Revive!’s leading ladies earn coveted recognition

Revive! is celebrating the achievements of two of its driven female team members, who have bagged a place on this year’s prestigious Encouraging Women Into Franchising (EWIF) shortlist.

What’s even more inspiring is that the automotive industry has traditionally been dominated by males. The achievements of joint managing director Terry Mullen and accounts manager Louise Evans show that it’s no longer a man’s world, even in positions of leadership.

Terry has made the finals of the Woman Franchisor of the Year category, which sees the franchise world’s female leaders battle it out for the crown. Louise, meanwhile, has made the shortlist for the Woman Franchise Employee of the Year award, thanks to her commitment to her role.

Both women have been recognised for their achievements in the past. Terry narrowly missed out on the crown in the same EWIF category last year, receiving the still-prestigious title of runner up, and was recognised as one of the 40 most influential women in the autobody repair industry by the Autobody Professionals Club (ABP Club) in 2019. Louise has also been rewarded for her hard work, as she was named Employee of the Year at Revive!’s annual conference last year.

Terry’s work at Revive! has seen her move the car franchise into a new, refurbished head office and spearhead the franchise’s Investors in People (IIP) initiative, which recently achieved Gold Accreditation following the company’s IIP re-assessment – putting it in the top 16% of all IIP status companies. She expressed her delight at making the EWIF shortlist once again.

“Throughout my career in banking and now in SMART repair I may have been a ‘woman in a man’s world’ but have never really considered gender to have any influence on performance or achievement. I am obviously pleased to be a finalist once again in the prestigious EWIF awards and hope that my story may encourage more women to widen their horizons and consider stepping up to senior roles in franchising.”

And Louise, who joined the company’s bookkeeping team in 2014, was also thrilled to be nominated. After Revive! noticed her potential and encouraged her to work towards another qualification, she returned to college and qualified in accountancy. Louise was promoted to accounts manager and now looks after four other employees, but she’s also part of the business development team. With her understanding of complex financial matters, she helps franchisees demystify their finances – work that earned her the ‘Employee of the Year’ nomination.

Speaking about her EWIF nomination, Louise said:

“At Revive! we are all team members and whether you are male or female makes no difference to the jobs we do, or the respect we have for each other. One of Revive!’s core values is ‘unity’ and we are all working together to drive the business forward and achieve a turnover of £50m by 2025. I am proud to have been shortlisted for this EWIF award and to be the Revive! Employee of the Year, but I’m even prouder to be part of the Revive! team.”

It’s not clear when the winners will be announced, as the COVID-19 pandemic currently has large gatherings on hold, but the EWIF says it is keen to fully recognise all finalists’ achievements as soon as it’s safe to do so.