Carolyn Creswell
Carolyn Creswell planned to be a politician or a human rights lawyer, but as John Lennon wrote "life is what happens when you're making other plans."
In 1992 life for the 18-year-old first-year Monash arts student took a sudden turn when she bought a small food business.
"It was a business that made home-made muesli for a few cafes and delis around Prahran and South Yarra. I worked there one day a week and I loved it. When the owners put the business up for sale, I thought my job would be in jeopardy so I offered them $1000 which was initially dismissed, then finally they took up my offer."
Suddenly life revolved around very early starts and a hectic schedule juggling classes at Monash Clayton with the demands of a small business. Carolyn also dived deeply into student life and her arts majors of politics and sociology. Monash was a good "cultural fit", because of its reputation for being progressive and its active student life.
The growth of Carman's Fine Foods is the stuff of entrepreneurial dreams. Carman's is now the number one selling muesli brand in Australian supermarkets and exports to 26 countries including to supermarket chains in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Pakistan, the UK and US. The business employs 14 full time staff in Melbourne and manages many more suppliers and contractors.
Married with three young children Carolyn prides herself on the balance she maintains between her career and her family.
"The core of my philosophy is that we are all in the people game. So if I listen to my customers, if I run a business where people love coming to work, if I'm fair to my suppliers, then I tick most of my personal boxes. My greatest strength is being a good people person. I'm very engaged when I'm here, but I'm not a micromanager. I'm the furthest thing from a workaholic. I'm very much into empowering people to do their job and taking the rewards that come with responsibility."
Carman's has been named one of BRW's Fastest 100 Growing Companies and in 2007 Carolyn won Ernst & Young's Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award.
She was also a finalist in the 2008 Telstra Business Woman of the Year awards and the 2008 Veuve Clicquot award, which is presented in 17 countries annually to honour exceptional women in business.
Carolyn is modest about her success saying she has been "chipping away at this for 18 years now."
Many would disagree with Carolyn's assessment. From cottage industry to a multinational, trusted Australian brand is success in anyone's language, particularly considering her youth and inexperience in the beginning.
She has learned on the job and believes that because she has done everything herself at one time or another, she can empathise with her staff much more easily about their jobs and problems they may be experiencing.
Carolyn has no formal business training, but the experience of university, regardless of the course, was a valuable one, she said.
"I had a lot of emotional support from my parents, and through school an enormous confidence, and university gave me the ability to problem solve, research, think outside the square and to be self motivated.
I think a uni course teaches you independence, self reliance. You have to be self motivated. It taught me how to think and find things out for myself.
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