8th March 2016 – International Women’s Day is a day for celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women all around the globe.
‘ “The story of women’s struggle for equality belongs to no single feminist nor to any one organization but to the collective efforts of all who care about human rights,” says world-renowned feminist, journalist and social and political activist Gloria Steinem. International Women’s Day is all about celebration, reflection, advocacy, and action – whatever that looks like globally at a local level. But one thing is for sure, International Women’s Day has been occurring for over a century – and is growing annually from strength to strength.’ www.internationalwomensday.com
Ajuda Limited is led by founder and managing director Dawn Evans. Since forming Ajuda Limited in October 2009, Dawn and her team have trained over 40,000 students in a variety of vocational qualifications such as First Aid, Health and Safety and Fire Safety to name a few. Dawn’s daughter, Beth, choked as a child. This impassioned Dawn as it highlighted to her the importance of learning first aid skills. Had she not had the training, her daughter may have died. Ajuda really are educating people to save lives, and this fact alone makes Dawn’s hard work worthwhile.
In March 2015 Dawn was announced as one of the most inspirational people in Wales, being awarded the Educator award at the Inspire Wales Awards. In September 2015 she was nominated as a finalist for Female Entrepreneur of the year at the South Wales Business Awards. Most recently, Dawn was invited to St. James Palace where she had the opportunity to talk to HRH Prince Phillip about the extensive first aid training that Ajuda carries out.
Proud to be recognised with the Investors in People Award, Ajuda is a community-focused company. Ajuda aims to make a really positive difference to individuals, teams and organisations alike. In addition to her role as Managing Director of Ajuda, Dawn is a role model for the Welsh Government Big Ideas Program. This involves delivering presentations on entrepreneurship, where she takes the time to share her experiences with students age 13 upwards in order to inspire confidence and motivation, encouraging them to consider launching their own company in the future. Dawn is incredibly passionate about this work and is a business mentor for The Prince’s Trust – a role in which she mentors young individuals who are about to start their journey into entrepreneurship.
Dawn set up Heartstart Cardiff in partnership with the British Heart Foundation in 2014. Heartstart is a scheme where Dawn and her trainers work on a voluntary basis providing first aid training free to local school children. The British Heart Foundation nominated Dawn for a Heart Hero Award to celebrate her fundraising and contribution to the BHF – she was announced as the winner of this award in 2015.
Ajuda celebrates strong, successful women not only today, but every day. From an office run by women, Ajuda acknowledges the importance of strong, female figures.
Happy International Women’s Day everybody!
