Two local female entrepreneurs and their business – By Jo Crafts – is being showcased by community bank Metro Bank as part of its partnership with the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). By Jo Crafts will feature in the new campaign designed to inspire women to achieve their potential in business, cricket and life. The campaign – which launches on September 16th - showcases how the female led Southampton business was centre stage at The Ageas Bowl during England Women’s series against New Zealand, thanks to Metro Bank.
By Jo Crafts, creates mostly ceramics and gifts with over 120 different product designs. Started in 2019 by two best friends – Gem and Jo – the female entrepreneurs are a great team; “we find that what one doesn’t know or can’t do, the other one can” - Jo is the artist and Gem the business manager.
Recent research found that 55% of women say going it alone is a barrier to starting their own business. Metro Bank not only supports women in business through the Investing in Women programme, but also provides every entrepreneur with a local business manager to support them from start-up and as the company grows. As part of this campaign, Metro Bank has used its role as role of Champion of Women’s and Girls’ Cricket to demonstrate its support, and through telling the story of By Jo Crafts, aims to inspire other women to see their potential.
As Jo comments: “The benefits of owning your own business are, yes, you probably work twice as hard as you would in a normal nine to five job, but you've got the flexibility to be a wife mother and business owner all at the same time. Metro Bank has been crucial in our journey, especially over the last year. We walked in and it just felt lovely and we had someone to talk to face to face and we did everything in person. The manager we had showed a real genuine interest in our business, so it was really nice and reassuring that actually we had somebody there to be able to support us on our journey along the way, it felt personal.”
Dan Lloyd, local business manager, Southampton Metro Bank said: ‘I’ve seen the impact that we have had on Jo and Gem, when they first came into the bank, they were a relatively small business advertising through Facebook and together we have managed to grow their business. They want to become an established brand and we will be able to support them at every stage of the journey.”
The new campaign will include case study videos shared across Metro Bank and ECB channels to promote By Jo Crafts. Jo and Gem are keen sportswomen and believe their relationship with sport has helped their business success. Jo: So, I think that's something that's come from our sporting backgrounds, that's something that we carry through into business, that if we weren't competitive and have that aspect of our personalities, we probably wouldn't be where we are today.”
As part of the campaign, Jo and Gem were invited to the ground to see their business and brand up in lights. Sarah Glenn, England Cricketer said, ‘Our partnership with Metro Bank has created so many opportunities for young girls, both in sport and outside of sport, to excel in their careers.”