25 Mar Essex Baker Named Most Inspiring Business Woman
Davina Steel, founder of Davina Steel Gluten Free, has been named the Most Inspiring Businesswoman in the Best Business Women Awards.
Founded in 2015, The Best Business Women Awards are a national event in the business calendar that acknowledge great women in the business community. From sole traders, to large companies, the awards recognise those talented and dedicated female entrepreneurs who not only run successful businesses, but in many cases also juggle the needs of their families. The awards are specifically for female business owners who are making a real impact for their clients.
The Most Inspiring Businesswoman Award is chosen by a panel of business experts and Davina Steel beat off strong competition from six other finalists to be named the winner of this highly sought-after accolade.
“There are so many inspiring women doing amazing things in business, so winning this award is a huge achievement,” says Davina Steel, who collected the award remotely during the virtual award ceremony on Friday night.
“I started experimenting with gluten free baking when I could no longer eat gluten myself. It started as a hobby and has grown into a business where we are serving the needs of coeliacs and those with intolerances across the world,” explains Davina. “Baking is my passion, so to have been able to turn it into a thriving business has been a dream come true. I’m still very much ‘in the kitchen’, always experimenting with new recipes, whilst fulfilling the needs of our customers and coming up with new ways to reach people, such as through our new subscription service. The business continues to grow and we get amazing feedback. It’s a fantastic industry to be in.”
Davina Steel Gluten Free creates a range of baked goods, baked snacks and its gluten free baking kits. It also operates its own, purpose-built, gluten free bakery in Essex and supplies products to major supermarkets and independent retailers across the UK. The judges felt that Davina was the perfect example of a successful and inspiring business woman. They said, “Innovation has been key to the success of this business. Davina has built her business from the ground up, creating the products and building a business that now retails into major supermarkets, as well as a thriving online business. Inspiring business women are driven visionaries who other women aspire to be and Davina has all those elements. She’s taken her idea and quickly scaled the business and now has a firm place in her market. This is an inspirational business woman who has overcome many challenges on her path to success.”
