I suppose I am what could be described as a serial entrepreneur having started five businesses in the past twenty years – both in manufacturing and the service sector. One business Baggers, children's rainwear in a bag brought international acclaim, winning the prestigious BARCLAYS Bank Small Business of the Year Award in 1990. I have also won major entrepreneurial awards with She Magazine, as well as the highly acclaimed Women's Entrepreneurial Award with Cosmopolitan Magazine and featured as a finalist in the BBC Clothes Show Export Award for new business.
After selling up, I felt I had a lot to offer others considering self-employment as a ‘life-choice'. After setting up my own consultancy business and having worked exclusively with the commercial sector for five years advising many businesses on marketing, business start-up and growth I identified an opportunity in the higher education sector after graduating with an MBA from Durham University in 2000. Universities, following the agenda set by government were becoming increasingly focused on delivering enterprise and entrepreneurship education to graduates and postgraduates. I was able to provide a bridge from purely academic teaching and research provided by the institutions to one that incorporated academic understanding and practical experience.
During this time I have worked closely with students from Newcastle University who were competing for the National Students in Free Enterprise Award. One group of students went on to win the award nationally and competed in the International final in Barcelona in 2004 with Universities from 38 countries. The University of Newcastle came 7 th out of a total of 38 universities globally.
I am currently leading university research – tracking over a ten year period students across two universities who have taken part in the Business Enterprise Programme that I deliver, to assess the impact of the programme on career and lifestyle choice. Anecdotal evidence suggests that many students who experience this programme have gone on to start sustainable small business after graduation or that it has greatly increased their immediate employment opportunities following graduation. This research will provide evidence for my book The Educated Entrepreneur – a working guide for students and tutors interested in developing enterprise within higher education.
I firmly believe that the work universities do assisting students and other operating small businesses now will help reduce the failure rates in business in the future realising enormous long-term benefit for the UK economy.
My first book Oh Bagger!! Success through Failure aimed at any one thinking of starting a business or currently running a small business is due to be published at the end of this year and is based on the lessons learnt whilst starting a business with nothing more than ten pounds, a sewing machine and the kitchen table and ending up with a 2.5 million turnover in two years.
I have written monthly columns on running a small business and appear frequently in the press giving advice to owner managers and entrepreneurs about business.
