In our latest episode of Beyond the Capital we spoke to Paul Stobart, who sits on a number of NorthEdge boards as Chair and also has the role of CEO at Zen Internet.

Originally born in Newcastle, Paul spent his formative years growing up in South Africa after his family emigrated there when he was just 18 months old.

Following his early years in Africa, Paul studied law at Oxford University and upon graduation, qualified as a chartered accountant with PwC. He then spent several years in investment banking with Hill Samuel, both in London and in New York. In a complete change to his career, Paul then joined a small business called Interbrand, where he was able to learn marketing from the ground up after working with some of the world’s biggest branded goods companies, including Unilever, Procter & Gamble, and Mars.

 Paul returned to Newcastle when he joined his former Interbrand client, Sage. Joining the business with revenues at £100m, Paul enjoyed 15 years with a close-knit team, which saw them take revenues to £1.3bn by the time he left. After Sage, Paul spent time working as CEO for several private equity owned businesses, ultimately joining Zen Internet as CEO. Paul has worked alongside NorthEdge since 2018, sitting on several Boards as Non-Executive Chair. In this episode of Beyond the Capital, Paul explains how leading people effectively can lead to amazing results, the role of the Chair and the board in supporting a business to succeed, and why ESG is no longer seen as a box ticking exercise but a key driver of value.

Click here to get to know Paul and access our other episodes.