HOSPITALITY, BUSINESS & L AW
From belief to reality
Stephanie Bass, former ‘Jersey Entrepreneur of the Year’ celebrates her own company’s 20th anniversary in March. Covid may not have helped exactly, but despite it – and partly because of it - new opportunities keep on opening up They are designed to help staff enhance their leadership abilities, time management skills, personal effectiveness… in short, to increase their productivity within their own organisation. Her clients range from small charities to very large corporates and government departments – not just in Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man, but also in Europe and as far afield as the Middle East, where she has clients in Qatar, but the core of her work remains very much in the Channel Islands.
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n 2001, marketing and sales consultant Stephanie Bass started her own small business, Channel Islands Training and Development Ltd (CITD). Two years later, she was voted ‘Entrepreneur of the Year’ as a result of her new company’s amazing growth. This March, she is celebrating her company’s 20th anniversary. It is still expanding, despite (and partly because of) the difficulties that Covid inevitably creates. Stephanie founded CITD because she sensed a great business opportunity: the Island lacked a training company that would specialise in the soft skills area for the corporate sector. Her courses range from exceptional customer service telephone skills for receptionists up to high level leadership programmes for directors.
Having gained a business degree at Southampton University, Stephanie returned to Jersey, working first of all in an accountancy firm, during which time she realised that accountancy wasn’t for her. She knew that she had strong communication skills, so she gained a post-graduate marketing qualification and then worked at Channel Television - a job she absolutely loved – where she became sales and marketing manager of their teletext service and publishing division. She left to start her own sales and marketing consultancy; Highlands College employed her business on a long-term contract and it was there that she developed an insight into the Channel Island training market. ‘I’d always wanted to run my own business ever since I was small,’ she said. I’m a very free spirit and I have the ability to think out of the box a lot. I’ve always been pretty entrepreneurial and have always looked for that winning business opportunity.
‘I have a passion for my work. I absolutely love it and really don’t consider it to be work at all. It is important to visualise. As Walt Disney said: ‘If you can dream it you can do it! If you can see something in your mind’s eye and truly believe in what you are doing then it will definitely become reality.’ ‘I am also very lucky to be working with a fantastic and very hard working team of trainers, who, like me, just really want to help people and organisations develop and attain their goals.’ Covid, that uninvited guest, has been a huge shock, of course. Immediately, the entire open course schedule had to shut down and face-to-face courses had to be put on-line pretty quickly so that teaching could continue. But even uninvited guests can bring welcome presents: the company is continuing to win clients off the Island for its much expanded on-line programmes – a big opportunity for the future. ‘This past year has needed a lot of adaptability. It required a lot of thinking outside the box and changing aspects of the business. I can't thank the team enough for having been so flexible. For our 20th birthday year, CITD is now in a very good place offering both face to face and online short courses and qualification programmes. I look forward to seeing what the next 20 years will bring!’ The future is looking very rosy – or, considering her love of daffodils, perhaps better to say a future that is bright yellow and filled with the optimism of spring: ‘I can continue to follow my passion for helping people and to grow my business.’
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