The voice of business in the Tees region | 75
Winner – Sharon Lane (left)
receives her trophy from
Teesside University’s Professor
Jane Turner OBE.
WORDS: DAVE ALLAN
PICTURE: CHRIS BOOTH
TIME TO STEP
FORWARD
S
haron Lane believes she has “big
shoes to fill” in succeeding inaugural
winner Claire Preston as the newly
crowned Tees Businesswoman of the Year.
The Tees Components managing director
belatedly received the prestigious award as
she missed the glittering ceremony as she
was on holiday.
But having followed the awards on social
media from warmer climes, with her mum
receiving the trophy on her behalf, Sharon
says she was honoured to have been given
such an accolade.
“It does take time to sink in,” she
admitted. “I’m still processing that really.
Your immediate reaction is, ‘It shouldn’t
really be me. What have I done?’ - because
you’re just getting on with your job.
“I look at a lot of other women who’ve
started their businesses from scratch,
who’ve overcome particular obstacles, and I
admire them so much.
“But it’s lovely. It’s something that I’ll
always look back on and think ‘2019 was
when I was Tees Businesswoman of the
Year’ - nobody can ever take that away from
me. I’m really proud of the award.”
Having succeeded Claire Preston’s
mantle, she now wants to do more to
inspire women with self-belief.
“I think that Claire has set this incredible
example,” says Sharon. “She has come out
as a role model for girls and young women,
Meet the Tees
Businesswoman
of the Year 2019
she’s a brilliant networker and really pulled
lots of women together.
“I have big shoes to fill because I would
love to use this award to do some good
over the next year.
“I think it’s about encouraging other
women to step forward because you can’t
complain about lack of representation if you
don’t take part. I want to give others the
confidence to step forward. If I don’t do that
over the next 12 months then I think I will
have failed.
“I look at a lot of other women
who’ve started their businesses
from scratch, who’ve overcome
particular obstacles, and I admire
them so much.”
“Ultimately, the awards are not about us
as individuals - it’s about setting examples,
being role models and saying, ‘This is what
you could be doing.’ That’s what I want to
do.”
Having followed the awards night from
afar, Sharon was delighted she didn’t know
the names of all the winners.
Having joined the East Cleveland-based
family firm as general manager 15 years
ago, Sharon is now managing director of
the heavy engineering business with her
parents continuing to work alongside her as
fellow directors.
She reflected: “My parents have never
indicated there were things I couldn’t do,
that I was limited in any way as a girl. My
mum has been a big part of me feeling I
could have an engineering career and lead
a business, so it was so appropriate she
should step in for me.”
Sharon believes that far from making
things easier, running the family firm comes
with additional pressures.
“When you work for a family company,
you worry about people saying, ‘She’s
only there because she’s their daughter.’ I
wanted to prove I could stand on my own
two feet so I initially worked for another
company and I thought I wouldn’t go back
to the family business.
“But I was on an MBA programme and
was starting to think strategically. I wanted
to run a business, rather than work for
someone else and my parents wanted me
to come back and do it. I was only 26 and I
had to learn pretty fast.
“There were times when I think I was the
only one who thought I could do it. I had to
have a lot of self-belief to get through that.
But if I didn’t do it properly I didn’t want to
do it.”
It’s the sort of focused thinking that will
help Sharon make a huge success in her 12
months as the Tees Businesswoman of the
Year. Watch this space.