Colette Wyatt
CEO
Evolved Ideas
I lead the company in setting the business strategy, the business objectives and by being a role model for the team. I work very closely with our clients to show them the art of the possible. Evolved Ideas is a software development company based in the UK and Ukraine. We work with both Large Enterprise Clients and Start-ups to help them realise their business objectives by identifying and solving business problems using technology and by identifying new business opportunities where technology can be used to disrupt and challenge the norm.
I love solving problems in the most efficient way possible. I love taking all of my years (30+) experience in different sectors, businesses, and applying my knowledge in a completely different way. I love surprising people with my ideas.
Every day is different for me, as we work with clients across many different sectors from Healthcare to Finance, HR to Legal, Automotive to Pharmaceutical and everything in between. I spend a lot of my time listening, a lot of my time talking and a huge amount of time reading, researching and learning. I speak to many members of the team either about our customer projects, or their own business ideas, and about ways we can improve our business. I also have to spend a portion of time on boring administrative functions like, accounts, reporting etc.,
My journey was definitely unusual, I grew up in a suburb of Liverpool. I come from a low paid working class family. I did go to school but I didnt do very well at school partially down to my difficult family situation but also because I wasn't academic. I was always more practical and good at the more practical "male" subjects like woodwork, metalwork but not so good at home-economics, grammar, mathematics or science subjects. As a child I would try to fix things if they were broken. After leaving school with no qualifications, I worked in the hospitality industry, I worked across many areas of the business from Waitress to Receptionist, and then onto Conference Planning and Sales. I was always ambitious and couldn't stay in the same role for long since once mastered, I was bored. After several years in hospitality I was offered the opportunity to work for a telecoms company as a telephone system trainer. When a new telephone system was installed, I would help the engineer to configure it to meet the clients needs and then train the customer users on how to use it. I found I loved technology, I was constantly asking questions and challenging the engineers. If the customer wanted a different configuration and the engineers had responded that no it couldn't be done, I would find a way. Over the next 25 years, I worked in all areas of telecommunications always holding a "hybrid" role encompassing both technology and commercial responsibility. Some of the challenges faced were due to the fact I was a female in a very male-dominated world, I would get challenged by clients to answer questions that they would never ask my male colleagues, there would just be an assumption they knew what they were talking about whereas I couldn't possibly know... however, I used this to my advantage since once I had won their trust they were very loyal to me and considered me as an expert in my field. In 2012 I was given the opportunity of a lifetime, to work for a very large medical company, I was initially recruited as a consultant but within 3 months I was offered a permanent role as a Vice President, a very prestigious role reporting into the Chief Scientific Officer of a $3bn NASDAQ listed company, my role was to blend technologies from different areas of the business and to build a new division called Connected Health, I thought finally I can leave a real legacy using technology for do good and to make a real difference to quality of life. Sadly, after 3 years the whole division was closed down due to a conflict in investment strategy between major shareholders and I had to put this dream on hold. I then went on to become CTO at Evolve, working alongside a formidable lady Leanne Bonner-Cooke MBE, and we built our company from a small turnover of £600,000 per annum and a team of 16 to a turnover of £2.3m and a team of 50. We also launched a new start-up in 2018 and then in 2020 in the middle of the pandemic, I completed a Management Buy-Out, this means I bought the shares in the company from Leanne.
My plan is to continue to grow and develop Evolve, I am very passionate about making a difference and am trying to build the company, I would have liked to work for at the beginning of my journey, one that believes that the right attitude is more important than qualifications and that respects everyone has a unique set of talents and its my job as a leader to explore them and give them the opportunity to shine. Once I have built my company to £10m I will hope to sell it and then use the proceeds to go back to the Connected Health dream and leave a lasting legacy that affects people of all ages and backgrounds to live a better quality of life for as long as possible.
Hmmm, this is my biggest weakness, work is my fun! I have made a conscious effort in the last 2 years to find some other interests and have taken up photography, particularly of nature and I love taking pictures of birds and insects. Have you ever seen a dragonfly really close up they are amazing!
"Little girls with dreams become women with vision." - Unknown author Every time someone says you can't do something - take it as a challenge to prove them wrong! You will be amazed at what you can achieve.