World travel helps Janis to software firm success
Feb 19 2008 by Chris Knox, The Journal
A GLOBE-TROTTING business- woman who received her training in Africa, Canada and the Middle East plans to quadruple the size of her school accountancy software business in the next two years.
Janis Green wants to roll out her Newcastle-based company SF Software into the overseas market after selling her software, School Fund Manager, to over 3,000 schools up and down the country during its three-year history.
She is currently in the process of applying for funding from NStar to help grow the business and expects to increase her turnover from £250,000 to £1m as well as double her workforce to 14 over the next two years.
The software, designed by Janis, helps teachers and school staff to keep track of the money received from pupils and parents and differs from other accountancy packages in that it can track individual students.
Janis, born in Wallsend, has come a long way since starting her career in 1978 as a teacher in Zambia, where she was brought up. It was also there she met her husband Michael, who now runs his own international data transfer company eComergy alongside SF Software in Charlotte Square.
Janis said: “It seemed perfectly normal at the time to be brought up in Africa as I didn’t know any different. It was only when I returned to Newcastle to study did I realise how lucky I was to see so many wonderful places at such a young age.”
The couple, who have three sons, have also worked in Canada and Qatar, where she was assistant financial controller at Doha’s Sheraton Hotel.
She said: “While at the hotel, I helped run its entire accountancy system and gained a lot of experience. It was then that I began thinking about running my own accountancy business.”
She returned in 1989 to work at Northamptonshire County Council, before launching her business and then returning to Newcastle in 2005.
With both SF Software and eComergy now looking to grow, the pair are grateful for the business experience they have gained from their travels.
Janis added: “Newcastle has always been in my blood and, despite all the places that I have worked, I guess I’ve never lost that connection.
“It has been quite a journey for Michael and I and both we personally and our businesses have benefited.”
