News

Discover the WINning formula

(12 April 2006)

Running our own successful business may only be a dream for many of us, but for three top women entrepreneurs, it’s a reality.

Auspicious female business leaders Liz Jackson, founder and managing director of Great Guns Marketing, Janet Shelley, managing director of Women Builders Ltd and Lena Bjork of Inn or Out Catering, will share the secrets of their success at the Annual Enterprise Lecture on Tuesday 30 May in Durham.

At the event, entitled ‘Insights Into Success’, the women will discuss their experiences of setting up their own businesses and provide a helpful insight into the perils, pitfalls and rewards of running a successful business.

The event, organised by Durham Business School and Women Into The Network (WIN), takes place at Durham’s Gala Theatre, from 5.30pm to 6.30pm, with a reception prior to the event at 5pm.

Liz Jackson launched her telemarketing company over six years ago with no educational background and with just a £1000 grant and a loan of £4000 from the Princes Trust.

Today, Great Guns Marketing turns over more than £2 million a year, growing at a rate of over 40% per annum and has nine regional branches across the UK and Ireland.

Liz is a truly inspirational figure who has achieved much success in the face of numerous challenges including losing her sight the year she started her business.

She has won several awards and is a much sought after keynote speaker who has appeared alongside such luminaries as Donald Trump, Dame Anita Roddick and Stelios Haji-Iounnou. Liz was ranked 6th in the Times Top 50 Entrepreneurs 2005.

When she was still at school, Janet Shelley was frustrated that girls and boys were supposed to do different subjects. She wanted to take woodwork, but wasn’t allowed. Now she has taken the situation into her own hands.

She left the IT industry after sixteen years to set up ‘Women Builders Ltd’, which aims to give women opportunities across the entire building trades spectrum.

In Janet’s experience, an entrepreneur’s greatest asset is persistence: “People kept saying that I should have started as an acorn not an oak tree. But that’s not how I saw it – I think we needed the momentum to carry us along.

“You have to keep at it and make as much noise as possible! I’ve rattled a lot of cages!”

Janet was ranked 40th in the Times Top 50 Entrepreneurs of 2005.

Lena Bjork left Sweden when she was 17 with absolutely no education and went to the US to work as an au-pair. Leaving the US she travelled around the world working variously as kitchen porter and a waitress.

Then in 1994 Sweden joined the European Community (EC) and Lena arrived in the UK to work as a banqueting supervisor in one of the five-star hotels.

While this was not necessarily her idea of a career move, it inadvertently helped to define her life’s path. She now has a company of 12 full-time staff and a team of part-time freelance staff who cater for events of up to 3,000 people, including one for Bill Clinton when he visited the UK.

Lena is a mentor for both men and women looking to start a business.

The event is an excellent opportunity for members of the public to interact with the entrepreneurs and hear their stories.

Tickets for the reception and lecture are £10 and are available by contacting Anne Watts at Durham Business School on 0191 334 5506 or by emailing anne.watts@durham.ac.uk