Video Report: Yorkshire Women in Business Conference

A SERIES of inspiring speakers told delegates at the first Yorkshire Women in Business Conference about their stories.

The event also brought together a panel of Yorkshire businesswomen to hear their views on the advantages and the challenges of being a woman in business.

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Below are a selection of the key quotes from the panel and the day's speakers.

Michelle Mone

Glasgow entrepreneur Michelle Mone launched her business 12 years ago after she developed the Ultimo Bra.

Her company, MJM, which now markets a range of lingerie brands, is currently valued at around £45m.

The recipient of numerous awards, including the World Young Business Achiever and Business Woman of the Year prizes in 2000, Ms Mone now juggles the demands of running her group with bringing up three young children.

“When I was 15 I told a teacher I wanted to be an entrepreneur, and she did not know what it meant. Instead she told me that the local co-op was advertising for staff and to go for an interview as a checkout girl. I have not seen that teacher since but I would have a few things to say to her now. Running a business with three kids is hard and I have learnt many lessons along the way. I now run my home like a business and we all have KPI's (key performance indicators).”

Nicola Horlick

Ms Horlick was dubbed the saviour of top investment management group Morgan Grenfell when it fell on hard times 12 years ago, despite combining her City career with raising five children.

She has also managed billions of pounds in leading pension and insurance funds for organisations such as SG Asset Management and Societe Generale.

The 47-year-old has since escaped the mainstream by setting up and now running Bramdean Asset Management, a small investment company, based in London's Knightsbridge.

“Women do not get to the top because they don't believe in themselves. We have to really believe in ourselves to be able to move forward. It amazes me how little confidence women have in when we are so good at multi-tasking and often have a real interest in the success of others. Or natural instinct is to nurture.”

Karren Brady

Karren Brady has, for the last 14 years, been managing director of Premier League Birmingham City Football Club, a post she attained at the age of 23.

Under her management, the club recorded the first trading profit in its 131-year history and she became Britain's youngest-ever leader of a public company when the organisation floated on the Alternative Investment Market in 1997.

“To run a successful business you have to show bags of commitment and huge amounts of enthusiasm and apply those things every day. A real leader faces the music even when they don't like the tune and determination is the key to your own success.”

Linda Pollard

Educated at Bingley Grammar School, Linda Pollard has considerable experience in both the public and private sectors.

A successful entrepreneur, she started her first business at the age of twenty-three and sold the last of them eight years ago, in order to devote her time to public service.

She is currently deputy chair of the regional development agency Yorkshire Forward, regional chair of Coutts Bank and president of Breast Cancer Haven – Yorkshire.

“Today is about shattering the glass ceiling and realising that most of the barriers we face are mental not physical. Most doors out there are partly open it is just the first steps that can be daunting.”

Julie Hanson

Julie Hanson is a joint managing director of Leeds-based Brahm.

She began her career as a junior designer in 1990 working for Underline, a design company which was apart of the Poulter Group in Leeds.

She became a company director at 30 and took part in an MBI in 2000.

“I have learnt an awful lot through mentoring and I hope to do it with the people I work with. I think it is very important for women to have that.”

Hansa Dabhi

Since Hansa Dabhi was voted Curry Chef of the Year 2004/2005 Hansa's has become one of the most talked about Indian restaurants in Leeds.

She launched the North's first pure Indian vegetarian restaurant run by all women staff and has won numerous awards and accolades.

“If you want to be successful in life you have to be a bit rebellious which is how I have become successful. I think I have done very well and I am very supportive of women in the workplace and look to empower and inspire then whenever I can.”

Judith Donovan CBE

Judith Donovan started and ran her own direct marketing agency in Bradford.

She was one of the first female entrepreneurs in Yorkshire and has won titles including Yorkshire Woman of the Year.

She chairs the Yorkshire Tourist Board, is a director of the Northern Ballet Theatre and a fundraiser for Ripon Cathedral.

“You have to develop a thick skin in business because you get a lot of knockbacks and criticism is part of knockbacks. If you can't take either then don't go into business.”

Margaret Wood

Margaret Wood is the managing director of ICW – which specialises in manufacturing aluminium framed glazed units for industry.

She was runner up in the Female Inventor of The Year in Industry 2003 with her design for the Touch Sensitive Window Mechanism.

She is chair of Wakefield First – the development agency for Wakefield and District.

“I was widowed at 39 and was told that I was socially unacceptable to be a woman on my own raising children and I needed a man. That is when I decided I would go into business and I had to deal with a lot of prejudice and I want to thank Mike Firth for brining women together today to inspire one another.”

Miles Hilton Barber

Inspirational blind adventurer Miles Hilton Barber has set numerous records in extreme endurance events across all seven continents, was the first blind pilot to fly the English Channel and in the spring of last year completed a 55-day, 21,000-kilometre microlight flight from London to Sydney, with top sighted co-pilots Brian Milton and Richard Meredith-Hardy. Mr Hilton Barber also broke the British high altitude record, when taking a microlight to 20,300 feet with co-pilot Storm Smith.

“Attitude is what determines altitude. You need to get out there and live your dreams; dream big, decide what you want to do, plan how to do it and persevere. And don't forget to have fun!”