Carmen Busquets — Venezuelan Businesswoman

Carmen Busquets is a Venezuelan pioneer luxury and fashion entrepreneur. She is involved with Internet fashion and is known for being the major founding investor, and board director of Net-a-Porter until 2010, when she sold the majority of her shares to Richemont Group. She is also the founder of CoutureLab. Busquets retains a 2.3% stake in Net-a-Porter; she is also a board member and investor of Astley Clarke and an early investor of Moda Operandi, Maiyet, The Business of Fashion, Lyst and ASAP 54... (wikipedia)

For me, the winning strategy in any start-up business is, 'Think big but start small.'
My parents sent me from Venezuela to the Convent of Our Lady, a boarding school in Hastings, which was horrible - like Harry Potter without the magic. Sometimes we went into town, and if we were caught chewing gum in our uniform, members of the public would take down our names and report us to the school.
So I'm half deaf - and dyslexic. How about that? Nobody's perfect, and I'm proud of my defects.
My mother was a sociologist and an intellectual, and my father was an industrialist with a business in copper and aluminum wire. He was very strict and he wanted me to work in the family business - for him, the worst thing was having a daughter who worked in fashion.
People need patience. It takes time to build a brand.