It started with a pitch!

I want to highlight the partnership between Entrevo and the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women for two reasons. Firstly, because it started with a pitch; secondly, because there is a brilliant fit between these two impressive organisations.

Entrevo is a training company for entrepreneurs and business owners that runs the Key Person of Influence Programme commonly known as KPI. The Cherie Blair Foundation for Women (CBFW) supports women entrepreneurs in developing countries across the world.

Like many great partnerships it began with a pitch. On International Women’s Day (8th March 2012) Darshana Ubl, UK CEO of Entrevo, was attending an event where Cherie Blair was the speaker. On the day Darshana introduced herself to Cherie and said that she shared similar values for empowering women and was inspired by the way her charity is helping women in developing countries.

Cherie asked Darshana what she did, so she gave Cherie her 30-second pitch.

More conversation followed and Cherie gave Darshana her number, asking her to keep in touch and to send the photo that someone had taken of them.

A few days later Darshana received a print of the photo signed by Cherie. Darshana knew their partnership had potential because they had so much in common, “We are both women in business, women in the UK, with a big vision to make an impact across the world.”

So Darshana stayed in touch and a year later invited Cherie to speak at the Entrevo Brand Accelerator day in mid June 2013. Unfortunately Cherie couldn’t attend, but she sent a pre-recorded video message instead. Entrevo encouraged participants to book follow-up sessions (Discovery Sessions) and make a £50 donation to CBFW.

Three months later, on 11th October 2013, Cherie was able to attend the Entrevo event in person. You can hear what she and Darshana had to say here.

Their partnership is very new and Entrevo has aready donated over £4,000 to CBFW. And Darshana is in no doubt about the benefits for Entrevo, “The UK entrepreneur space is noisy, there’s a lot happening. We want to reach out to entrepreneurs and help their businesses to thrive. Cherie Blair is known throughout the UK, so our partnership with the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women gives Entrevo credibility.”

This partnership also demonstrates Entrevo’s values, because they believe that contribution and giving back are important for entrepreneurs to succeed. Darshana explains, “Business is about the people we serve. When you serve clients well you get more business. It’s important for every business to practice giving back. Because the more you give, the more you get back.”

I am inspired by this partnership because there’s such a great fit between the charity and the company. Also I am currently taking the ‘Key Person of Influence’ course run by Entrevo and it’s making a huge difference to me and my business.

And lastly, it’s inspiring because it started with a pitch. As Daniel Priestley, Global CEO of Entrevo and author of ‘Key Person of Influence’, often says, “You get what you pitch for. And you’re always pitching.”

Details of the next Entrevo Brand Accelerator day can be found here.

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