Business owner is national award winner
A business owner from Wednesbury has won £5,000 and support to grow her business in national awards.
Adewumi Akinyotu took the family business award in the eBay for Business Awards 2021.
The owner of Fashion Flair will get marketing and PR support from eBay.
She was one of 10 eBay sellers to be recognised for their entrepreneurial success in the nationwide awards, which saw a record number of entries this year.
Adewumi came to the UK to obtain a higher degree whilst her husband, Samuel, was teaching mathematics. After having their first child, Samuel struggled to find a job, so the family ended up living on handouts from charity and friends to get by.
She started selling some gifts she didn’t need on eBay, and after receiving positive feedback she decided to carry on with her business. Now, Fashion Flair, operates from a warehouse and they have plans to expand the business in the future.
“There are so many brilliant businesses on eBay, so we’re thrilled to have been chosen as the winners of the family business award. I see it as a testament to our journey from being unemployed and living day to day, to now being the founders of a thriving, independent business. It hasn’t been easy managing the business while raising our three sons, but we’re so proud of how far we’ve come," said Adewumi.
The awards recognise and celebrate the most inspiring sellers among eBay UK’s community of 300,000 small and medium-sized businesses.
eBay received more than 2,000 entries for this year’s awards across all categories,
This year, there were hundreds of applicants from businesses that had started up during the Covid-19 pandemic, when eBay saw a 237 per cent boom in the number of small shops setting up on the marketplace, equivalent to a new business registering online every two minutes.
The Awards build on eBay’s £33 million investment to help its 300,000 sellers weather the challenges brought on by Covid-19, and follows the launch of Capital for eBay Business Sellers, a financing scheme to help small businesses access funding.
