Online “Crazy” Chinese Car Sales Immigrant Scoops ‘Entrepreneur of the Year in Retail’
Posted on | November 19, 2006 | Comments Off
Press Release
20th November 2006
Online “Crazy” Chinese Car Sales Immigrant scoops ‘Entrepreneur of the Year in Retail’
Ling Valentine, extrovert “mad Chinese bird” owner of award winning website www.LINGsCARS.com has scooped a prestigious “NORTH EAST WOMAN ENTREPRENEUR OF THE YEAR” award as “WOMAN IN RETAIL 2006”, in the One North East sponsored event in Gateshead on Friday 17th November.
The “Woman in Retail” award from Women Into the Network (WIN) and Durham Business School invited entries from all female retailers or innovators of a best product or service in the North East. The criteria that clinched Ling’s success were: a “strong financial performance”, a “product or store innovation”, “proven high customer service”, as well as “excellent brand values”.
This was the first time a female Chinese immigrant business owner had been nominated for a North East Entrepreneur of the Year business award, and it follows hard on the heels of Ling’s “Top 100 website award” from FHM magazine. She has recently had praise lavished on her environmental attitude by MEP Martin Callanan, by the SMMT (Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders) and by the VCA (the Government Vehicle Certification Agency). Her industry leading environmental information disclosure standards shame every other web-based motor retailer in the UK. Ling leads the UK motor industry in presenting full upfront environmental information about the new cars she rents, on her unique website LINGsCARS.com.
Although she was in China during the awards ceremony, Ling decided to accept the entrepreneurial award in a typically controversial way; “There were, amazingly, no other ethnic nominees and it was reported to me that there would be hardly any other non-white guests attending the event”, she said. “So I planted my Chinese friend and LINGsCARS video star Lina Liang working as an insignificant waitress in the Hilton hotel where she served food all night, kow-towing to the guests. The organisers were amazed when she stepped on the stage to join the Awards photo session in her waitress uniform among the ball-gowns and high-heels.”
Ling insists, “It’s about time someone made the point that Chinese people are not just waitresses and take-away owners and can compete with the best UK entrepreneurs. Lina was almost physically pulled from the stage by the organisers, but to her credit she remained planted there and represented me in front of hundreds of bigwigs from the North East region. She’s a brave girl and I’m very proud of her”
The Rt Hon Alistair Darling MP, Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, said of the awards, “As a nation we need to celebrate success more, this is why these awards are so great”
Ling was bitterly disappointed to note there was no “environmental achievement” award at the event, as she is determined to improve the profile of this crucial topic, especially within the motor industry. She has also entered the 2007 Automotive Management motor industry awards and is “looking forward” to being recognised within her own industry, but as Ling explains, “The motor industry also does not consider the environment important enough to create an award within that category, I always have to reduce my expectations to compete on their terms. I have appealed to them, but have met a stone-wall of silence”.
“It’s about time the environment was moved right up to the top of the car industry agenda, but the trouble is that it consists of mostly men and they seem to be blinded by profit instead of promoting ethical standards”, she said. “More women in this industry would help immensely”.
LINGsCARS.com attracts over 50,000 unique visitors per month in search of a cheap, brand-new car to rent for two or three years and the site rents over £1.4 million of new cars every month, from budget Kia Picantos to posh BMW X5s. Ling puts her success down to “hard work, communication, entertainment and removing the ‘bland, boring rubbish’ from her sales message”. She displays over 400 letters from happy customers, on her website.
Fleet News called LINGsCARS “the Ryanair of contract-hire” and Ling says she is “confident of scooping more business awards, if only I can overcome the vested interests of the white, male, middle-class domination of the motor industry that often refer to me as a ‘parasite’. I will show them what I’m made of”.
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