Rural community organisation wins £10,000 in e-commerce awards
Howard Lake | 8 October 2003 | News
A rural community charity based in Penrith, Cumbria has won the national award in the Voluntary & Community category of the DTI-backed InterForum E-Commerce Awards.
The Pentalk Network beat 343 entries in the category, which is sponsored by the Home Office’s Active Community Unit.
Originally established during the foot and mouth crisis, The Pentalk Network provides free computers and agency training to promote computer literacy and business adaptation to the local farming community, to encourage the business recovery of the agricultural farm sector. Funding from the DfES, the Rural Recovery and Farmers Fund has enabled the organisation to evolve into a resource used by farmers from as far away as Zimbabwe and the Falkland Islands with maps, information, weather reports and information about integrating e-commerce into their own business.
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£8,000 prize
The Pentalk Network was presented with a cheque for £8,000 by Stephen Timms, the Minister of State for Energy, E-Commerce and Postal Services at an awards ceremony was held yesterday at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London.
The Pentalk Network had already received a cheque for £2,000 at the North West final sponsored by Digital Industries, beating a record number of 567 entries in the region.
The overall national winner of the E-Commerce Awards 2003 and recipient of the grand prize of £30,000 was Response Maintenance and Building Services, a building and repair service that has improved job management and building supply delivery by creating a mobile workforce.
The E-Commerce Awards are open to any organisation with less than 250 employees and recognise and reward innovation in the application of Internet and information and communication technologies to transform small businesses in the UK.
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.