entrepreneurs 19


Pictures by Angus Thomas


liveable income, so I gave my early staff shares and built it from there.


I’ve learned


a lot about finance through the decades and I won’t take no for an answer. Where we are now is modest. We are a small company but well known in our sector. We are one of a dozen in the world which supplies high-grade metals to the oil, gas and desalination markets. I want to do so much more, but need to raise investment because we do not have the capital for increasing stock at the moment. Investors don’t know what we do, but we have a prospectus which highlights it and we apply for relevant funding schemes.


Equity is not a problem. We are happy to let shares go. We grow every year and are on course for £20 million turnover this year. But when you remember some of our competitors hold £16m in stock, you can understand why I am committed to raising more.


Is there a secret to your success?


I don’t listen to people who say ’it’s not possible’. We’re very good at what we do, we reinvest profits. I have used my international travel experience to build our overseas markets, especially in the Middle East. We have offices in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Saudi Arabia, China and South Korea as well as Australia, India and South Africa.


Greatest achievement? You have so many awards – including the IoD Global Director of the Year – and commitments to developing our region as director of the Solent LEP


In 22 years as CEO of Corrotherm no one has ever handed their notice in. That is the achievement which eclipses everything and the one of which I am most proud. Our staff like working for us; we are good at what we do, productive, and I work very hard to keep things fresh.


Are you good at delegating and how many emails do you receive each day?


I don’t have a PA because I best understand what I need to do and how to block out my time, especially because of my travelling.


I’m very independent.


Emails – I have 15,000 in a deleted box and 100 unread probably at any one given time, but then I have emails for so many organisations that I am involved in.


THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – SOLENT & SOUTH CENTRAL – SEPTEMBER 2014 What will you do next?


I’ll never retire. I would like an interesting non- executive-director job which is not in industry, but where I could help a company expand. Because the LEPs have money now they are like the former Regional Development Agencies. Through my role at the Solent LEP I want to see cooperation to apply funding on a local level to really achieve things for our local economy. It is down to the LEPs to get local authorities together, particularly when it comes to planning. I love the LEP because it is local. UKTI puts me on a world stage and I learn so many interesting things. Also because my work is outside the UK, Hampshire Chamber is brilliant for giving me local connections to people with whom I may not usually come into contact.


As a woman in a man’s world, especially when you started out, have you overcome sexism?


The barriers are in your head and I’m not averse to taking a male colleague to meetings when I want to field something in certain environments.


How do we bring the next generation into engineering?


You’ve got to have imagination to be a good engineer and use it to create something that is fit for purpose and a beautiful design not contaminated by conventions.


It’s very


creative and not only a career that uses the sciences and maths.


It’s schools, not further


and higher education institutions, that need to generate engineering interest. By tertiary education it’s really too late because they channel talent into the academic side, not hands-on engineering.


It’s an area where a


body like Hampshire Chamber can act as a broker and build the connections.


www.businessmag.co.uk


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