Following a degree in Law and Japanese, Emma joined international accounting firm Arthur Andersen, where she worked in London, Leeds and Manchester offices and set up the firm's Inward Investment practice that attracted overseas companies to locate in the UK. In 2000, bitten by the dot.com bug, Emma left the firm to start her first business, Techlocate. After 15 months, the company was successfully sold to Tenon plc.
The experience of starting, growing and selling a business from a home base gave Emma the idea for Enterprise Nation which was launched in 2006 as the home business website. The company has since expanded to become a small business community of over 75,000 people who benefit from business books, events and funding: online, in print and in person. Enterprise Nation also presents a campaigning voice to government and the media on behalf of its members.
In March 2011 Emma was one of 8 co-founders to launch StartUp Britain, the national campaign to encourage more people to start a business and support existing businesses to grow. Over a period of 3 years (March 2011 to 2014), Emma led and managed the private sector campaign that facilitated mentoring, hosted Industry Weeks, toured the UK with entrepreneurs and experts, launched special projects such as PopUp Britain and had a critical role to play in record results of people becoming their own boss.
In June 2012 Emma was awarded an MBE for Services to Enterprise. In August 2014 Emma was appointed Chair of Plotr.co.uk a digital careers platform to help young people discover their future, with self-employment increasingly being chosen as an ideal career option.
In November 2015 Emma was appointed by the UK Prime Minister as a Business Ambassador with a focus on increasing international trade. In July 2016, Emma was appointed SME Representative for Crown Commercial Service.
How has your life experience made you the leader you are today?
Being brought up by a Mum who ran her own business has certainly had an impact. Mum ran restaurants, which meant I was waiting on from a young age! When you work the times that most people are at leisure, it builds in you a strong work ethic. That doesn't necessarily make you a good leader but starting and growing a business does require hard work, dedication to the cause, and commitment to your team. I got an insight into this from a young age.
How has your previous employment experience aided your tenure at Enterprise Nation?
I only ever had one 'proper' job working for someone else, which was straight out of University when I joined professional services firm, Arthur Andersen. I spent 5 years at the company and got the best training you could wish for. Whilst there I learned how to develop new business, and interact with senior people in the UK and overseas. Those early working years delivered the professional discipline, confidence, and contacts I needed to go on and build a career of starting businesses.
What have the highlights and challenges been during your tenure at Enterprise Nation?
The highlights have been growing the team and supporting small businesses. My first company was launched with a co-founder and together we grew it and then successfully sold two years later. Enterprise Nation has been a much longer venture. I've grown the company from me at home to 16 people in 3 offices across the UK. And yet I feel we're just getting started! The highlights of our days are hearing from businesses who have secured deals, employed people, got in the press etc on account of our work. We work tirelessly to ensure small businesses get access to advice and connections and to make sure they're heard, so it's a high point hearing back from them on how that's helped. The key challenge is to maintain our pace of innovation so we continue to support today's modern business owner in the most seamless and effective way.
What advice can you offer to women who want a career in your industry?
My industry is the industry of entrepreneurship and I'm not sure women need much advice in this area as they're well and truly doing it for themselves! In July a study of more than 10,000 people by Aston University found that the proportion of women who went into business rose by 45% in the ten years to 2016, compared with growth of 27% in male company founders over the same period. What's driving this is women searching for the freedom and flexibility that self-employment provides.
As for advice to anyone considering becoming their own boss, I'd say: come up with an idea, write a plan, make a sale, raise profile and keep repeating. Oh, and come to one of our start-up events!
What is the most important lesson you’ve learned in your career to date?
That growing a sustainable business can take longer than you think.
How do you maintain a work/life balance?
I never like this question! I've decided that the best way to answer it is to borrow something I read someone else say which goes along the lines of ... my work is my passion and hobby so I really don't mind that I'm always doing it!
What do you think is the biggest issue for women in the workplace?
Have to be honest and say there are not many issues for women in the entrepreneurship workplace as you make the rules. You determine how and where you want to work and, most important, whether or not you want to grow. I've seen women start a business, run it round the kids, and then go for turbo-growth when the kids have left home. The great thing about running your own business is it's you who decides the pace. The one area I do think requires attention is the relationship between women and raising money; it's a complicated one and could make the basis for a blog post in its own right.
How has mentorship made a difference in your professional and personal life?
It's helped a huge amount. As a sole founder of a business, it's been incredibly important for me to have a sounding board. Having a mentor is something I heartily recommend to all small businesses.
Which other female leaders do you admire and why?
It raises a quizzical look from many but Martha Stewart has been my business idol as I've grown Enterprise Nation. She built a publishing empire and was the first woman to float a $billion company on NASDAQ. She successfully made the move from kitchen table to international corporation and that's a good example to follow. The reason it raises odd looks is because she is also the entrepreneur famed for having done a stint in jail for a stock sale. I'm not planning to follow her lead that far!
What do you want Enterprise Nation to accomplish in the next year?
We've got one of our most exciting years coming up as we are investing in and building out the Enterprise Nation online platform into a beautiful business support tool that will connect members to advisers and trade opportunities. We're also set to announce some exciting partnerships that will connect businesses with the support they need offline. The way we look at the world is; there are over 5 million small businesses that need to support to grow. It's our job to deliver that support - so we've still got a way to go!