Perl

Entrepreneur Louise Wreathall has been shortlisted for the ‘Best Mumpreneur’ award at the National mother@work awards 2008. Louise, creator of Flexi Time Manager, which offers an online flexi time recording service, launched her business last year and has seen it go from strength to strength. She will attend a reception at 11 Downing Street on 18th June, where the winners will be announced.

Louise says, “Being shortlisted for this award means so much to me. Of course I’d be thrilled to win, but reaching the final stage itself shows that my work in getting the business where it is today has paid off.”

As a working mother who returned to work after a career break, Louise knows how important flexi time can be. Working in the HR department of a charitable organisation, she was responsible for administering a time consuming flexi time system for 30 staff, using scraps of paper and mental arithmetic to calculate hours worked. When staff numbers doubled, she knew something had to change, and set about creating an electronic timesheet system. By 2005, Louise had set up the business and set about trialling her own online time management system. With the help of Enterprise North East Trust, and local networks Women Into Business and Aberdeen Entrepreneurs, she learned the fundamentals of business management, finally launching the fully tested web application in November 2007.