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Debra Charles
Interview & Words Barbara Akinkunmi
Debra is the Founder and CEO of Novacroft, a smartcard tech company with clients including Transport for London (TFL) and the Royal British Legion. Debra shared her journey into entrepreneurship with me and her experiences, alongside barriers she faced and how she pushed through them with resilience. As someone who’s encountered many challenges, Debra helps us to realise that barrier’s such as dyslexia can actually be a strength and you can achieve anything you put your mind to do.
Your story into entrepreneurship is quite unique, tell us a bit about your journey to creating Novacroft?
Growing up I struggled at school quite a lot and after some time I was diagnosed with dyslexia. At such a young age you end up believing things that you’re told and everything you hear convinces you that you were right to think that in the first place, so I had that kind of thing with my dyslexia. This alongside being labelled as ‘thick’ made me believe that I had to do more to be able to achieve anything. I loved technology and I managed to get a job with Westinghouse, a robotics company and that was an amazing opening for me. It was the emergence of robotics and manufacturing within the health sector and I was able to help engage robots across Europe. I found myself in a job where I was completely underqualified, didn’t speak any languages but I was able to really embrace technology and that gave me the desire and thirst to do more. I then joined Apple and I had a similar experience there, so my background has always been about vision, strategy and turning visions into reality. Working in the field of technology and robotics made me realise that you can really change the world. Two years before starting Novacroft my corporate career had started to sink. I love technology and how it helps make a meaningful difference, but it’s really the humans that make the difference. I began to notice how people were being used and not treated well, which made me think that there has to be a better way. I was thinking about my career at that time and how this was an opportunity to think differently about how we live.
Unfortunately, both my parents became poorly in 1997 and they passed away very close together both from cancer. This was such a devastating time for my brother and I, but it also made me realise that life is short and all the thoughts of I’m not clever or good enough is an absolute waste of time. I was so shocked at what happened with my parents that I needed something to focus on, so I started Novacroft. The company is actually named after my mother's kennels to mark respect for my mum and dad.
Within 3 years of starting Novacroft we had £55 million worth of grant funding on behalf the government. We introduced a small team and built back-end and front-end systems to be able to process grant applications and make the payments etc. We then moved into the transport sector where we’ve had our biggest contract with Transport for London (TFL). With the use of technology, we simplified their process and provided a solution that delivers cards to people quicker. It usually took 48 days for people to get cards, however we shortened that to 15 days, 8 days and now same day or next day. Through this solution we helped TFL save around £22 million pounds. We also played a large part in the Olympic games by supporting 70 thousand volunteers with technology and customer care, helping them get around London.
Now we work in the charity sector because we need it for the future to support mankind in terms of avoiding the perils and rising to opportunities. We recognise that the future of work is changing especially due to the pandemic, resulting in lack of opportunities and employment. We looked at the charity sector and thought that if we’re not careful, it will become extinct, so this is why we’re using technology to do what we did with TFL. This will help simplify the sector’s processes and help their people embraced the future of work.
Most people would see dyslexia as a huge limitation to fulfilling their career plans and goals, however you managed to push through this and create Novacroft which is still running successfully today. From being told that you had dyslexia, how were you able to break past the barrier?
When somebody puts a label on something it somehow has a negative connotation. Being told that I had dyslexia reconfirmed to me that I was ‘thick’, so I believed this for a very long time. I even remember working for an organisation where we would go out for lunch and my bosses would be springing poetry verses at each other. I could never really get involved because I didn’t know any poetry and I would think yet again I can’t include myself in something because I’m not as intelligent as these people. Until one day whilst working at Westinghouse I looked around the room and realised that I was the only person prepared for this meeting. Everyone else had just shown up, however I had spent extra time looking from afar and thinking about the challenges, barriers and opportunities all needed for this meeting. This was actually a light bulb moment that made me realise how dyslexia is an absolute positive thing to have because I see things differently and that’s a strength! I recognised that I can look from afar with a helicopter view on a present or future situation and analyse it. Through this I’m able to picture with clear sight the things that could happen whether it be challenges, barriers and opportunities. From identifying these, I’m able to plan strategies on how to tackle each! I’d like to call it the ‘Dyslexic Lense’. I realised that this is a good quality I possess, and it doesn’t exclude me but makes me an asset to whatever team I find myself in.
“I’ve had many moment’s in my career where things go wrong unexpectedly, however I always remind myself that life is a journey not a destination…”
As an entrepreneur, what continually inspires you to keep going, especially on days where you feel like giving up?
I like that question. I find it my life’s work to help people find safe passage through their journey and so in some ways it’s enabling people to recognise that there’s always hope and there’s always something you can do to make things good. Over the last couple of decades of doing this, I don’t have days where I feel like I want to give up, I never have that, but sometimes my dark days are more about needing to remove the noise. I’ve had many moment’s in my career where thing’s go wrong unexpectedly, however I always remind myself that life is a journey not a destination, its what you do problem about it that matters. If there’s a problem Identify it, understand it, walk towards it and solve it! And then we move on. So, over the years I think I have developed quite a resilience in the area of problems and tough challenges.
Another thing is you can’t please people all the time, you have to do it for the mass and not the individual. You can help individuals, but they also must be willing to help themselves as well! I say that because I remember one day earlier on in Novacroft driving out of work and I had spent a lot of money on air-conditioning systems to please everybody, especially as it was quite hot at that time. A few days later after the installation people started to complain, some wanted it hot and some wanted it cold. It just made me realise that you can’t please everybody all the time, you just have to do your best! If you’re not careful, your own wellbeing could be tampered with. You can’t help people if your own well being is not looked after. If you're not looking after your wellbeing, then you can’t keep your passion burning.
With Novacroft, did you ever think that you would get to where you are now, especially with what you’ve been able to achieve?
Initially I imagined 100 team members and big projects. I learnt from working at Apple that If you believe it then it can be. So, for me if I could draw or imagine it in my mind, then I could definitely make it happen. It takes the same amount of energy to win a million-pound contract as it does for a 10 thousand or 100-thousand-pound contract, so make it happen and just go for it was my mindset.
If you’re not careful you can lose your belief in what you’re trying to build. It’s no good just believing naively, you’ve got to have a foundation behind that belief. With everything I’ve been able to achieve, I could not have done it without believing in it and that belief had to have the foundation of risks being mitigated and opportunities being well thought out.
I thought big rather than thinking small!
What was the most challenging period of your career and how did you keep progressing/building through it?
I can assure you that I’ve had loads of them but a major one was about 4 years ago. At the time I had a managing team in place at work and I was going through a particularly traumatic process of adopting my son. Home was very different because our sense of normal was not my sons sense of normal, so he was in such trauma and it was really hard. Similarly, at work I suddenly found myself with no information about how my business was going and they were changing systems and I couldn’t get my hands on it. This all sent me into a thinking and feeling phase of turmoil and chaos. If both your work and home life is bad, its very hard and tricky to deal with, however through this time I reminded myself that this is a journey and not a destination.
Prior to me discovering all of the activities going on at work, I already had a gut feeling that it was happening. This led to some investigations being carried out that proved I was right, even though I would never think the people involved would do such a thing. So, it taught me a big lesson about people, characters and even business. It cost me about 1.2 million which nearly broke the business and the shame I felt was appalling. I had shame because I felt as though I had let it happen, so I removed a number of people from the organisation.
In hopes to keep the business progressing, my transparency with the team really helped. It’s hard to be vulnerable, you must be quite brave to do that. But there’s that conviction that I can’t live a lie and just sweep things under the table without expecting queries on the matter to rise, so the transparency was needed. I pulled the team together they appreciated my honesty and we worked together to turn it around and continue to build. This was my biggest challenging moment because of the shame I had felt from it, but I had come to a point of realisation where my shame is not helping anybody, so I had to shake it off. I had to progress even in the mist of what seemed like a disaster, so the advancing step was to gather the team and continue to build. The business has grown significantly since then.
What would you say are the key elements for starting and running a successful business?
Opportunity – you’ve got to be looking. If you are spending too much time looking at what’s not good about yourself that means you are looking down and not seeing opportunities. Be really comfortable in your call! Test every opportunity and speak to the right people about it. For every opportunity, envision it’s future and imagine it 3/5 years from now, really live in that moment as if it’s present. Who are you with? What are you doing? Who's not with you? What have you achieved when you look back? This will enable you to see potential barriers and challenges you’ll need to overcome and also further opportunities it can lead to. Look at it from afar and work backwards from there about what you want your business to look and be like. Vision is key!
Also look at the finances you’ll need for the business and put together a plan for it. Every business will have expenses, so it’s best to have a clear view of what you need.
Engage with the right people and ask questions! The bigger a business gets, the more you're going to speak to people that are in the same boat so seek advice. The more information you absorb, you find something out about it. You also don’t have to give too much away to people.
If the drive is to just make money you won’t do very well in business. If you want to make a difference, what does that difference look like? what do you want to stand for and what are your values? What need or issue are you helping to meet/solve?
As a female entrepreneur, especially with the position and responsibilities you now hold, what are a few things you have learnt?
Often women have this ‘imposter syndrome’ that really holds them back. I’ve even flirted with that thought in my life, so I’ve had to look into myself and see that it’s not really helping me. Working in the transport sector was different because it was very male dominated with long projects lasting decades, so you can easily be underestimated however this can go to your advantage.
I’ve also learnt that It’s about standing tall because this world is small and we need more women to rise up and be confident in what they can do. Remember that if you don’t do it, who else will do it? So, look around at what is happening in life, what has happened and what opportunities there are. If we don’t stand up and make a difference, then we’re letting everybody down. There’s load more women who can stand up, join together and make things happen.
In terms of community, are there any ways that you are currently helping to support and develop other young entrepreneurs?
I’m one of the founders of the Kindness movement which helps children in schools to overcome prejudice and share stories of kindness, which is very important to me as is leading with kindness in a digital age. I’m also a member of the school of management board at Cranfield University and that for me is to do with kindness. I had the opportunity of holding a session to help a group get their personal vision written and planned out.
I would like to do more in terms of supporting young people so my next mission is developing the kindness into something around supporting groups. What I’m doing here at Novacroft is talking to groups about the future of work. I realised that a lot of people are living in the here and now. This is why I’m trying to help them grow and understand how work will change, so that they can choose work
and learning that will help them embrace the future. At Novacroft I’m also helping to improve self-esteem and perception amongst my colleagues, so we’ve started to help people dream big and have the confidence within themselves first. I spent the majority of my life thinking that I wasn't really good enough, and if you can help people get rid of that emotion, imagine what great things people can do.
For young females out there who are currently facing adversity in pursuing their entrepreneurial goals, what advice would you give to them?
Get a piece of paper and write down one positive word about yourself and keep adding to that. Know in your core that you are amazing and can achieve anything you set your mind to do. Rise up and stand up because you can make a difference. It all starts within you.
Look at the future! where does success look like to you for your goal? What is happiness to you? This is really important because you don’t have to be at a level just because your parents or society has told you so, your progress is your journey, don’t compare it to anyone else’s. Just focus on the vision and continue to advance towards your goals one step at a time.
What are your future plans and where do you see Novacroft going from here?
A real mission now is to help my own team and the organisations we work with and the wider charity sector and transport sector find safe passage through this and beyond. I also aim to help Novacroft to remain relevant and fit for the future.
Personally, it is really about developing a programme called leading with Kindness in a digital age and even pandemic age. Leadership is about being adaptable, it’s about creative thinking and thoughtful action and for me that’s everything. It’s possible for any of us to stand up and make a meaningful difference and I realise now that I can make a global difference if I want to. I want to impact the world from a national or global point of view, whether that’s working with government or various organisations. If I can help the younger generation to believe in themselves and believe that they can make a difference, then that’s what I want to do.
