The finalists for the Forward Ladies Women in Business Awards – North West and Isle of Man have been announced and we are delighted that Northern Soho founder, Sarah Cheal, has been shortlisted in the ‘Not for Profit Organisation of the Year’ category in recognition of her achievements in setting up Northern Soho.

Northern Soho is a collaborative movement, run by and for people working in the creative industries in the North West region. It was set up by Sarah in June 2010 with the aim of raising awareness of the North West’s distinctive creative proposition, facilitating and encouraging a productive dialogue between the industry and client marketers, and to create greater collaboration between members.

Northern Soho members, of which they are now over 300, meet on the last Thursday of every month to share ideas on how to expand businesses, discuss successes and explore opportunities for collaborative working, all carried out in the vibrant and friendly atmosphere of the Barcelona Bar in Manchester’s Northern Quarter.

Members have already worked together to support high profile initiatives such as the Diane Modahl Sports Foundation (www.dmsf.co.uk), In The City (www.inthecity.co.uk) and Salford University project, “Issue 25” (www.issue25.com).

These awards are a celebration of the success of professional women and female entrepreneurs at all stages of their careers and business development, and with an established pedigree in the marketing services sector, following several successful new business roles with companies such as Canyon, Momentum, The Foundry and TBWA Manchester, Sarah is no stranger to business success.

In 2010 Sarah set up her own business development agency, Acquire, which has in the past 12 months generated almost £4M in new business opportunities for its clients. Cheal explains, “After seeing how many client-side marketers were bombarded by unwanted approaches, and how much money is wasted by agencies developing mailers and approaching prospects they are never going to win, I knew there had to be a different way of doing things.”

When told of her nomination, Sarah said: "Wow, that’s amazing, I’m completely honoured.

“I am so proud to be part of this exciting movement but this isn’t about me it’s about our members, and more importantly it’s about all of us working together to create something amazing.

“We have only just started but I can already tell that 2012 is going to be a remarkable year. I am so proud of our talented membership and I really can’t wait to show the rest of the UK what we’re made of.”

The Awards will be presented on Thursday 10th November 2011 at a prestigious awards’ ceremony at the Midland Hotel in Manchester.