83 COMPANY PROFILE When did you start up and why? I registered the business in 1983 – we’ve just had a glamorous celebration of our 40th anniversary a couple of weeks ago. What prompted you to launch the business? I had small children and wanted something that I could do from home – designing and making with outworkers and selling around London where I live. I always wanted to run a business – defying my father who wanted me to be a respectable lawyer like him. What challenges have you overcome since the company’s launch? The big problem was always getting credit. Lloyds Bank in those days would almost literally pat me on the head and say: ‘A little housewife like you shouldn’t be bothering with business.’ I had to find out the hard way about overdrafts and Letters of Credit. My problem from the point of view of typical banks was that I was basically trading seasonally – Christmas and Easter – so had unorthodox cashflow. Eventually I found a small German Bank that was sympathetic. However, they
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