Theo Paphitis Award For Business Woman From Kent

April 3, 2012 - PRLog -- On Friday (30th March 2012), Sarah Dening, a business woman from Broadstairs, Kent, travelled to Edgbaston Stadium in Birmingham to collect a business award from Theo Paphitis of Dragons Den.  Coincidentally, this was also Sarah’s birthday.

The awards ceremony was sponsored by Ryman, and introduced by the CEO of Ryman -  Kypros Kyprianou.  Sarah was also able to meet success stories from Dragons Den including Magic Whiteboard (which she also sells via her website www.ShopOnYourDoorstep.com), WedgeWelly, Value My Stuff and SteriSpray.

On arrival at the Stadium, a super shiny silver car announced that Mr Paphitis was certainly in the building. Greeted with a drinks reception, winners mingled and said hello, and interviews were filmed for the new website.  


Following the drinks reception, winners were then invited through to the conference area where Kypros Kyprianou, CEO of Ryman, introduced Theo Paphitis.  Theo then welcomed the winners, and talked about his ideas for the future of Small Business Sunday (“SBS”).  

The new website www.TheoPaphitisSBS.com was then unveiled (created by an SBS winner, of course) – the website will feature all winners including images and links to their websites and hopefully create a community where all winners can support each other.  SBS weekly statistics and news are also available via the new website.  

After the presentation, there was a long Q and A session, followed by the opportunity for all winners to meet Theo and have a photograph taken.

A goody bag from Ryman was also given to winners including an account opening form and a £50 credit for all SBS winners.

Sarah said “It was a pleasure to attend the SBS winners conference, and I thoroughly enjoyed meeting other winners and some of the success stories from Dragons Den. Obviously, the highlight was meeting Theo Paphitis himself and I hope to utilise the business advice he gave to me”.

   

BACKGROUND TO SARAH DENING AND SHOP ON YOUR DOORSTEP:

Sarah Dening is a married mother of 4 children (aged 11, 9, 6 and 2) who lives in Broadstairs, Kent.  Shop On Your Doorstep is an online department store selling “gorgeous gifts, inspired interiors and terrific toys”.  www.ShopOnYourDoorstep.com started trading on 1st July 2010 and since then has exhibited at The Ideal Home Show at Christmas (Earls Court) and Spirit of Christmas (Bluewater).  Sarah’s products regularly feature in national press including The Telegraph, Daily Mail Weekend Magazine, Pregnancy & Birth, Kitchens Bedrooms & Bathrooms and Closer.  www.ShopOnYourDoorstep.com has won a SBS Award from Theo Paphitis, a WOW Award from Jacqueline Gold, and 2nd place in the Ecommerce in Kent Awards 2011.  Sarah has been listed in the Top 100 UK Mumpreneurs by Mumpreneur UK.

BACKGROUND TO SMALL BUSINESS SUNDAY AWARDS:

Small Business Sunday, shortened to the hashtag #SBS on Twitter, was created by Theo Paphitis in October 2010. Theo is best known for his star role in TV's Dragons' Den. He is Chairman of Ryman Stationery plus Boux Avenue lingerie and joint owner of Red Letter Days.

Theo is also a mentor and investor to many other business acquainted via the 'Den' including MagicWhiteboard, WedgeWelly, Steri Spray and Value My Stuff.

Each Sunday Theo rewards small businesses that tweet him @TheoPaphitis and describe their business in one tweet including the all-important hashtag #SBS. Only tweets made in the time slot between 5.00 PM and 7.30 PM count.

Each week Theo reviews and chooses his favourite lucky six who are then re-tweeted. As he has over 230,000 followers, this provides a massive boost to the chosen lucky businesses.
On Sunday 18 March 2012 – Mother’s Day - there were an amazing 1,747 tweets to @TheoPaphitis with the #SBS hashtag.  (Statistics courtesy of @virtualbuscent).

Sarah Dening, owner of Shop On Your Doorstep, was chosen by Theo Paphitis as one of his winners.  Her tweet was then retweeted to his 230,000 followers:

“@TheoPaphitis pick me for #sbs – online retail store run by mum of 4 in Broadstairs, Kent – gorgeous gifts for everyone www.ShopOnYourDoorstep.com”

Following her win, Sarah said, “I’m thrilled to have won this award from Theo Paphitis – after months of trying.  My online store www.ShopOnYourDoorstep.com has been trading under 2 years and to attract this level of endorsement is amazing”.

“The initial response has been fantastic.  My number of followers on Twitter has increased by over 300 in a matter of hours, and traffic to my website is also up.  I would encourage any small business owner to tweet Theo on Sunday”.

THEO PAPHITIS SAYS:

Theo says, "I admire people who have passion and energy. If you cannot bore your friends to death about your own small business then something is seriously wrong. I was struck by the number of business owners on Twitter who wanted to tell me about their new products and services. Small Business Sunday was born so that people have a specific time slot to tweet and can pitch their 'sell' directly to me.
All my businesses are privately owned and entrepreneurial in spirit. My stationery firm Ryman has thousands of small business customers, which is why they are now kindly sponsoring #SBS. I want to offer benefits to #SBS winners, past and present and the link with the stationery retailer allows me to do this, so thank you CEO Kypros Kyprianou and Co.
My vision is that everyone who has ever won an #SBS re-tweet from me becomes part of a friendly club. Like-minded individuals can share successes and learnings. This website will give a valuable profile to the winners chosen to date and should help those who have not yet won but want some tips on how to do so. You will find news about the latest winners plus events and activities of interest.
I know I have been lucky in business and I am keen now to spread goodwill to others, of course not forgetting that very often, you make your own luck by making use of every opportunity."


For more information or high resolution images please contact:

Name: Sarah Dening
Company:  Shop On Your Doorstep
Website: www.ShopOnYourDoorstep.com
Email: enquiry@shoponyourdoorstep.com
Twitter: @shoponyourdoors
Telephone: 01843 808061

Name:  Donna Chan
Company:    Theo Paphitis / Ryman
Website: www.TheoPaphitisSBS.com
Email:            events@theopaphitissbs.com
Twitter: @TheoPaphitis

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