Page 31 - The 10 Most Successful Shepreneur to watch for2019

always created little businesses – it’s how I paid my way important to know; something is better than nothing and
through University. My first job in recruitment was also things are never going to be perfect. Better to get your
very entrepreneurial. I had to set up a life science brand product out the door and continuously improve it, than
completely from scratch; almost like building my own never get it out the door at all.
company within the confines of a bigger more established
one. The brand was successful and I wanted to take that to 6. What were the primal challenges and roadblocks
the next level, so I left and created Elemed. you faced during the initial phase of your career as an
entrepreneur?
2. How do you diversify your organization’s offerings to
appeal to the target audience? The biggest challenge I faced is the variety of hats you
have to wear when starting a business, not only are you
Recruitment is not as easy as everyone thinks because CEO but you are operations manager, marketing and HR,
there are always a lot of moving parts. There are two the recruiter and the business developer. Whilst wearing
variables, the candidate and the company and we have to all these hats you have to balance and manage your time
tailor our services to bring together a company’s needs effectively to ensure you are still able to do business. There
with a candidate’s aspirations. You have to understand are a lot of tasks that don’t necessarily generate revenue
each person’s motivators and adapt as a business to help but take up a lot of time and that is a challenge in itself.
them achieve that. We try to consistently add value and
build brand awareness through the creation and sharing of 7. Where do you see yourself in the near future and what
meaningful content for our target audience. are your future goals?

3. Describe some of the vital attributes that every As a business my goal is to make Elemed the best niche
entrepreneur should possess. medical device recruitment company in the world. At
the moment we are really strong in Europe and I want to
I think the desire to succeed and resilience are common keep expanding and have offerings in the US and further
attributes you find in an entrepreneur but also I think you afield. In the future I want to be in a position where we
need to have certain fearlessness and not worry too much can deliver and support our candidates and companies as
about getting it wrong. An eye for continuous improvement they grow worldwide. It’s an exciting time for Elemed, we
and the ability to keep checking yourself to see how you are about to launch a rebrand, a new website and 3 new
can improve as a business and person is important. Above business offerings.
all working hard is the key. There are no elevators to
success; you always have to take the stairs. 8. What is your advice for budding and emerging
Shepreneurs?
4. How do you strategize your game plans to tackle
competition in the market? Focus 100% of your energy on the 10% that matters. In
other words make a list of activities that need to be done,
Although it’s important to be aware of what your highlight the ones you’re really good at and focus 100%
competition is doing I don’t let it define me. For me it’s of your time on becoming excellent at them. Hire someone
all about being the best I can be. My biggest competition and let them handle the activities you’re not so good at
is myself. The key is to know what you’re talking about, because you can’t be amazing at everything. I learnt this a
follow up and follow through and provide a high quality couple of years into starting my company and perhaps if I
service that makes people want to come back. We highlight had learnt it sooner I could have saved myself a lot of time.
the importance of candidate relationship and candidate
experience which means approaching our candidates like
customers; not just applicants.

5. What are the frequent challenges faced by women
entrepreneurs in the workplaces and what are the ways to
tackle them?

According to a study I saw on Linkedin, women have a
tendency to undersell themselves whilst men tended to
oversell in business. I feel that as a women entrepreneur,
there is a certain pressure to be better than men and a lot
of women I know are inherently perfectionists. Being an
entrepreneur is all about execution and getting things out
the door but if you let being a perfectionist hold you back
then that can mean in the long run you could lose. It’s

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