Company: Purpol Marketing Ltd, Chippenham, Wiltshire United Kingdom
Company Description: Purpol Marketing provides marketing director level expertise on a ‘pay as you go’ basis making professional advice tailored and affordable. They are experts in all areas of marketing and specialists in PQQ and Bid management on public procurement tenders, especially in the construction and manufacturing sectors and for SME’S. They measure success on how much their clients win.
Nomination Category: Individual Awards Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Best Female Entrepreneur in Europe, the Middle East & Africa
 Nomination Title: Denise O’Leary MBE
- Reference any attachments of supporting materials throughout this nomination and how they provide evidence of the claims you have made in this nomination (up to 250 words):
Total 130 words used.
Giving back and encouraging the next generation is important.
Attachments include:
- Denise O’Leary Purpol Marketing Media coverage
- Testimonials from Students 2021 - 2023
- Kickstart Internship Completion Form 0703 -020922 CS
- Kickstart Internship Completion Form 0703 -020922 DP
- Kickstart Internship Completion Form 0703 -020922 EG
- Kickstart Internship Completion Form 0703 -020922 PT
Information can be seen on the www.purpolmarketing.co.uk website and are detailed below:
Investiture at Buckingham Palace for Denise O'Leary MBE - Purpol Marketing
£1 Can Really Help A Charity, Win A Purple Designer Handbag And Other Purpol News! - Purpol Marketing
Purpol Marketing - Kickstarting My Career 1 year on! - Purpol Marketing
Purpol passes 160 Kickstart placement milestone - Purpol Marketing
Purpol founder named as Inspirational Business Woman in STEM and Construction - Purpol Marketing
- Which will you submit for your nomination in this category, a video of up to five (5) minutes, explaining the achievements since July 1, 2021 of the nominated woman, OR written answers to the questions? (Choose one):
Written answers to the questions
- Outline the nominee's achievements since July 1 2021 that you wish to bring to the judges' attention (up to 250 words):
Total 250 words used.
Many businesses struggled during Covid-19, Denise pivoted Purpol to support young people and charities, whilst maintaining existing client marketing support.
Denise has:
- Increased revenue by 467% and doubled net assets
- Employed 229 young people on 6 month placements
- Helped charities win £300k in much needed grants, enabling them to keep delivering essential community works.
- Mentored 90 start and scale up entrepreneurs,
- Supported 7 women in construction develop their careers
- Spoken to 900+ school children on career development
- Customer satisfaction rating of 94%, 5 Star reviews on Glassdoor, Facebook and Google
- Awarded an MBE honour By Queen in January 2022.
- Recognised as Inspirational Business Women in STEM at House of Lords
Utilising Purpol’s amazing training resources and care for young people, Denise launched the first UK national remote Kickstart scheme, with interns experiencing six-month paid roles as digital marketers. These remote placements developed marketing skills through zoom, online learning, and virtual workshops. The roles built experience in all aspects of marketing from marketing strategy and social media, websites, and SEO; developed skills such as market research, creating graphics, writing whitepapers and blogs, generating PR and winning bids. Career development was fully supported with a jointly created ‘Kickstart my Career’ online course.
Net Zero, Bid writing and construction sustainability were also developed. By Sept 2022, Purpol delivered 229 placements, one of the largest schemes in the UK.
The feedback is incredible, with 75% of students finding work after their placement many have healed from mental health challenges, and all have gained confidence.
- If you are submitting a video of up to five (5) minutes in length, provide the URL of the video here, OR attach it to your entry via the "Add Attachments, Videos, or Links to This Entry" link above, through which you may also upload a copy of your video. If you are submitting written answers to the questions for this category, provide them in the spaces below:
N/A
- Briefly describe the nominated individual: history and past performance (up to 200 words):
Total 200 words used.
Founded by Denise O’Leary MBE in 2014, Purpol Marketing is a specialist construction bid writing and marketing strategy agency. Purpol holds an impressive 90+% win rate (industry average 40%) with £3.8bn opportunity secured.
Denise specialises in supporting regional construction businesses enabling them to win critical bids, usually against far bigger and better resourced competitors. Founder Denise was awarded an MBE by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II for Services to the Construction sector and Entrepreneurs in January 2022.
Denise engages with the UK Government at No10, the Cabinet Office and the House of Lords to share expertise on how regional construction businesses can win critical bids as well as marketing their brands to win business. Since July 2021 Purpol has won £300k grants for charities and has an international profile showcasing effective marketing and branding.
Denise is passionate about training the next generation and has provided 300 internships and work placements, staff have spoken to schools on career development and provided interview training. Denise mentors worldwide especially for women in construction and young people developing their marketing careers.
“Denise of Purpol is second to none. Their knowledge is evidently polished and dedication to others is duly admired.” Aidan Bayford
- Explain why the achievements you have highlighted are unique or significant. If possible compare the achievements to the performance of other players in your industry and/or to the nominee's past performance (up to 250 words):
Total 250 words used.
No other UK small business embraced Kickstart in the way Denise pivoted Purpol, delivering 5 student cohorts. Purpol expanded from average 4 staff to 93 at one point with an overlap of 2 cohorts to accommodate the training demand.
Denise encouraged other businesses to adopt their training/work experience model as a counter to the many providers were looking purely for labour to assist their business. Purpol placements were live work experience within a safe marketing agency environment without any expectation that students would earn the business money.
Past students are now well underway in amazing careers across marketing and broader business skills, 10% have started their own businesses, based on the experience and knowledge gained. Purpol was featured in several UK Government videos promoting the scheme, and hosted a virtual Ministerial visit.
“I loved how simultaneously accessible and deep this placement from Purpol Marketing was. It taught me many things that will help me along my career and I’m indebted to Denise for providing such a great experience.” Joshua Galea
Charities benefited from Denise’s entrepreneurial spark with £300k being raised by crowdfunds since 2021 and match funding from large organisations specifically for befriending the elderly and helping during the cost of living crisis. “Our Community Room lunch club space is open thanks to you and will change so many lives.” Alec Jones-Hall, Cherishers.
Purpol spoke to 900 students across 3 schools via zoom to discuss marketing careers and set meaningful projects to give valuable real life work experience
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