Veuve Clicquot Business Woman Award - UK Entrepreneur Penny Streeter, Ambition 24hours
Penny Streeter is one of the five finalists in the Veuve Clicquot’s UK ‘Business Woman of the Year 2003’ awards, it was announced today, April 1st 2004. The founder and managing director of Ambition 24hours – with £60 million revenue from the management of temporary personnel after just eight years - Penny is CBI ‘UK Entrepreneur of the Year’ as well as the highest ranked UK businesswoman, at No.13 overall, in the ‘Management Today: Top 100 Entrepreneurs’.
UK (PRWEB) April 1, 2004 -- Penny Streeter is one of the five finalists in
the Veuve Clicquot’s UK ‘Business Woman of the Year 2003’ awards, it was
announced today, April 1st 2004. The founder and managing director of Ambition
24hours – with £60 million revenue from the management of temporary personnel
after just eight years - Penny is CBI ‘UK Entrepreneur of the Year’ as well as
the highest ranked businesswoman, at No.13 overall, in the ‘Management Today:
Top 100 Entrepreneurs’.
The Veuve Clicquot UK annual awards recognise
the achievements of women in business. Previous winners include Anita Roddick,
Body Shop International, Marjorie Scardino, Pearson plc, and Dianne Thompson of
Camelot plc.
Ambition 24hours was one of the top ten fastest growing
companies for a second successive year in 2003, with a 130 per cent increase in
turnover to £52.6 million (source: Fast Track 2003). Veuve Clicquot nominee
Penny has led the business since she and her mother Marion set it up in 1996,
working on their own from small retail premises in Surrey with office space
donated by a friend.
Ambition 24hours is privately owned, all growth has
been organic and there are no outside investors. The company has 19 branch
offices in the UK, with nearly 200 staff and a further 13,500 personnel that
Ambition 24hours recruits and manages for temporary placement in the health,
education and social care sectors, as well as for private nursing care at
home.
A key feature is the 24-7 service at Ambition 24hours, to meet the
need for emergency cover often at short notice of as little as two hours, for
example, when an employer’s permanent staff are absent due to illness. The
company has only been ‘off-line’ for 17 minutes since it was set up, when it
upgraded its IT systems four years ago.
The company first achieved
success in providing nurses and care assistants to hospitals. Penny Streeter
subsequently expanded the service to include locum doctors, as well as teachers
and social workers for clients in the education and social service sectors
respectively. Prompted by recommendations from its public sector clients, most
recently the company has provided private nursing care direct to the public, in
their own homes, for post-operative and specialist care, such as following
discharge from hospital.
Ambition 24hours is a major provider of training
and career opportunities to women, particularly, those who may have family
commitments that make full-time or other temporary employment difficult or
impossible.
Many of the carers of friends and relatives, often following
a prolonged absence from the workforce, have been able to qualify as care
assistants with Ambition 24hours to work in care homes and hospitals, for
example. Also the company can offer local work, at short notice, that meets the
needs of care assistants, nurses, teachers and social workers with young
families, who may be available only at irregular intervals.
Zimbabwe-born
Penny came to the UK in 1979 at the age of 12 and started work in personnel
after she left school. After a variety of positions in recruitment and other
sectors, she founded Ambition 24hours in the mid-1990s. In the evenings, Penny
and her mother would move the desks to one side and provide training courses. At
weekends she worked as a children’s entertainer, to pay for the advertising
space required in order to recruit personnel.
Penny first achieved
success when she recognised the need for emergency staffing cover for nurses and
care assistants, particularly at night and weekends, when competitors’ offices
were closed.
Ambition 24hours quickly developed a reputation as a high
quality 24-7 service provider, with Penny taking calls on her mobile at all
hours of the day and night including weekends - such as while shopping in the
supermarket with her three young children. Following the fast expansion of the
business, Ambition 24hours invested in advanced IT systems and a dedicated UK
call centre, with experienced consultants to advise clients and schedule support
from staff nationwide who are screened and trained to the highest professional
standards.
Penny is a regular contributor to TV and radio business
programmes as an industry commentator as well as to conferences on
entrepreneurial issues. Penny, 36, has four children, the youngest just two
years old.
Note to Editors: Print-quality photos of Penny Streeter are
available for download
Further information:
Ambition 24Hours, Sentinel House, 16-22 Sutton Court Road, Sutton, SM1 4SY.
Tel: South of England: 08707 502 502;
North of England: 08707 557
557
Media Information:
Patrick Rea, Rea-TMA
Marketing Group. Tel: 020 8870 4976
Veuve Clicquot:
Moira Collins/ Lucy Myners: 020 7408 7430
# # #
Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2004/4/prweb115522.htm