Interview
Meet the woman who’s passionate about promoting girl power
Tech entrepreneur, motivational speaker, mother and now a successful author, Jo Wimble-Groves is on a mission to empower girls from a young age to strive for their goals and own their own success. Here she tells Eileen Leahy more about her quest which has also resulted in her first book Rise of the Girl
J
o Wimble-Groves is busy chatting on her phone when I arrive at the Tunbridge Wells Hotel to interview her. She waves a friendly ‘hello’ at me and I take a seat at the window table she is sitting at where she is in deep discussion about something. I’ve never met Jo before but I’ve certainly heard a lot about her recently as she has just celebrated a milestone anniversary for the successful tech business she co-runs with her older brother and has just had her first book, Rise of the Girl,
published by DK. Jo’s also behind the popular Guilty Mother blog which now has over 55K followers and a thriving Instagram following too. If you’ve not come across it then essentially it’s a forum where Jo, expert guests and followers can share stories and explore conversations about making mothers feel – you guessed it – less guilty about being the perfect parent. And as if being an entrepreneur, blogger, author and mother wasn’t enough Jo also finds the time to squeeze in a bit of public speaking,
host motivational talks for teens and “It was the mid 90s and he’d been playing golf professionally for England pen specialist opinion pieces for but sadly he was involved in a car national newspapers including The accident and sustained a knee injury Guardian. which temporarily paused his “The idea is to share my story,” Jo explains after she comes off the phone professional career in sport. Richard started selling mobile phones as a way and we’ve ordered some coffee. “I left of paying for his rehabilitation. He was school at 16 because I struggled doing it independently and asked if I academically. I was always in the bottom set so had to dig a little deeper would like to get involved too.” “Being quite young I put my hand in order to do well. My parents up and took an opportunity. I think I divorced right in the middle of my said to him it would only be short term GCSES and that was a tough time for as I still wanted to do drama but I saw me. I often bring this up when I do the potential to earn a small income.” talks in schools as there’s a good Fast forward a quarter of a chance that some kids will have century and the duo’s experienced their mum and specialist b2b mobile dad not being together telecoms company anymore. But the key Active Digital has just message is your grades celebrated 25 years don’t have to define “We hold the power in business. Over who you are - or your to do so much but we the past couple of success. If university have to tell girls that decades it’s won is not right for you I many high-profile believe you can create from a young age” clients including your own success Crew Clothing, without it.” Saracens Rugby Club and Jo, who was born in all of the Premier League Tunbridge Wells and still along the way as well as numerous lives here with her husband and accolades. Active Digital has been three children, says that it awarded a customer service gong took her a good while to every year consecutively for the realise all this and that’s why last 15 and is one of O2’s best she is now on a mission to performing partners across the whole empower young teens – especially of the UK and Ireland. Meanwhile Jo girls – into becoming more resilient has been crowned Everywoman’s and ultimately making the right Entrepreneur of the Year in 2020 and decisions for themselves. listed in Management Today’s 35 “I worked hard and did OK in my under 35 in The Sunday Times. Not GCSEs in the end but when I went to bad for the girl who found herself at a sixth form college I felt a bit lost. I’d bit of a ‘crossroads’ in life when she always loved drama and wanted to be a performer but I didn’t pursue this so was just 16 but then as I discover Jo is all about taking those opportunities I found myself at a bit of a in life and running with them… crossroads.” When they started Active Digital in This led to Jo leaving school at 16 in 1996 Richard and Jo concentrated on order to work alongside her older getting businesses as diverse as law brother Richard when he asked her if firms, architects and chemical she fancied helping him sell a few engineers – not just locally but from mobile phones. all over the UK and Ireland - on their books as opposed to individual personal customers. “We knew we could never compete with the likes of Carphone Warehouse and Phones 4U who were high street giants at that time,” explains Jo. “Commercial phones however became a real lifeline for companies and gradually Active Digital became known as the best-in-class for business with a reputation for focusing on excellent customer service. “The personality behind our business – its heritage if you like - is really important and people love our story: they’ve really bought into it. We often get people telling us that they love supporting us. And whether they have been with us since the beginning or are new clients we are still very much hands on with all our customers a quarter of a century later.” It’s clear when chatting to Jo that the importance of a story just doesn’t apply to her tech business. In fact she tells me that the all the motivational speaking, blogging and now the publication of her book are all interlinked and stem from the fact that she is a woman in tech. SO Magazine | January 2022 | 19
