Surrey law firm Downs Solicitors proudly supported an initiative enticing more women into the franchise industry by hosting its first Encouraging Women into Franchising (EWiF) event.
Downs hosted the EWiF South Region meeting at its Dorking office, chaired by the firm’s very own expert franchise lawyer, Kate Matthews, who is also Chair of EWiF South. As Ambassadors partnering with EWiF, Downs is proud to promote the values, aims and objectives of EWiF on a voluntary basis.
The event aimed to address several topics of discussion around women in franchising and hear their franchise life story, warts and all. The lively debate included discussion on recruitment issues, financial funding for businesses and scoping and mapping territories, as well as the strategy for various EWiF initiatives which focuses on inspiring educating and empowering more women to achieve success in franchising.
Kate Matthews, now a Consultant Solicitor at Downs, is recognised by her peers in the Worldwide Who’s Who guide to Franchising and ranked for many years for her legal services in franchising in the Legal Directories, Chambers and Legal 500, which analyse and rank the capabilities of Law firms around the world based on feedback and research from more than 250,000 sources.
Now leading Downs Franchising service to help businesses on a broad range of franchising services from risk management and transactions, through to dispute resolution, mediation and litigation, Kate brings a new dimension to assist those clients working in the industry or considering being part of the franchise community. As part of their commitment to the industry Downs are proud to be part of EWIF which relies on Ambassadors providing their respective services voluntarily.
“Starting out in franchising can be daunting, even for seasoned professionals, and situations can often arise when everyone just needs that extra bit of support and encouragement outside the box.” Kate said.
“As Ambassadors of EWiF, Downs combine their legal expertise and share live experiences in a neutral environment aimed at supporting women facing business challenges. Downs first event with EWIF was a great success and we look forward to hosting more in future!”
