A British beauty queen has been awarded a six month business bursary by Northamptonshire accountants, Elsby & Co, to help her grow her business.
Charlotte Giles is a 24-year-old business development director for Tracie Giles Bespoke Permanent Make Up (www.traciegiles.co.uk).
A British beauty queen has been awarded a six month business bursary by Northamptonshire accountants, Elsby & Co, to help her grow her business.
Charlotte Giles is a 24-year-old business development director for Tracie Giles Bespoke Permanent Make Up (www.traciegiles.co.uk). Charlotte won the award at the final of Miss Universe Great Britain in Cardiff earlier this month. Her business provides dedicated designer permanent make-up and advanced skin-care programmes from a chic Knightsbridge salon, which is the first of its kind in the world.
Thirty six young women took part in the Miss Universe Great Britain competition with a view to representing the UK at Donald Trump’s Miss Universe pageant at an exotic location overseas later this year.
Thirteen of the candidates applied for the Elsby & Co Business Bursary award which has been launched this year to add value to the competition’s commitment to empowering young women.
The business bursary is a six month entrepreneurial support programme worth £2,000. Charlotte’s prize will consist of an initial business health check, a strategic planning report followed by six months advice and mentoring.
The award is being offered by Elsby & Co Chartered Accountants in Northampton which specialises in adding value to clients’ long term business goals through strategic financial and business advice. The mentoring will be offered by the firm’s senior partner, Carl Elsby, who set up the business 25 years ago, aged 22, and now employs a team of 25 and managers an annual turnover in excess of £1m. Carl was keen to sponsor this bursary because of his desire to help dynamic young people succeed in the world of business.
He said: “I got plenty of help from people when I started out, so it is good to do the same now, for others. The quality of entries from the contestants was extremely high and congratulations must go to all those with entrepreneurial ambition. Charlotte stood out as an individual who has already achieved a great deal but has significant plans for growing the business in the future. She understood all the opportunities and challenges facing her sector but is making steady progress in taking the business to the next level. I hope our business bursary complements what she already has in place and makes a real difference.”
Charlotte said: “I am excited to have won and look forward to seeing how Carl’s support will help me roll out my plans. I know it was a prize which was extremely welcomed by so many of the contestants so I am thrilled to have won it in its first year.”
To apply for the Elsby & Co Business Bursary, contestants had to complete a questionnaire. Three were then shortlisted and interviewed by Carl. Runners up for the award were Imogen Mitchell from Newcastle who runs online fashion retail outlet www.fash1.com and Charlotte Hodson from The Wirral who runs www.theyogbar.co.uk – a frozen yoghurt bar which provides a healthy alternative to ice-cream.
Although there was only one Business Bursary, Carl has made a commitment to offer general support and guidance for all the other applicants.
The Miss Universe Great Britain competition is the UK’s annual entry in to Miss Universe which is owned by American business tycoon Donald Trump. The overall winner of the Miss Universe Great Britain 2015 title was 24-year-old Nena France, a model from London. The current Miss Universe is Paulina Vega from Columbia.