Carlene Jackson is CEO of Brighton-based tech company Cloud9Insight, a Microsoft Gold Partner which provides more than 700 UK businesses with cloud-based CRM software systems. Cloud9 saw an impressive 60% growth in 2019, and has now set up its apprenticeship sister-company, Vantage Academy. With an upbringing in far-flung places such as the Caribbean and a remote croft in Scotland, it’s safe to say that Dublin-born Carlene is used to doing things differently.

After a successful career in tech and sales, Carlene set up Cloud9 Insight in 2010, running the day-to-day operations from her then home in the Alps. The struggle to find new talent, along with being regularly snowed in and cut off from the outside world, Carlene settled in Brighton where she now runs both businesses. She regularly appears in the media, including BBC World and The Guardian.