Local marketing company are finalists in the National mumandworking Awards 2018 hosted by NatWest 

The finalists for the prestigious ‘mumandworking awards 2018’ have been announced and Shake It Up Creative in Worthing is amongst them.  These pioneering awards were launched over 8 years ago to celebrate the UK's leading lights in the world of flexible working – the inspiring individuals, businesses, charities and networks demonstrating and showcasing how working and family-life can go hand in hand with huge benefits for all involved.

Never has the importance of flexible working been so documented. ‘Mumpreneurs’ in particular, continue to generate billions for the UK economy, supporting in excess of 200,000 jobs and we have witnessed significant positive changes in government policy towards flexible working in recent years, but there’s still a long way to go. Research in 2016 suggested improvements in flexible working opportunities for mums would enable and empower huge numbers of mums to return to the workplace with the potential to generate a massive £60+ billion boost to the UK economy.*

Award organisers were therefore delighted at the wealth and the standard of the submissions for this year’s mumandworking awards which will be hosted by NatWest at Bishopsgate London in March with media partner Key Women in Business. Hundreds of nominees entered from across the country, across 14 categories including special categories for bloggers, team members, franchisors and technology and innovation.

Shake It Up Creative, founded in 2015 by two mums each with three children, has been revealed as a finalist in the Start-Up category. The company provide marketing, design, web development, search engine optimisation and public relations services to businesses and charities in London and the South East of England.  Meg and Rachael, Directors of the business also provide free drop-in help hubs to help support the local business community, twice a month in Sussex.  Awards for the Start-Up category are judged by a panel of leading business women, very familiar with the challenges juggling a family and a career can bring.  Judges include Ali Golds from West Sussex – recently named as one the Independent’s 20 Extraordinary Women of 2017, Susannah Schofield OBE, Helen Pattinson – co-founder of the innovative, award-winning Montezuma's Chocolate and Julie Baker, Head of Financial Inclusion and Enterprise, NatWest.

Rachael Dines from Shake It Up Creative said: "Flexible working is at the heart of our business because we were parents first and business owners second.  When you have children, a lot of things change but it doesn’t mean the lead parent has to give up on their ambitions.  We are over the moon to be a mumandworking finalist and send our congratulations to all those that have also made it this far."

The winners and runners-up will be announced at the live awards ceremony and sparkling celebratory reception on 6^th March.

Suzanne Borrell, Events Director for mumandworking.co.uk concludes:

‘The wealth of nominations, the thousands of votes, our esteemed VIP judging panel and the range of nominees – from international businesses to amazing individuals - reflects the significant and continuing support for the promotion of flexible working. These awards are so important as they showcase the UK’s best – fantastic examples of how a flexible approach to working practice can benefit the UK economy, businesses, parents and growing families. We are honoured to host these awards and we can’t wait to reveal our winners at the live event in March!’

To see all those shortlisted visit www.mumandworking.co.uk/awards