You launched Novacroft shortly after losing your parents to cancer, how did this event shape your attitude to business and life in general? It made me realise that I had to make my life count for something. In a strange way it gave me the push to be brave and bold, two qualities I now live by, and to go after what I suddenly realised was my calling in life: technology. Here’s a little story for you .... one day before I started Novacroft I was speaking to an executive at IBM who told me how worried he was that people could easily set up tech businesses in their bedrooms. I instantly saw an opportunity. It all started panning out in my mind: travel cards and the application process, which I’d always considered lengthy, could be made so much simpler and faster by creating an online database. It was only when my moth- er died soon after my father and I had that drive to succeed that I took the idea from my back pocket - and the rest is history. I want to create a lasting legacy in the tech- nology sector by changing it for the better, but there’s still a long way to go!
Did you not consider it risky investing all of your inheritance into a new business? Absolutely, yes. My parents worked hard for everything they had in life and the last thing I wanted to do was throw it all away. I felt it was worth it because I had a clear vision of how I wanted it to work. My mum told my brother and me that she wanted the name Novacroft (the name of her kennels) to live on and I clearly remember writing that down on a piece of paper. I’m so pleased I’ve done what she would have wanted. My mission was to create something that would bring talented team members together with technology to do something good for soci- ety.... and adhere to my mum’s wishes. So, while it was risky, I was very driven.
How would best describe your business journey so far? Rewarding and unbelievably exciting! Building our team from just me in an office in Islington, identifying the right talent to turn my vision to reality and watching the team grow and the business thrive has been inspiring. Creating a fun, ambitious and caring company culture is what we are all about and our brilliant team members who bring this to life every day are the ones that make Novacroft what it is - I’ve always said that the sum is greater than the individual parts.
I also love the impact we’re having on society - we’re really involved in the
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local community - we mentor, fundraise, volunteer and have fun doing it! In July we entered the Red Bull Soapbox Race, which was a fantastic experience, using our skills, raising money for our charities of the year, Macmillan Cancer Support and KidsAid, and having a good laugh together!
I’m just as excited about the business today as ever. This year for instance has already been a record-breaker for us - we’ve launched four new brands under the No- vacroft umbrella, unveiled new branding and a great new website and moved into stunning new offices. Things have devel- oped so quickly and making our presence known in new markets as we are now with programmes like Ucan-do-it is a really ener- gising challenge. I’m always thinking about the future, about where our technology can take us and I have to say I don’t think I’ll ever lose the excitement of that!
You managed to secure a large contract with TfL, how did you approach the ten- dering process? It wasn’t an easy process. We had to do lots of research into the issues and challeng- es across the transport sector and within Transport for London’s own set-up. From this we created a business model addressing key issues, challenges and opportunities and the exact difference we could make. It was a surprise to many when we won the contract.
We won it on our principle of innovation and our online offering - which we kept under our hat for a long time. We knew the internet was the future and we didn’t want the ‘big boys’ of the transport world knowing our ideas before we could make them a reality!
The software industry is fast paced and competitive, how do you stay ahead of the rest? We have a great R&D team, who help me keep headlights on the future. We’re very good at being aware of what’s going on around us and knowing our markets. We ensure that we’re the best option for our clients and we always offer innovation. We’re always trying to reduce the pence in the pound our clients spend and make life easier for everyone involved.
To stay at the forefront of an industry you also need to be prepared to spend. We’ve built the right R&D team to complement our future vision and our company culture, which is crucial for us! Thanks to this, we’re now able to offer our clients a huge range of
services, from multi-application smartcards to bespoke software solutions.
Our clients really appreciate our culture and the values we stand for. And we’ve got a good track record of making things happen and helping our clients get more for less.
You have a well-known business philos- ophy about breaking the barriers that ‘we build ourselves’, explain more… From the moment I decided to start my own business I’ve believed the only barriers in life are the ones we erect ourselves. Business can be such a tough environment and it makes you doubt yourself at times, but as soon as you start questioning yourself, you stop making progress. We wouldn’t be able to do the work we do at Novacroft and in- spire others if we were negative in our own approach, so I think it’s really important to commit positively to everything you do.
The public sector procurement process differs from the traditional commercial tender… What advice would you give to a business targeting public sector clients? I think you should only contact prospects if you believe you can make a real, measurable difference to their existing set-up. Public sector organisations are loyal customers and it would be wrong to ask them to part with their money for a service that might not be quite right for them.
I also think that if you are really serious you will be familiar with an organisation’s values before they actually reach out to suppliers, so I’d recommend engaging with them early on to get to know them. Finally, I’d say to just go for it – you don’t know until you try! It’s also worth registering with The Official Journal of the European Union, which will send OJEU notices to you each week.
Now that you are targeting the private and third sectors too what are you doing differently?
I wouldn’t say we are doing anything differ- ently, because we’ll always stick to our core values and work towards the same goal, but we’re now working hard to promote our new initiative, Ucan-do-it, which helps businesses, charities and the public sector collaborate and recognise positive commu- nity action by rewarding active citizens.
We want to improve people’s self-worth through Ucan-do-it and we’re excited about the positive effect it will have on individuals and communities.
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