As International Women’s Day is celebrated across the world, an inspirational mother-of-five, who has created a business sharing platform for the whole of Lancashire, called Lancashare, divulges her secrets for success to AMY FARNWORTH

Lisa Edge, who lives in Darwen, has a real rags to riches story. Growing up on a council estate and leaving school with no qualifications, the 44-year-old says aiming high and setting huge targets is key to progressing in the business world.

Ms Edge said: “Make sure your business idea is robust, keep to a business plan and keep focussed on your end goal.

“My plans are huge, but at least if I fall short of them, I will have achieved my minimum objective. Always challenge yourself with higher targets than what are achievable, this way you are always aiming high.”

After having her first child very young, Ms Edge was determined not to be left behind as a low-skilled employee, so she worked her way up the corporate ladder for companies such as Norweb and Rentokil, and studied in the evenings at Blackburn College to gain as many qualifications as she could.

Eventually she found herself heading up the Employer Engagement department at the college, before moving into a similar role at Preston College.

And it was while working there that she realised businesses, in whatever capacity, all faced the same challenges ­— they had a wealth of knowledge but no platform from which to share this with others.

Ms Edge said: “I decided to give up the job I’d worked so hard for, in a bid to ‘fix’ the recurring problem that businesses highlighted.

“So I took voluntary redundancy and ploughed all I had into developing Lancashare ­— a platform for our county that ‘shares’ everything it can.

“There’s tonnes of great stuff in Lancashire, but businesses weren’t working collaboratively enough to see it all, so I created Lancashare.

“It’s an online platform which aims to change the way the county does business by ‘pooling’ the county’s resources in one place to make everyone’s business journey that bit easier.

“We are now the champions of our own county’s success and have recently launched similar platforms in Manchester and Cumbria.”

Since it launched two years ago, Lancashare has been up for 10 awards, and at a ceremony at the NEC in Birmingham, requests were made for Lincolnshare, Derbyshare, Herefordshare, and Buckinghamshare.

Ms Edge added: “Recently, both Mancheshare and Lancashare were officially awarded Northern Powerhouse Partnership status along with any other counties we roll out north of Birmingham, with Northern Powerhouse Minister, Jake Berry being incredibly supportive.”

This year's theme for International Women’s Day is Balance for Better, a call-to-action for driving gender balance across the world, and Ms Edge said that by encouraging women to enter business, this can be achieved.

She said: “It’s important more women enter business because we need equal representation. Difference offers strength in teams and women are smart, great at multitasking, carry empathy and can sometimes see opportunities others can’t.

“I’ve managed to be a full-time mum, a full-time student and a full-time employee, many at the same time over the last 30 years and watching me study and work hard has inspired my children to follow the same path and inspires them to do better.

“Most of all, surround yourself with great people who offer support and motivation and don’t be afraid to ask for advice.”

For more information on Lancashare and how to get your business involved, visit www.lancashare.co.uk.