In the High Flyers spotlight this week is Sharon-Louise McKay, chief financial officer at 3EN, one of the world’s leading Oracle NetSuite enterprise resource planning solutions partners. Based in Holywood, 3EN has operations across Europe and the US.
What was your first job?
My first job was for the Arcadia Group who owned Topshop and Dorothy Perkins to name but a few. Having written my dissertation on Arcadia, it seemed like fate when I came upon their stall at a graduate job fair in Queen's University.
I started out as a distributor for the company in London, which consisted of calculating ratios on where best to send the different styles of clothes to. A job in the finance department opened up and I went for it and I’ve been in finance ever since!
What qualifications do you have?
My first degree was a BA (hons) in business administration, while I was working in London I had the opportunity to complete an MBA – taking my qualification to the next level.
I specialised in mergers and acquisitions, at the time Arcadia was in the process of acquiring the women’s division of Sears which gave me lots of exposure and some great examples to analyse.
What do you attribute your success to?
Persistence, I never give up and am always ready to rise to any challenge I might face!
How would you describe yourself to someone who’d never met you?
In three words: calm, reliable and passionate.
Who do you look up to in business?
The list of people I look up to won’t surprise you – I admire Elon Musk, Steve Jobs and Jeff Bezos however I’m always finding new inspiration. I am impressed by excellent companies that constantly strive to do better.
How do you get the best out of people who work for you?
One of the most important elements of 3EN is our culture and the freedom we give employees to put forward their ideas and help us grow the business. Creating an open and approachable atmosphere for staff is key to getting the best out of all situations.
If you could change one thing about doing business in Northern Ireland, what would it be?
Recruitment. 3EN are growing massively at the minute and we are finding it hard to recruit in Northern Ireland.
We are a cloud-based company and have staff based in many countries but 3EN want to support the Northern Ireland economy by recruiting locally.
What website or app could you not do without?
I have to say I am a secret tech geek, so NEST is my favourite currently.
What was the last book you read?
Good to Great
What car do you drive?
Citroen.
Tell us something interesting about yourself?
We have five dogs, five cats and a turtle.
What’s your greatest passion outside work and family?
I’m very proud to sit on the board of two charities, Belfast Exposed and Tinylife.
