Best in business: Carolyn Creswell

“It was a wonderful recognition, but it hasn’t changed who I am. I’m still the same person.”

Ms Creswell was an 18 year-old first-year university student in Melbourne when she found out she was going to lose her part-time job making homemade muesli. So, she invested $1,000 herself in the company, Homemade Muesli, which was then renamed Carman’s Fine Foods.

“I thought, ‘Well, I already make this product, why couldn’t I own this little business?’” she says.

Two years later, she was the sole owner and managing director. Today, the business is a $50 million enterprise, which exports to 32 countries and employs about 130 staff.

The business owner says she has learned plenty of lessons along the way.

“I was totally broke for the first few years. I had major dramas with having our whole range deleted from one of the supermarket chains. There have been a lot of lessons – but it makes you who you are today,” she says.

Perhaps her biggest lesson concerns the value of money: “When you’ve been totally broke, you know that every dollar counts,” she explains.

Telstra’s group managing director for innovation, products and marketing and Telstra Business Women’s Awards ambassador, Kate McKenzie, praised Ms Creswell’s business acumen.

“Carolyn Creswell has a great business model and work ethic,” she said.

“The Awards judges described her as a hands-on leader with strong business skills in a competitive sector. She’s an articulate communicator, an inspiration to women of all ages and she’s also passionate about being a great mum.”

Business growth

“The growth Carman’s is experiencing has been astounding,” Ms Creswell says. “Someone told me that right now, every two seconds, someone somewhere in the world buys a Carman’s product, which I find to be an unbelievable testament to the team’s achievements.

“I want to ensure the company’s structure supports this growth, and that Carman’s core values and culture are not compromised. I believe the journey we are on is only just beginning, and I’m so excited to see how the next few years unfold.”

Ms Creswell says the company’s biggest achievements so far are its ability to “survive against the big guys” and the size and quality of their range.

“We have 24 products on supermarket shelves and we only started out with one, which wasn’t even sold in supermarkets,” she says.

“It’s pretty amazing that we’re able to produce the quality of the food we do, at a reasonable price and in such a mainstream way.”

Given the impressive growth the company has experienced over the past decade, Ms Creswell believes good things are in store for Carman’s.

“I think there’s blue sky between where we are now and the size of Uncle Tobys. We will continue to expand our range and hopefully make it more popular.

“There’s just so much opportunity,” Ms Creswell says. “I thought there was opportunity in getting here when the business was little; now I think the world is our oyster. There’s so much we could be doing overseas, but for now we’re just doing what we can with the resources we’ve got.”

Passion and performance

Despite the rapid growth of the business, the philosophy of Carman’s remains the same: “Food should come from the kitchen, not the chemist.”

Ms Creswell says the company aims to use simple, clean ingredients, which are wholesome but also taste good.

At present, the company’s best selling products are Carman’s classic fruit muesli bars and the deluxe gluten-free muesli.

“We’ve also just brought out this whole range of nut bars and they’re frantically moving up the ladder in their success,” she says. “That’s a very exciting development for us too.”

Ms Creswell’s genuine excitement and continuing passion for her business after over 20 years with the same company could explain a lot about the success of Carman’s.

“I think you need to love what you do – because if you love what you do, you’re prepared to do everything to make it succeed,” she says.

But it doesn’t stop there.

“You need to be a good ‘people person’ to succeed in business,” Ms Creswell says. “It’s very hard to be successful if you can’t get on with those around you and be a good leader. You need good people around you helping you, because you can’t do everything yourself.”

Despite the origins of Carman’s, Ms Creswell also recommends being in a strong financial position when you launch or grow your business so that “you can afford to not be stressing about money every day”.

“It takes up a huge amount of time if you’re always worried about how you’re going to pay your bills. That’s something I went through for a long time, so it’s very nice not to be in that position anymore.”

Having it all

Although Ms Creswell wasn’t expecting to be Telstra’s Business Woman of the Year, she wants to use the opportunity to spread a message: that women can have a career and a family, and should not be judged negatively for their successes.

“My message through the win was that we don’t challenge that men can do both and still be a good father – but there are a lot of view points that women can’t do the same,” she says.

She believes that being a workaholic and having no life outside of work is no way to live.

“I don’t look at life and say ‘one day, when I get there, I’ll be happy’,” she explains. “It’s about saying you need happiness and you need fulfilment through your life and through your journey.”

She also aims to create a happy and healthy environment for her staff.

Many of Carman’s employees are mums who work flexible hours. They are encouraged to take time out of the office to attend their children’s sports days and special assemblies.

The office also has a kids’ room complete with a single bed, TV and computer for employees’ children who may be ill or on school holidays.

Each day, the team comes together to do the daily quiz from the newspaper and to eat lunch around the boardroom table. On Fridays, Ms Creswell shouts everyone lunch, and staff who have fewer than 10 emails to deal with in their inbox can leave early.

Ms Creswell says it brightens up people’s work life and enables a greater work-life balance for herself and her staff.

“I have an interesting, rich career – my job is amazing,” she says. “But then I’m a great mum and I love being at home. It is possible to balance both. I think you can have it all.”