“Why fit in when you were born to standout?” Dr Seuss.
A friend of mine asked how the IWD dinner went and the answer popped right up as I was so proud, “Because it was a real team effort, the evening became an unforgettable event.”
Our founder, Suzy Ogé, flew all the way over from Jakarta to be Master of Ceremonies for the event.
The wonderful Sanggar Mirah, a group of young Balinese dancers from The Hague entertained us with their intricate traditional dances (no, Suzy didn’t bring them with her!)
The keynotes Marianne Abib-Pech shared with us about leadership still resonates in my mind:
- Perception
- Knowing what you want
- Differentiation
- Stop: “I’m not good enough”.
Hear an interview with Marianne Abib-Pech and Outreach Egypt by Lily-Anne Stroobach from Dutchbuzz radio here:
The winners of the Entrepreneurial Awards 2014 are:
- The Ambition Award: Marianne Abib-Pech
- The STRONG Award: Kyrin Hall
- The Social Innovation Award: Outreach Egypt – Heba El Rifai, Safaa El Shafei and Dalia El Nazer
- The Networker of the Year Award: Lisa Hall
- The FEARLESS Award: Suzy Ogé
If I am ever going to forget the essence of the evening, I’ll have a look at the amazing visual notes made by Vanessa Smith and her colleague from Crafting Connection.
The silent auction was also a great success, and we will make a donation to the Bijlmer project. Ceci and her team are working hard to get the bids to the winners.
Once again, a big thank you for every body who contributed and joined us in celebrating International Women’s Day 2014.
Please take a look at the gallery of the evening.
There is hardly time to sit still. The Hague is also making an effort to standout. In just over a week, our city will host the Nuclear summit. It will be a challenge for small business owners to move around town and keep their businesses running. At least two members are involved: Reina Pruijs who embroidered “Koksmutsen” for the kitchen crew and Julie Kennedy will be hostess at an event for the NSS.
Reina and Julie, we are proud of you.
Good luck in the coming weeks and don’t forget to join us at our next network event on March 27th: Debating – an interactive session facilitated by Jonathan Talbott.
Akkie Okma
