Heather-Anne Hubbell, CEO of Phundex Limited, chats us through her propensity to disrupt, challenge and question in order to embrace digital innovation; why older people do not belong on a shelf and how, as a wife and working mother, women can have it all.
“My career started as a fashion merchandiser in Canada, a job that was fast paced and cutthroat. Despite loving it, huge competition at the time and a low renumeration meant it wasn’t a sustainable career path as a new mother, but the skills I learnt have stayed with me throughout life and informed a lot of what I do today. I now always seek out the story in everything I do, it makes problems relatable and allows you to clearly see the bigger picture.
Armed with two children under four, I decided to change paths and retrain as a lawyer, which would offer me a defined career path and progression. Three years of full-time study whilst working part time, I was the definition of a multi-tasking mother, hungry to learn and soak it all in. I was immediately drawn to tax law because of its structure and certainty. Whilst law is very definitive, there was a lot of creativity I could apply to solving problems and I constantly looked for different ways to approach matters, which has largely shaped my career in later years.
A serendipitous re-connection with a law school colleague saw me offered a role in London at Clifford Chance. Whilst I relished this chance, I initially thought I’d made a huge mistake. I was working all hours of the day, with little chance to return home, collapsing where I could for snatches of sleep. Family life and balance is very important to me, but we viewed this as the means to an end, so this became my life for two years. Sometimes it’s important to focus on the long game and to embrace what may come your way.
Visiting Jersey for an event in 2018 was a defining moment for me. I was working as a consultant for a digital start up and saw immense opportunity on the island to launch this company, supported by the dynamic infrastructure that Jersey can deliver. Having the regulator just down the road, a high quality of professionals comparable to the UK, and the ability to work as a tight knit community appealed to me in so many ways. Forming connections and forging new ways together felt nostalgic to me, but it is one of the island’s greatest selling points. Jersey is ready to do business and to make it personal, so it was an exciting move.
I remember being blown away when I saw Becky Houze present at an event and explain how she ran her Jersey farm all from her mobile phone. I thought ‘this is the future!’ and I wanted to play a part in it, enabling more industries like hospitality to become digitally enabled. We need to find more efficient ways of working and disrupting the standard process, using technology and most importantly, encouraging a constant learning pathway.
I come from an age of manual typewriters and the dawn of the fax machine, but have embraced all new technology as an aid to my role. I am living proof that someone in their 60’s can adapt and change. We have a large pool of talented people on the island in their older years with immense amounts of experience. When I look to hire, I am most interested in an open attitude and willingness to learn, the rest can be taught. Similarly, older people may not have the tools they need to do certain roles, but they have extensive domain expertise, can adapt and learn, and I believe they are an untapped resource on the island.
Jersey is such an accessible place to do business, and it sets itself apart from the UK in terms of the number of opportunities it offers for learning, progression, networking (the list is endless). No where is too far, and in most cases, you can knock on a door and be welcomed. We need to teach people to seek out these opportunities and grab them with both hands.
My greatest advice would be that you don’t need to follow someone’s else idea of a career path, and, be prepared to take opportunities as they present themselves. It takes courage to do things differently, but the outcome is far more rewarding. You must get comfortable with being uncomfortable to be ready for the fast-paced change of today’s business environment”.
