An Evening with Diane Foreman

New Zealand House was the place to be on Wednesday 4 November for Kiwi women (and some men). Lady Alexandra Smith accompanied by the current High Commissioner, Rt Hon Sir Lockwood Smith, welcomed Diane to London and to the Network.

With the stunning autumn London skyline as the backdrop, kiwi themed nibbles were eaten that had been prepared by Rhonda Scott of Escence catering, Marlborough wine from Blind River was savoured, books were signed, and we eagerly awaited to hear our guests' musings.

Lady Smith set the scene by sharing personal (often amusing) anecdotes of their long friendship which started two decades ago in Auckland. Their paths crossed due to Lady Smith's involvement as a Counsellor at Diane's adopted son's school. From there, they bonded over their passion for philanthropic causes, eventually leading to Diane's 'OE' in the UK this year.....

A word that best describes Diane is 'dynamic' and all present felt she certainly had 'je na sais quoi' about her. Any assumptions that were made, were blown away! She was brutally honest about her early life as an adopted child, which was led to her career starting as a Typist (in demand those days) and getting married at 18 (a insight into being a women in 1980s in NZ). She was under immense financial pressure to pay $3000 mortgage (yes that's right) for her Sunnynook property, and her work led her to meeting her wealthy business man second husband, late Bill Foreman.

Her life until that point appeared to be fairytale like. In contrast, her foray into the Boardroom was less romantic. Diane battled sexist and stereotypical attitudes by working incredibly hard to 'learn the business' to earn respect and the right to be at the table.

Although she has had great financial success through the sale of Trigon and companies through the Emerald Group, this wasn't always the case. There were some poor investment decisions made that she had to exit, such as a bespoke NZ shoe design service, The Loaded Hog and also selling ice creams in a cooler, poorer geographical region in China.

Diane is a great believer in loyalty to staff and even does a 'drive by' to see how potential employees look after their homes to assess how they will treat the company. She champions senior women leaders to leave the ladder down for the next generation of women and mentoring.

She is adamant that we are all business people in some ways, from either selling a service as a professional worker, or running an enterprise. However if we had a choice, being a business owner should be the goal. Although she admits it doesn't suit everyone's personality and character.

Key points for success are to have a business plan, learn your business operations from the ground up, and the customer is KING.

For Diane, it was wonderful to be in a room where she was talking 'business stuff' with more women than men! How times have changed indeed. Our fantastic network women from Holi, Stella & Dot, Newton & Pott were present to showcase Kiwi female entrepreneurial spirit.

So get ready for next year's mentoring programme, where Diane will have a tangible impact on the participants as former EY World Entrepreneur of the Year.