A newly-employed Business and Management graduate has made a plea for people to help get the jewellery company she works for named as the best in the country.
Since being taken on at online retailer Diamond Boutique, De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) graduate Raila Bawani has worked to raise the profile of the company.
Now the firm has been included in a shortlist of five for the title of E-tailer of the Year awarded by the National Association of Jewellers.
And Raila is urging people to help make their local company a national success - because the award is decided on public votes.
The 22-year-old Marketing Manager said: "It would be brilliant. Diamond Boutique is based in Leicester but this would give us a real national exposure. It's an opportunity for people to support a local company."
Diamond Boutique - based in DMU's Innovation Centre, which supports new businesses - specialises in making jewellery from coloured gemstones.
Its unique twist is to take custom designs from customers and make them real, through a 2D and then 3D modelling process.
The company originally took Raila on just after she had secured a 2:1 result in her Business and Management BA.
The company hired Raila as part of DMU's Graduate Champions scheme, in which newly-qualified graduates are given the chance to take up a paid, six week long internship with a leading UK business to enhance their CV and help them stand out in a competitive jobs market.
She said: "For me, it is the perfect job. I get to use all the theory and learning that I got on my degree course in a practical way.
"The Graduate Champions scheme meant that I was able to prove myself and show all my qualities to a great employer even though I did not have the experience - for a graduate that is priceless."
Raila was also key in helping the firm get a profile in The Guardian, leading to it being longlisted for the paper's 2015-16 Small Business Showcase competition, in the Marketing and PR category.
She wrote a persuasive entry on why Diamond Boutique should win, which was featured in full on The Guardian's website.
A shortlist of three companies will soon be drawn up and Pritesh Vegad, founder and Managing Director of Diamond Boutique, is hoping to be on it.
He said: "The impact Raila has had since joining Diamond Boutique has been huge. She understands end-to-end marketing, and the power of connecting with bloggers and celebrities.
"For us, the Graduate Champions scheme was a real two-way thing: the graduate gets real world experience and we get a talented, trained employee who will show us something new."
Posted on Friday 30 October 2015