TRAINING


Facing up to the challenge


Challenge Consulting is a regular partner of the Chamber’s commercial training team, helping to deliver both bespoke and scheduled courses. To mark International Women’s Day, its managing director Dawn Edwards (pictured) recounts her journey to entrepreneurship and the lessons she learned along the way.


“You’ll need horn rimmed glasses and to dye your hair grey”.


At the age of 29, I took the plunge and decided to become self- employed. I’d recently graduated with an MBA from Nottingham Business School and was working as an investment manager at Home Brewery, a role that involved evaluating viability of pubs applying for commercial loans – but my role was to be redeployed or made redundant along with all staff at the Nottingham base. The quote above is from a


careers advisor when I told him I was intending to set up as a self- employed trainer and consultant due to my aspiration to go it alone and, as a single parent to two children, the promise of more flexibility in my working day. Fortunately, his disparaging


comments did nothing but strengthen my resolve to prove him wrong, and Challenge Consulting was born. Ensuring my liquidity with a


part-time lecturer position on De Montfort University’s MBA programme, turnover for the business doubled year on year and led to the accolade of Woman Achiever of the Year in the Nottingham Post Women in Business Awards. The profile this gave led to


invitations to speak at events and projected the growth of the business further, moving into new space three


times in five years – while my family also grew as I met my now-husband and had another baby. I didn’t know it at the time but


taking my daughter to the children’s day nursery in our village turned out to be my next business venture. We were told it was closing and


the building was being sold for residential use. I knew nothing about the early years sector but I wanted to help the local community, and to safeguard and create jobs. With the support of the team, particularly the nursery manager and my husband, we re-established the nursery under a new name, and it quickly grew from five to 62 children, securing its future. Running two businesses in such


different sectors was a challenge but extremely rewarding, and led to me being announced as East Midlands Chamber Entrepreneur of the Year for Nottinghamshire in 2011. Why did the judges choose me?


They later told me it was because, when asked why I would take a risk on a business in a sector I knew nothing about, I responded “I wanted to prove to myself that the success of Challenge hadn’t just been a one-off fluke”. This was, in his opinion, the mark of a true entrepreneur!


10 THINGS I’VE LEARNED ALONG THE WAY


1 Trust your instincts while being true to yourself and your character. Not everyone will like you, but they are more likely to trust and respect you.


2 Be humble and accept that work-life balance is different for everyone. Running a business can take over your life – sometimes it’s a necessity and, for short periods, this is okay providing you have a plan.


3 Lose the guilt – it’s a waste of energy. I’ll never be the Earth Mother-type but my children love me anyway. No one “has it all”, we’re all just doing our best.


4 Success, however you measure it, doesn’t come without hard work. Anyone who tells you different is fibbing.


5 Employing others is a huge responsibility and an honour.


6 Your starting point doesn’t matter – it’s where you are heading and the effort you put into getting there that counts (plus how you treat others along the way).


7 Learn your craft – and know your limits. It’s better to walk away than to disappoint.


8 Find your passion and allow yourself to follow it. Not everyone will share your enthusiasm at first (or ever).


9 Be prepared to try new things and to get things wrong. Your business will need you to adapt to stay current.


10 The highs and lows are the things you will remember most, but every day is a journey in business – so enjoy it and help others along the way.


Bespoke training opportunities for businesses


Dawn Edwards and her team at Challenge Consulting lead training courses covering topics such as leadership and management, personal development, and customer care. This includes bespoke training, in which


trainers design and develop tailored face-to-face or online sessions, which are delivered to either individuals or teams of up to 12 people. A dedicated staff member liaises with the business lead throughout the programme –


74 business network March 2021


selecting a training specialist most suited to its needs, ensuring all its requirements are met when designing the course content, and completing a quality check following the course delivery. The Chamber supports more than 100 businesses with bespoke training courses each year.


Business training manager Vicki Thompson


said: “We are very proud of our reputation as a leading provider of commercial training across


the East Midlands area and beyond. “Not only do we run a comprehensive range


of open courses and development programmes to support individual companies, we also provide dedicated bespoke options for businesses to access.”


For more information on bespoke training, email vicki.thompson@emc-dnl.co.uk or call 0333 3200333 (ext 2153).


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