Power 50 Publication - Flipbook - Page 26
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ramp up the team further. We are only just getting started and wouldn’t say we are where we want to be just yet. That said, I never want to
be that big that I don’t know what my team is doing, and we can’t offer a personable service.”
At Eventful, Caroline says it was a deliberate decision to remain a boutique agency until 2020, when she sold the business. “I didn’t want to
grow the business to a stage where I wasn’t available to clients directly. If you grow too big, you can spend all your time focused on
managing the team and don’t get to be as hands-on with the clients. Despite being a smaller agency, we were delivering the same
amount of business for some hotel groups as many agencies much bigger than us were.”
“That is the one of the great things about this industry – you can make quite a big impact without being a big agency.”
After 18 years in business Caroline recognised the opportunity to join forces with a strategic communications agency to be able to offer
more extensive creative services to her established portfolio of loyal clients, leading to the deal with Aeorema Communications plc, which
also owns Cheerful Twentyfirst. She says that playing an active role in the wider industry and attending leadership events and advisory
boards, led to strong industry contacts and gave her good insights into the opportunities out there when it came to finding the right
partner.
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“We are both agile and dynamic agencies, even though we have been in business a long time. That’s where the synergies lie and being
part of a bigger marketing and communications group has created opportunities for Eventful, our clients, and for me personally to grow.”
THE PARTNERSHIP
PATHWAY
If the thought of setting up on your own is daunting, there is
always the option to set up an agency with one or more partners
– a route some of our Power 50 leaders have taken. Anupa White,
director of Principal Global Events, co-founded the agency with
two partners in 1994, both of whom she worked with at a travel
company prior to setting up their own business.
“When we first started Principal, I was one of the only female
agency founders out there. There are very few of my peers now
who were around and running a business back then. Not only
that, but it was all male – even the industry publications were all
run by males,” she recalls. “Initially we identified a gap in the UK
market for good representation, so we started out marketing
hotels in Greece and Cyprus to the UK agency market and then
moved into events.”
Anupa says she never left university with the intention of starting
her own business, rather the opportunity arose when she met her
two business partners, one of whom has since moved on. So,
what does she think is the secret to her 28-year successful
partnership with co-founder Takis Kyprianou? “The partnership
between us has been amazing. We’ve obviously had our ups and
downs and had arguments like any professional partners would.
But it works well because we are two very different people, with
the same goals and ambitions. He couldn’t do what I do, and I
couldn’t do what he does. We know our strengths and we play to
those, and we are respectful and trustworthy to each other.”
“You have someone to share the successes and half the
problems.”
While Anupa focuses on the creative side of the business, winning
clients and delivering events, Takis looks after the financial side,
which she admits has been more important than ever during the
Covid pandemic. “It was tough financially, emotionally, and
physically for us as leaders. This is where having a partnership
works effectively and never more prominently than in the last two
years. I’m often the face of the company but beside me is Takis
who likes to sit behind the scenes but is never recognised enough
enough for the work he does in keeping the company financially
strong and ensuring we ride through the tough times like
soldiers,” she says.
In terms of practical advice for the next generation, Anupa says
that anyone considering starting an events agency, whether on
their own or in partnership should be aware of the commitment
involved. “It’s a commitment to your whole life. No matter what is
going on in the world, and whether you are going through a
personal crisis, you still have to be available to clients and
guiding the team. As much as it is rewarding, it is a huge
commitment. So, you do need to create boundaries, as much as
you can, and I have learned to try and take time for myself and
make sure the team is doing the same.”
