Emma Harrison, chairman and founder of Sheffield-based training company A4e, the largest provider of welfare to work services for the government, may be a familiar face to those that have watched Channel 4's Who Knows Best programme recently.
The Guardian noted earlier this year that the media hasn't been slow to pick up on her straight talking and photogenic smile Who Knows Best. As well as Who Knows Best, her media exposure includes Benefit Busters, Secret Millionaire.
On Who Knows Best programme she was pitted against London youth worker Ray Lewis to find a job for a workless young person. Harrison, it was noted in the Guardian, nurtured her young charge every step of his way into a suit and a job in the City.
Just last week, there was further exposure for Harrison in Radio 4's the House I Grew Up In. Harrison also keeps on winning awards, including, in 2007, the Nat West Every Woman Award and, more recently, this year's First Women Award for public service.
Why does she think she attracts such attention? "I'm a girl," she says, self-deprecatingly. In fact, this 47-year-old woman is a savvy businesswoman, tough enough when she started A4e to leave the business she was in with her father because she felt she needed to take a different direction.
My biggest challenge is people who say no and think things can't be done
"My biggest challenge is people who say no and think things can't be done, but it was a big challenge when I was in business with my dad. He became quite ill and I was in a very difficult position. I had to break away and start again. I adored my father, but I had to leave, to start again with my belief that my role was to improve people's lives. Dad didn't want to do anything as brave as that, but I wanted a worldwide business with that at its heart."
She is clear that A4e is not a social enterprise. "It's a social purpose company," she says, firmly. And despite the fact that she now employs more than 3,000 people, Harrison says she is still very entrepreneurial. "I love creative leadership," she says. "And what's different now is that I don't have to worry about whether the photocopier's working."
Work-life balance
Harrison, who is married with four children, prickles at first at the inevitable question about how she manages her work-life balance. "Would you ask a man, that," she rightly asks. But persuaded that there is a legitimate interest in how senior women managers arrange these matters, she says she had a good piece of advice early on, from her mother.
"I had money in the bank, but the dog food ran out and the phone bill wasn't paid. Mum told me to get a housekeeper and I've never looked back," she explains. I have a support system in place that a man would have. I want to improve people's lives and can't do that if I also have to worry about the phone bill."
Harrison's company is already the largest private contractor for welfare to work services, but she's keen to take on more. She takes a fierce line on job searching, saying job opportunities do exist, even in the midst of the worst recession since the 1940s. "That upsets me the most. It gives people a reason to give up. A4e is famous for finding the hidden jobs. I promise you they're out there."
As public spending cuts begin to bite seriously, Harrison's theory stands to come under severe test. Many of those presently employed in the sector will certainly be hoping she is right.
From Bubb's Blog
From Whitehall Watch
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