From Precious
July, 2009

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Paschorina J. Mortty | Marketing/PR

The One Event
www.theoneevent.com

Paschorina J. Mortty is the founder of The One Event, a full service event management and PR agency that specialises in creating breakthrough solutions.

Precious: Did you always want to be a Business Woman?

Yes, because I grew up in an environment where working for oneself is the norm. My dad always had various businesses which was an inspiration for me growing up.

Precious: How and when did you come up with your business idea?

When I was on maternity leave with my first and only child. I knew I was ready to work for myself, so this break in my career gave me the opportunity to really focus on making it a reality. I wanted to exploit the skills I already had so it was a natural progression to set a business in PR and events.

Precious: Tell us about the business planning stage

I developed a very basic business plan to give some focus to the business and from there simply 'went for it' in terms of spreading the word about our services and approaching potential new clients. Because I had worked in the industry for 10 years I was able to exploit my contacts and generate new business from there, which is why about 80% of our business comes through referrals and recommendations.

Precious: Did you have any formal business training?

None whatsoever - I have learnt on the job and from experts. I have a business mentor who coaches me from time to time and acts as a great sounding board.

Precious: What funding sources have worked for you?

The One Event was and is fully funded by myself and my business partner – we have not sought any outside funding.

Precious: How do you work on making your business grow?

By constantly working on new business and looking at new avenues and partnerships that can strengthen our proposition as a business.

Precious: How has family/friend support affected your business efforts?

In a positive way; because they are all very supportive of what I do and encourage me to follow by dreams without fear of failure, which is what stops most people setting up their own business. I’ve even secured some great clients through my friends who are in the industry.

Precious: Has your business developed the way you thought it would?

To a degree in that we’ve developed a great reputation for the company and have a good and diverse client base. However the current economic client has forced us to reassess our growth plans moving forward.

Precious: What's been the most exciting event to happen in your business life so far?

Winning our first public sector client because we had been trying since we started to break into this sector but to no avail until last year.

Precious: How do you see your business progressing over the next five years?

Growing beyond the UK to become more international with clients around the word and developing campaigns and events on a global scale.

Precious: How do you achieve the work life balance?

It’s not easy but I manage to achieve this with great support from my partner and mother. It helps that my partner also runs his own business so he fully understands the challenges that come with it.

Apart from Precious do you belong to any networking groups?

No but we attend networking events on regular basis..

Precious: What's your advice to potential female entrepreneurs?

That you should always go for what you want to achieve in life – it can sometimes be very tough and challenging but we all know that you have work hard for anything worth achieving, so go for it!

Paschorina won the Best Service category in the 2008 Precious Awards