A Southall business woman has won a prestigious award for her achievements.

Samantha Alfred of Jivana Style Ltd was nominated for and won the award for Best Business at the prestigious 2008 Precious Awards. The award celebrates the achievements of women of colour.

The 35-year-old was made redundant after working for 10 years for an oil company in the city. She took the opportunity and carried out 6 months of research into the greeting card industry.

She spotted a gap in the market for good quality ethnic cards and gifts and decided to start up her own company.

Two years ago when she appeared on BBC's Dragons' Den, she failed to convince them to invest in her business idea of greetings cards aimed at ethnic communities.

The show provided the drive to push her business forward and it paid off and she now supplies her range of cards that reflect Britain’s multi cultural society to Clinton Cards, Fenwicks, ASDA, Sainsbury's and 40 more independent retailers.

She said "The Jivana range aims to address the gap in the market. As a British-Indian, I felt that there was a need to design cards that reflected Britain’s multi cultural society. The cards are inspired by India, henna patterns and Asian culture fused with British lifestyle."

Her fresh & funky Unique Ethnic Greeting Cards include fabulous cartoon characters the Masala Girls, Desi Boyz and Chutney Kidz and Sizzlin' Sista.

On the gifts side there are funky Desi Mugs.