Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Nicole Konigs Balfry Launches Zest After Many Years Managing Events Across Liverpool...

Nicole is the woman to go to if you want to talk about events. With over 5 solid years working on events and festivals across the city before setting up her own business, Zest, she knows her stuff when it comes to putting on fantastic events.

Nicole says; ‘My background is project management and Zest is an events consultancy business. I provide a raft of services ranging from giving advice over managing projects to the actual delivery of events; whatever level of support you are looking for, really!’ Among Zest’s core values are opening good communication channels and allowing her clients to be as little or as much involved as they want. As Nicole knows well; ‘You might have organised a fabulous event but won’t be able to enjoy it fully because you always need to have your eye on the ball. I have the expertise to take the effort and stress off the client so they can sit back and enjoy their own event.’

Prior to setting up Zest in April 2014, Nicole worked for Orb Events managing a range of interesting projects. She was part of the team who organised Liverpool Pride in 2010, her first event: ‘Seeing the work of the past months come to fruition and thousands of happy people celebrating as a result was an incredible feeling and I never looked back.’ Current clients include The Liverpool Mental Health Consortium and the British Association of Hand Therapists. 

Over the last few years, Nicole has worked as a project manager for local events, different companies and community arts charities. Thus, she formed relationships with numerous organisations, building a great network which supported her when she launched Zest last year. One of these organisations was ourselves: Nicole had known about The Women’s Organisation for a few years, having attended our events including our launch of our building of 54 St James Street.

Nicole says; ‘When I started up Zest, I was looking for expert advice and contacted The Women’s Organisation. I was put in touch with one of the Senior Business Advisers, John Jones. One of the great things about working with John is that he asks me strategic questions about my business, which make me stop and think. Once you sit back and talk to someone, you can look at your business from the outside, which has been really useful!’
With experience in business development when she was setting up Zest, Nicole runs her business herself with an accountant on “stand-by” for tricky questions and the annual return. She has been building on her skills steadily, but says ‘I don’t think I would have got my head around setting up the business without the help I’ve received.’ Now that her business is up and running and she is working on her social media skills and her website, she says; ‘I’m quite proud of this and I’m still learning every day, which is great.’


Listening is key to Zest’s core values: ‘Listening to clients and making sure their visions and objectives are being realised is extremely important.’ And the business is now at an exciting stage of growing: with the ground work being done, Nicole is keen to meet new clients, expand her business and continue to put on fantastic events across the city. ‘My objectives are to do a great job every time and to grow my portfolio and client base. I am looking to expand the network of organisations and people that I work with, as feedback, input and mutual support improve work in every respect.’

If you would like to find out more about Nicole and Zest, or if you are putting on an event and would like to see how Nicole can help you with this, then don’t hesitate to get in touch with her using the contact details below!

As well as running and planning events, Nicole is teaching a new course at 54 St James Street to share her knowledge about events! You can contact her for more information using the details below or register for a place on the course on September 24th here! 


 And if you are setting up your own business, The Women’s Organisation are here to help you! Contact hello@thewo.org.uk or ring us on 0151 706 8111 to find out what we can do to support you…

Nicole Konigs Balfry – Zest