in Rochdale. We are surrounded by bright, innovative businesswomen here today and we are living in exciting times with a lot of regeneration going on in Rochdale.”

A competition ran throughout the morning for the exhibitor with the most innovative stand and this was won by Tracie Powers of the Urban Gallery. Tracie was commended for her enthusiasm and professional approach in working with other people. Tracie was delighted to have won the award, “I’m so pleased to have won against such strong competition. This event is a great idea and it’s great to see so many women like me doing so well in Rochdale, hopefully there will be more like it in the future.”

As well as the exhibitors there was also a “Network Corner” and a “Meet the Buyer” event set up so that businesses could improve their connections. The “Network Corner” allowed visitors to post their business details on a message board so that suppliers and customers could read them. Meanwhile, the “Meet the Buyer” event provided local businesses the chance to meet corporate buyers from North Manchester. Such events are important for Rochdale’s economy as it encourages larger businesses to buy local.

The event ran until 7pm, which meant a busy day for everyone involved, but by the early afternoon, event organiser Barbara Davidson could already see the successes that the occasion had provided, “From the moment we opened there was a good mix of businesses and members of the general public and there has been nothing but positive feedback, people have already commented on the professionalism of the women involved. This shows any other would be entrepreneurs that these women have done it so they can do it too.”

Rochdale Boroughwide Housing sponsored the event and they spoke of the importance of supporting women in business, “One of our key priorities is to build sustainable communities on the borough’s estates and as such we are proud to support this initiative which can only help to boost the local economy and empower local women into developing their entrepreneurial skills.”