Surrey businesswoman and owner of Recognition Express Mid Surrey, Sally Findlay, presented the award for New Woman Franchisee of Year 2012 at the Encouraging Women Into Franchising (EWIF) Annual Awards Ceremony held in London on last week which was attended by queen of franchising, Rosemary Conley.

Sally Findlay, owner of Recognition Express Mid-Surrey presented the RE sponsored award for Best New Franchisee to Hayley Limpkin from Razzamataz Theatre Company

A leading supplier of promotional products, corporate gifts and branded clothing Recognition Express is a founding sponsor of the awards and Sally was delighted to present the award to Hayley Limpkin of Razzamataz Theatre Schools.

Said Sally: “The standard of entries for this award were outstanding and it’s great to see more and more women involved in franchising. Hayley’s success is the result of hard work, determination and commitment.

She is a big inspiration to us all and I hope that her achievements will encourage other women to get into franchising.”

EWIF is a new and exciting organisation dedicated to encouraging women into franchising. Its members come from all areas within the franchising industry and include franchisors, franchisees, banks, consultants, accountants, solicitors and many more. EWIF offers a range of free services to help women who are considering becoming franchisees, women business owners looking to franchise their business and franchisors who have an under representation of women in their network.

Clive Sawyer, Chairman, EWIF said: “I set up EWIF back in 2008 with the purpose of inspiring, encouraging, educating and supporting women considering, or already involved in, franchising. I’m delighted that Sally Findlay, a franchise owner at Recognition Express, was able to present the award as she has been involved with EWIF from the start and is a great example to others of the success women can have in franchising.”

As well as New Woman Franchisor of the Year there were six other categories for the 2012 Awards: Woman Franchisor of the Year; Woman Franchisor Employee of the Year; Women Franchisee of the Year; New Woman Franchisor of the Year; Woman Service Provider of the Year; Outstanding Contribution to Women in Franchising which was awarded to Rosemary Conley.