FOCUS FEATURE
ENTERPRISING WOMEN
Paving the way for future generations
From legal and finance to logistics and housing, a wide range of sectors in the East Midlands are blessed with an even more diverse set of female talent in senior positions. To celebrate International Women's Day on 8 March, Dan Robinson finds out the inspiring stories behind 10 of the region's top enterprising women.
JEAN MOUNTAIN
“The day you have to tell them you’re the boss, then put your coat on and go home because at that point, you’ve lost their respect.” Jean Mountain has cherished her father
Reg’s advice throughout more than three decades as a businesswoman. It held particular importance when she
was tasked with running a factory for The Supreme Rubber Stamp Company – the Huthwaite-based company she’d joined initially on work experience and later owned as a partner – in the early 1990s at the age of 23. “That was tough at first, overseeing men
who were old enough to be my dad or granddad, and they did give me the nickname ‘Miss Fancy Pants’ because I wore business attire and heels. But having a strong personality has helped. If you set your stall out early, you will gain the respect, and they became like family to me.” Technological advancements reduced
demand and the company – which employed 24 people at its peak, supplying firms including Toyota and Rolls-Royce –
was sold in June 2019, but it didn’t signal the end of Jean’s involvement in business. By that point, she’d already set up TDR
Accessories, a handbag business born out of a hobby with concessions in hotels and beauticians, and bought a women’s clothes shop in Mansfield Woodhouse she visited as a customer. Jean renamed it to The Dressing Room and has since opened another branch in the Maltese island of Gozo. There’s also a director role at a national
print management company, as well as being a silent partner in numerous businesses ranging from florists and beauticians to property and cleaning firms. Jean explains her rationale is that, with
her husband Martin being 15 years her senior at 68, she wants to retire early. “As I have no children, in a way I’ve
always been very driven because business is my baby,” she says. “I’ve put in extra time and effort, and so
many long hours, because I just love running businesses. If I’m not working at 120mph then I feel guilty.”
Being mistaken for a waitress at a networking event inspired Jean to set up the Enterprising Women group in 1997, which is now a key part of the Chamber. In her late 20s at the time and wearing a black trouser suit while attending a
Nottingham City Business Club gathering, she recalls how a fellow member gave her a glass to take away. “That’s how I thought of Enterprising Women,” says Jean, who was involved with
the then-Nottinghamshire Chamber of Commerce as the only female board member out of 15 people. But it was very tricky to get the idea through the board because the other members asked why we needed it. “I said ‘you all have your freemasons and rotary clubs, and clearly these business
club networking events are also male-orientated, so why can’t we have something?’ I fought tooth and nail.” Jean eventually succeeded and, once the Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire Chamber
merged with Leicestershire, whose equivalent network was run by current East Midlands Chamber president Eileen Richards, to unite the wider Enterprising Women network, which will celebrate its 25th anniversary in 2022. “I’m so delighted it’s gone from strength to strength, with more than 500 members,
and our awards have become a huge part of the Chamber calendar,” she adds. Jean, who served as president in 2016, has also chaired the East Midlands Business
Crime Forum, which represents more than 80,000 businesses in advising on preventing crime, and for a time served as vice-chair of the National Crime Business Crime Forum. She also assisted in the formation of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Business Crime and is a former Nottingham Girls High School governor.
See page 75 for details about the Enterprising Women network's Celebration of International Women’s Day event on Friday 12 March
60 business network March 2021
Chamber president Eileen Richards MBE reflects on women, boards and the future of leadership on p90
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