At the end of May '13, I had the privilege to be offered an internship as a Graduate Research and Marketing intern. A month later I was welcomed to the Network during a NN event where I started learning the "abc" of business networking.
 |
| My first event (From the left: Fernanda Costa, Amy Shore, Lucy Marks) |
 |
Going to Southwold to interview Andy Wood (Adnams) as part of my 1st research project |
 |
Understanding the importance of branding (From the left: Amy, Lucy, Kellie Colby) |
The internship involved taking forward two projects. The first was to research the finer profile of the membership of the NN while the second was to evaluate the UEA sponsorship of the NN.
As a result, I have gained so much insight and knowledge of the SME culture. Due to the nature of the research I had the privilege to meet and interview incredible professionals and I feel extremely lucky to have listened to their stories - from their struggles starting up to their joy in seeing their business succeed.
Being part of the NN allowed me to garner understanding of how both commercial and not for profit organisations work. I was able to witness how enterprises and education interact, playing a vital role in generating wealth and prosperity in the local economy.
During the fast course of 12 weeks, the NN taught me how relationships, quality and brand are important but, most importantly, how all encapsulate one vital element: hard work.
To quote Edison, "Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration”, in other words, without a lot of hard work, a great business idea can almost mean nothing at all.
I see this reflected in the NN, in its members and sponsors; all the partnerships were established and continue to thrive through a great vision and lots of concentrated effort.
It was a true blessing to have worked within such a stimulating and entrepreneurial environment and to have had access to such ambitious and talented business people from all sectors.
No comments:
Post a Comment