The SHE Inspiring Women even saw Dawn Gibbins awarded International Business Woman of the Year. This new award is aimed at a woman who has shown unprecedented entrepreneurial spirit in her bid to achieve success in business or industry, both here and abroad.

Dawn Gibbins' international career was celebrated by a host of famous names including Dame Kelly Holmes, Denise Van Outen and Tara Palmer Tomkinson..

Dawn was presented with the title – in association with HSBC – for her remarkable career achievements to date across the globe in the flooring industry.

Italian socialite Nancy Dell’Olio presented Dawn with the award at London’s world famous hotel, Claridge’s.


The celebs came out for this stellar event. Dawn with Tara Palmer Tomkinson

Dawn, the founder and CEO of luxury Floor Couture brand Barefoot, said: “I’m absolutely thrilled. It came as a real surprise to learn I’d won.”

The International Businesswoman award was presented to Dawn for what judges described as her ‘unprecedented entrepreneurial spirit in her bid to achieve success in business, both here and abroad.’

Dawn’s journey to success started in 1982, when she set up the flooring manufacturer Flowcrete, with her late father, Peter Gibbins.

She oversaw its growth to become a global market leader in commercial and industrial flooring with 23 offices worldwide and eight manufacturing sites of excellence in the UK, Asia, Sweden, Belgium, South Africa, US and Brazil. Dawn sold the company to New York Stock Exchange listed company RPM International in April 2008.

Dawn’s new business venture, Barefoot, which has its headquarters on the outskirts of Congleton, in Bosley, is already taking on an international dimension, with a presence in Brazil and Germany.

The new business gives Dawn the opportunity to combine her love of seamless flooring with her passion for health and well being.

A new, multimillion pound showroom has been built recently at the company’s site in Bosley to showcase Barefoot’s unique floor finishes.

The SHE International Businesswoman of the Year accolade is the latest in a wide range of honours and achievements in Dawn’s career.

They include the award of an honorary doctorate from Manchester Metropolitan University in 2004, the Veuve Clicquot Business Woman of the Year accolade in 2003 and an MBE in 1994. She has also been made a ‘Pioneer to the Life of our Nation’ by Her Majesty The Queen in 2004.

Another achievement came in 2006, when Dawn beat off competition from such well-known names as Richard Branson, James Dyson and Digby Jones, to be nominated the most influential person in UK manufacturing.