Irene Henery (pictured) ran two successful businesses in the Arcadian Centre and Bromsgrove Street in the Southside BID area, commonly known as Chinatown in Birmingham.
Her business grew to 4 branches, winning multiple awards. She complemented her successful business with doing voluntary work for the community.
This is a pivotal moment in Reform UK`s history. Nigel Farage promised to democratise the party and have 3 members elected by the membership to sit on Reform's Board.
She is now going to stand for Reform UK`s Board. She said:
"I am a team player and hold professional qualifications, and business experience. I am a fully qualified cost accountant. After passing all the examinations of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants in 1992, I worked at J. Sainsbury’s plc in Leeds, preparing multi-million pound budgets for its supermarkets, petrol stations and cafes in its Northern Region (which stretched from Yorkshire to Scotland). I was also responsible for monitoring the budgets and preparing monthly reports to the directors identifying variances from budget which involved interviewing the store managers when they have overspent. In 1994, I left J. Sainsbury’s plc as my husband wanted to move back to the West Midlands. I worked at Coventry City Council for 3 months and was appalled at the lack of productivity.
Shortly afterwards, I was head-hunted by J. Sainsbury’s plc in Coventry, the Midlands Regional office. They had a huge backlog in their Purchase Ledger department and I was given the job to reduce the backlog. They kept recruiting new staff but the backlog stayed. I worked with the purchase ledger clerks in that department, actually doing their job, to find out how and why there was a backlog. I also interviewed staff at other departments to find out the possible consequences of my proposed action plan if I made short cuts to the process. I then obtained permission to spend about £100.00 on new rubber stamps which fitted the stamp pads perfectly.
This cut processing time per invoice by 75%. I then instructed the staff to stop filing engineering jobs worksheets by alphanumerical order – they thought that was the only way to file. I informed the Engineering Department of my new method of filing (which was by Batch Order) and saved even more time. The time and labour saved was immense and by the second month after I started my job, productivity had doubled. By the third month, all the backlog had cleared with productivity at triple the rate it was.
I presented the figures to my line manager and he nearly fell out of his chair – he had been trying to solve the problem for years. I stopped the hiring of extra staff as they were no longer needed and the backlog never came back with the process I introduced.
When I was studying accountancy, I scored 100% for Critical Path Analysis, which is the study of how projects can be delivered in the shortest time possible, leading to cost savings. I have a particular talent for that, as well as cost management and zero budgeting. Time equates to money – when projects are delayed, there are costs consequences as well as a drop in staff morale and bad publicity. Look at HS2.
In 2000, I founded a law firm with my husband and we opened 4 branches hiring 20 lawyers and winning multiple awards. We retired in 2022 to pursue other projects, including voluntary work for charities and churches.
I enjoy problem solving and believe my skills will be invaluable to a Reform Board. I am passionate about serving my country and saving it in its hour of need. However I am mature enough to know that, in politics, I cannot be a "bull in a china shop" and much more can be achieved with diplomacy and working closely together with a clear aim of getting Reform in as a government with a majority big enough to get things done."
