High achiever:
Stephanie Mowatt, of Prontaprint

Stephanie Mowatt, Prontaprint
Winner of The Young Achiever Award

A blueprint for quick success

GRAPHIC designer Stephanie Mowatt joined the Clifton franchise of printers Prontaprint two years ago. Since then she has, in her own words, “zoomed up the ladder” to and has become branch manager for the firm’s store in Park Row.

She is the youngest person to hold such a post in the group’s 172 outlets in the UK.

Stephanie said: “I joined the firm when the branch was run by a previous franchisee. He left and head office took over the centre, which is unusual. It’s normally sold on to another franchisee.

“I was asked if I would like to be the centre manager under a new Young Enterprise scheme.

“I thought this was a marvellous opportunity to develop my skills.

“The scheme goes on for two years and I’m being trained in all aspects of running a business. The job entails dealing with customers, doing design graphics, the production and finishing of work and then, of course, there’s all the behind-the-scenes stuff.

“This includes banking and keeping our database of customers up to date.”

Stephanie joined Prontaprint after getting a Higher National Diploma in graphic design.

She said: “When I was interviewed by Prontaprint I was offered a job on the spot. They were looking for somebody new in graphic design. It’s all hard work, but I’m really enjoying it.”

It was this positive outlook that helped her win the Young Achiever prize in the Evening Post Recruitment Awards this year.

Before hearing she had won the award, she said: “Everything seems to be happening to me at the moment. I’ve just moved into a house at Whitchurch with my boyfriend and I was nominated for this competition.”

The firm’s managing director, Laird McKay, said: “When we offered Stephanie the opportunity to run the centre she didn’t have any experience of managing her own business but she had been heavily involved in assisting with the running of the centre when the previous franchisee was there. She proved to be more than capable of taking on this extra responsibility.

“It has been hard work but Stephanie has excelled and the centre has gone from strength to strength.

“As a relatively small operation, Stephanie has only one other full-time member of staff.

“So she has taken on not just a managerial role, but also a mentoring one.”