My mentor is David Mace, founder of the Sea Life Centre concept.
I joined the business just after he had built the second Sea Life Centre in Weymouth and we worked together for 12 years, during which time we opened another 23 centres in five countries. David is a biologist by background so there could be a lack of mutual understanding in the early days - he was shocked when I revealed that I didn't know that the dogfish is part of the shark family.
I learnt from David that nothing is impossible and a kind of 'shoot for the stars and you will hit the moon' outlook. A good example of this was his decision to invite Princess Diana to open our Sea Life Centre in Portsmouth. I didn't think anything would come of it, but I wrote to her and she replied, saying yes. It was the most high-profile small commercial enterprise launch for a very long time.