For a generation of female entrepreneurs, there was only one role model – Anita Roddick. Anita died at the age of 64 on 10th September from a brain haemorrhage. For the last three decades, whenever anyone’s been asked to name a well-known businesswoman, the Body Shop founder and campaigner was usually first on the list. She cared passionately about her business, the environment and many good causes – but perhaps her greatest achievement was changing the way people thought about big business. The City didn’t understand her, but we’d like to think its denizens eventually came to respect her achievements and what she stood for.
prowessblog has a few memories of Anita – the first way back in 1985 when Edinburgh had its first Body Shop franchise. It was owned by a likeable guy – Peter – who perhaps didn’t quite ‘get’ the environmental motivations behind the brand. When he’d made a bit of money from his (unexpectedly) lucrative franchise outlet, he treated himself to a green Rolls Royce. And when Anita arrived at Edinburgh Airport one day on a company visit, he turned up to collect her in his ‘Roller’. She was none too impressed and made much of her own mode of transport at the time – an old CV. She took some persuading to get into the car and Peter got a lecture on environmentally-friendly transport for the journey. Apparently she was much more careful vetting the ‘eco-credentials’ of her franchisees from then on.
Another memory is meeting her in Glasgow more than a decade later when she was helping to promote the Inner City 100 initiative. A whirlwind of energy, passion and unwilling to stick to any script. A few years later, a conference in Armagh in Northern Ireland. A trickier encounter, chairing Anita and having to tell her that her time was up!
Her impact on women’s entrepreneurship has been immense and her start-up story of persistence, commitment and ingenuity will have inspired thousands of women across the UK and beyond. She provoked strong views, not always favourable, but she was a feisty operator and a great communicator. The challenge now is to ensure that we have a few dozen more ‘Anitas’ – inspirational female entrepreneurs who will encourage the next generation of young women to dream of business success and changing the world in the process.
ProwessBlog 