Melanie Bryan is an IOEE Fellow who holds an OBE for her Services to Social Enterprise and Women’s Enterprise, and now she has also been named IOEE Enterprise Support Champion of the Year at the Celebrating Enterprise awards. We caught up with Melanie to find out about the event and hear what winning means to her.

In 2009, Melanie Bryan founded WhyNotChange to provide practical support to help enterprises grow sustainably. Since then she’s someone who has supported over 1500 small businesses and social enterprises. As well as leading pioneering collaborations with local authorities to help small businesses and social enterprises win public sector contracts, Melanie has operated as a Female Entrepreneurship Ambassador representing women entrepreneurs at European Commission Summits. Among many other achievements, Melanie is also the visionary behind the award-wining North West Women's Enterprise Day, now in its sixth year and taking place this week on Friday 20th November. With such a vast and varied history, Melanie is well-deserving of the title Enterprise Support Champion. However, she wasn’t expecting to walk away with the award. She says:

“I had absolutely no idea I would win – it was a complete surprise! When I looked at the other three nominees, I thought they were all great, and so diverse. All four came from very different areas of enterprise support.”

As the time rolled around for the Enterprise Support Champion’s name to be announced, Melanie was simply enjoying the event and had no clue she was about to be honored:

“I was so sure that I hadn’t won that I nearly tripped over my handbag when I got up to collect the award because I hadn’t moved it out of the way. I don’t think anyone noticed but I nearly went flying! I never thought for a minute I would win and it means a huge amount to me.”