17/11/11….Calling all business women

A LOCAL women’s business networking group has been celebrating its phenomenal success in building to 120 members in under four years.

The West Chilterns Region of The Athena Network, Which includes Thame, has, under the leadership of former heart surgery theatre sister, Sylvia Baldock, is now the premier women?s networking organisation in the UK and already comprises 26 franchises, 2600 networking members across 30 regions nationwide, but the West Chiltern regional group is particularly thriving with eight networking groups in the region in Marlow, Tring, Wycombe, Maidenhead (two groups), Thame and Aylesbury (two groups).

Peronel Barnes, one of The Project Managers in Thame, spoke of what she has gained through being involved with Athena. She said: ?My first year in Athena Thame gave me a 1.3 x return on investment. I considered whether this was good enough to continue: I chose to sign up for a second year. My second year has given me over 7 x return on investment. That?s the power of continuing to connect.?

Sylvia herself added: ?We have been so successful because we provide opportunities to make strategic connections with professionals in a wide range of industry sectors, encourage women in business to inspire and support others for greater success whilst also developing women?s business skills.

?We still have a few available spaces and would be delighted to meet businesswomen who would like to build positive and fruitful relationships with other businesses, whether this is to share suppliers, form strategic alliances or to develop client relationships.

?I went from being a Theatre Sister to running my own health food business to sales in the pharmaceutical industry, all of which I enjoyed, but it is the power of networking that I am passionate about and that has really refined my business skill set.?

Established in 2005, The Athena Network was founded to provide women who were unable to commit to early breakfast networking meetings with opportunities to meet business women from a wide range of industry sectors from large corporates to sole traders.

Typical professions seen at Athena include accountants, solicitors, marketing experts, graphic and web designers, financial advisers, business and personal coaches, photographers, holistic therapists, interior designers, image consultants, event managers and many more. Athena only allows one person per profession to join each regional group to avoid any conflicts of interest.

Sylvia Baldock continued: ?Networking is the fastest, most powerful and most effective way to grow your business and our groups also offer a warm, fun and supportive environment whether you are just setting up your own business or are part of an established business looking to expand further.?

Athena members meet for a monthly business lunch which involves open networking, a ten minute networking training slot, 60 second presentation on your business, a ten minute presentation given by an industry expert on different aspects of business development, an unpressurised referral and recommendation sharing and further time to network and make appointments over coffee.

In addition each region has informal networking meetings called Cappuccino Connections which are free to Athena members and open to non members for two visits before joining the network.

Membership of Athena costs