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ENTREPRENEUR


You are a finalist in this year’s National Business Awards’ Entrepreneur of the Year Award, and were a finalist for the coveted Natwest Everywoman Award, how does it feel to be acknowledged for your business accomplishments? It’s a huge honour and I’m really proud, not just personally but for the Novacroft team. Our development over the last 17 years has been all about nurturing and unleashing talent, with everyone working together to turn our joint vision into reality and it’s very satisfying to see the goals we’re working towards and the growth we’re achieving recognised through awards. The reason I set up the business was to make a difference to society and to make life easier, so to see this coming together with measurable results makes me proud - and excited for the future too.


Do you feel there is a level playing field between men and women in the board- room? Well it depends on how wobbly the table is… sorry, only joking! I truly believe that the only barriers in life are those that we erect ourselves. Anyone who wants to join the boardroom, male or female, needs to understand not only the key business drivers, they also need to work out what valuable behaviours and skills they can bring to the boardroom. They need a pur- pose, a narrative and to be consistent.


How do you maintain a work-life bal- ance?


I’m a very active person and those who know me know how important I think ex- ercise is. It’s no coincidence that our Ucan- do-it scheme encourages and rewards people for things like cycling and walking!


I make sure I separate work time from lei- sure time because I think it’s so important to our wellbeing. I do lots of cycling - I cycled from London to Paris a few years ago - and I go on regular walks with my two dogs – the other two loves in my life. I must have got that from my mum!


If you could have started a business in any other sector what would it have been?


I love dancing – it’s one of my great pas- sions - and my aunt was in Pan’s People, so that could have been tempting! But, thinking about it, if I could have done anything else, it would have been to set up an academy for would-be entrepreneurs – I would call it The Entrepreneurs Allotment. I believe that entrepreneurship is what makes business in this country great and that if we could encourage more people to start their own businesses they would make a huge contribution to society.


We were happy to learn that you began following us on twitter before the inter- view! Are you a fan of social media?


Interesting question. Social media.... In many ways, it’s incredibly powerful. It can help people in disaster situations and keep the world up-to-date on breaking news and be a stage for discussion. I don’t think we’ve yet realised its true potential though. It is in my headlights when I heli- copter view how technology can invisibly take the mundanity out of life and make life easier for all.


What are the future plans for Novacroft? The future is very bright! A huge opportu- nity for us lies in our Ucan-do-it pro- gramme and supporting positive commu- nity action in collaboration with charities and volunteer organisations. We’ll contin- ue to invest in our future too because we’re always looking to improve, so we’ll further develop our core products and services as well as enable our R&D team to develop game-changing innovations.


While today we are aiming to put people in control through our smartcard solutions, helping our clients get more for less and making life easier for all, in the future we’ll help them say goodbye to the mundane activities in life.


Our goal is to develop smart solutions for things like remote-control homes and next-generation communities, freeing peo- ple from unwanted tasks and giving them more time for fun.


• ENTREPRENEUR • 43


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