Profile
Bridging the generation gap Adopted North Easterner and honorary Swedish Consul Caroline Theobald has many passions in her life, not least education, entrepreneurship and unlocking the potential of the next generation of business owners and leaders. But, she tells Jane Hall, her biggest achievement has been fostered well away from the boardroom It takes Caroline Theobald a while to decide how to describe herself. Is she an entrepreneur? A networker? Connector? Facilitator? “Good question,” she says as she mulls over the answer. “I don’t know! What does my Twitter bio say?” She delves into her bag, produces her phone and opens her Twitter account. “’Chair, facilitator, connector and NED. Passionate about enterprise, start-ups, scale-ups and making a difference.’ Does that help?" She adds that 'connector' is probably the best one-word answer she can offer, making her living from expediting introductions between those more reticent than herself. In business, there is a huge difference between being aware of someone and actually understanding what it is they do and how that understanding could be mutually beneficial.People from all walks of life also have a tendency to congregate with those they already know at meetings, conferences, and social occasions and this is where an exuberant, approachable and insatiably curious person like Theobald can make all the difference. Being a professional connector is something she fell into by accident, but quickly discovered she had an talent for. She is probably best known for establishing the Bridge Club, which launched around the same time in April 2000 as the dot-com bubble burst and the stock markets crashed. The club’s purpose was to make connections, mainly between earlystage businesses, money, management and 40 contact
new markets. Theobald had worked for the leadership charity, Common Purpose, which started in the North East nearly 30 years ago and now operates across the globe, and had built up a strong network. Despite the volatility of the markets at the time – or perhaps because of it – Theobald says the Bridge Club “just went per-whoosh. We did well very quickly. It had quite a high profile and we were doing interesting things.” Over the years, the business has successfully introduced thousands of people and given them access to a wealth of new contracts, mentors and leadership teams, fostering partnerships and investment. Bridge Club is now a vehicle for Theobald’s consultancy, while it has developed into a new company called FIRST Face to Face, which connects young people and start-ups to the business community. Theobald co-owns it with “its youthful MD, Charlotte Windebank,” an English and Media graduate from Hexham who was working in a café when the pair met in 2012. “We started working together and thought it would be a good idea to do something different with Bridge Club, so that rather than being led by old people, young people would be in charge and skills could be passed on to young people. If that worked, we might be able to reinvigorate and breathe new life into the Bridge Club - so that is what we did. FIRST is gaining traction now and has three strands, FIRST Startup, which builds enterprise skill www.neechamber.co.uk
