There are some women who come along to us for support and
end up becoming part of the family! Ngunan Adamu is one of those women, she’s
such a regular here at The Women’s Organisation, that we’re considering asking
her to move in! Ngunan received support from us to help her start her
businesses; ‘iWoman Media’ and ‘iWoman Academy’.
iWoman Media, which has been funded by The Wellcome Trust, is an organisation aimed at the female global
community using media to promote sisterhood and iWoman Academy is a radio
training academy aimed at women using radio to empower and build confidence.
Ngunan told us; ‘iWoman
Academy is a women’s only radio training academy where we use radio as a
training and wellbeing tool for women. Maybe some of these women have lost
their confidence, or been through a rough time in their lives, suffered mental
illness or just need to get out the house. That’s the reason I set it up, so
they could learn new skills and build a sisterhood at the same time.’
Ngunan started her first radio training course in September
2016, the course runs for 12 weeks, twice a week on a Monday and Tuesday from
10am-12pm and involves learning everything you need to know about the media
industry, including; research skills, communication skills, editing skills etc.
Ngunan says; ‘I’ve had such an amazing
mixture of women from all over the world so that’s been great. We learn in an
informal way, through activities, and we talk and talk a lot!’ The only
eligibility for the programme is that you are a woman, living in Merseyside and
that you’re unemployed and over 19.
Radio and the Media is Ngunan’s background and passion, so
starting her own business doing this seemed the perfect next step. She has
worked at the BBC for 11 years and is a trained journalist by profession, and
started at the BBC when she was 25 after undertaking work experience as a
runner at Manchester Entertainment. ‘I’d
always wanted to do TV instead of Radio but my experience of it was so
negative. It was aggressively competitive and I didn’t want to be like that or
treat other people that way. So, I went into Radio instead.’
Starting off as a Runner, Ngunan quickly progressed and
landed role after role within the industry becoming a Trainee Broadcast
Assistant, undertaking outreach work and eventually having her own show on BBC
Radio Merseyside; Upfront. ‘I’ve moved
around a lot, I never wanted to stay in one place and when the opportunities
have come I’ve said yes! But I always knew that I wanted to start my own
business.’
After deciding that she wanted to start her own business
that would help women, Ngunan returned to University for the second time and
studied for a PGCE and got in touch with The Women’s Organisation to begin
receiving support to help her start her business. Ngunan paired up with our
Senior Business Adviser; Claire Pedersen and they’ve been working closely
together on Ngunan’s business plan. ‘Working
with Claire has been fantastic; I couldn’t have asked for a better adviser!
When I met Claire, she made me strip my ideas right back to the very basics and
got me to think about my market research and that has helped me and determined
how things are going to run. It’s been incredible to have that support there
and I don’t know what I would have done without it!’
As well as working with The Women’s Organisation, Ngunan has
also been receiving support from The School for Social Entrepreneurs North West
in partnership with Blackburne House. The support she has been receiving is
under the Lloyds Bank Social Entrepreneurs Programme which offers a fully
funded year of learning, a mentor and a grant to help social entrepreneurs grow
their project. ‘Working with both
organisations has been really great. It’s helped me think a lot deeper about my
business and they’ve complimented each other.’
Ngunan is now running her second cohort and has received an
amazing response from the women who are taking part in it. The long-term aim is
to get the iWoman radio station up and running so that there is an easy and
clear route for the graduates to take. ‘I
also want them to be able to get different employment opportunities, or even
support them if they would like to return back into education or go to
University. iWoman radio station should
be launched next year in line with International Women’s Day.’
The future looks incredibly bright for Ngunan and her two
businesses iWoman Academy and iWoman Media and we know that great things are in
the pipeline supporting women to reach their full potentials. Ngunan’s advice
to a woman in a similar situation who is thinking about starting a business? ‘If you’ve got an idea, no matter how small
it is – go for it! We’re so privileged to have The Women’s Organisation to give
you support and advice, so make sure you contact them!’
‘Starting up my own
business has made me grow as a person and iWoman is about encouraging women to
be confident in what they know and how they too can grow. I know that I’m not
the best at every part of my business but I had the vision and passion to get
it going. That’s what I would say to everyone, even if you’re not the best – go
for it, if you’ve got the drive, you will succeed.’
If you’d like to find out more about iWoman you can check
them out on Facebook and Twitter or email iwomanmedia@gmail.com
And if you’ve been inspired by Ngunan’s story and would like
support starting your own business, then get in touch with us! Email hello@thewo.org.uk or ring us on 0151 706
8111
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