Penny is the author of 2 books, Know Me Like Me Follow Me – 2019 and Business is Personal. One of the UK’s most inspirational female entrepreneurs and a highly engaging and sought after speaker. In 1998, she founded the small business social network Ecademy with her husband Thomas Power and CEO Glenn Watkins with the aim of helping business people achieve success through online tools, community and friendship.
Established Ecademy five years before LinkedIn, six years before Facebook and eight years before Twitter, Ecademy provides an online networking environment where users can find business opportunities and give each other support. The Ecademy community currently has over 650,000 members and is present all over the world with the UK, USA, Europe, Asia and the Pacific Rim playing a part in contributing to the tremendously diverse business conversations on Ecademy's Blog page which was launched in 2002.
Named on richtopia.com as 65th on the list of 1000 Most Influential British Entrepreneurs of 2019, the journey has demonstrated Penny’s skill in balancing work life with home life, and as such Penny – married since 1990 and a mother of three – is an inspiration to ‘mumpreneurs’ who face similar challenges. Understanding the small business market has resulted in Penny being sought out to advise both small business owners and the Government on issues relating to the challenges that are critical to small business success.
As a testament to her success, she was awarded an OBE in January 2014 for services to entrepreneurship in social and digital development. Penny is no stranger to the spotlight and regularly speaks at conferences and events as well as contributing articles to media outlets, making her the ideal speaker for your own business seminar.
