Nurse-turned-entrepreneur scoops major business award

Jan Flawn, who founded the neurological care provider PJ Care in 2000, has won a national award recognizing the achievements of pioneering women in the UK

The registered nurse scooped the 2013 “First Women of Business Services” award, run by Real Business magazine and the CBI, the UK’s business lobbying organization.

The awards were held at the London Marriott, Grosvenor Square, on 12 June and hosted by sports personality Clare Balding. Judges praised Jan for her “inspirational story’”and
commented:

Jan is the first woman to set up a care home dedicated to young people with neurological conditions and they are the first organisation to have links to major trauma units across the UK. To add to this, Jan has a very inspirational story – she left school with no qualifications, decided as a result of her own disabled daughter that she wanted to become a nurse, she then gained an MBA and eventually set up PJ Care. Her business is hugely successfully and incredibly important to a lot of individuals and their families. There is a huge sense with Jan that everything she does is driven by a need to care for people and this is not just for the people who use her facilities but also the people she employs

Jan said:

I am delighted to have won the 2013 ‘First Women of Business Services’ award. To be recognised for what I and PJ Care has achieved is something I am immensely proud of

PJ Care now employs 450 staff and cares for 180 residents, but in order to start the business, Jan had to mortgage her house and invest her life savings into the business. Jan puts her success down to self-belief, and a determination to overcome all obstacles put in front of
her.

A few battles have had to be won to have got this far. Firstly, none of the high street banks took me seriously because they saw me as a nurse, not an entrepreneur. They looked down on me, and thought a nurse could not possibly present them with a valuable business proposition. But I had immense belief in what I, PJ Care and our staff could provide for residents. I persevered. Thirteen years on the banks are now chasing us, which in these times is an unusual position to be in! I sincerely hope that women reading my story of leaving school at 15 with no qualifications and starting my own business at the age of 50 will demonstrate that they
too can achieve their life dreams, whatever they be

https://www.pjcare.co.uk