Sara Murray

About Sara Murray

She has gone on to create Buddi – a mobile personal alarm and alert system with huge potential for the security, elderly and health industries. She is a frequently called upon to share her expertise with the government and is a champion of small business.

Career

Sara Murray always wanted to be her own boss and set out to learn the ropes with a management consultancy before setting up on her own with Ninah Consulting in 1992. In 1999 while working with some major brands, she saw a new opportunity for insurance companies which involved developing both a vital online presence and a new business proposition. The idea morphed into a price comparison website which was initially called inspop.com she later re-named it Confused.com. They had 250,000 customers within 18 months and were so successful they were bought out by Admiral.

While taking 18 months out she came up with her next idea when her daughter went missing in a supermarket. The GPS personal tracker called Buddi is aimed at vulnerable groups such as the elderly and dementia sufferers. She spotted its use for the security industry and has been tendering for a government contract to provide electronic tags a highly unusual privilege for such a small company.

She currently sells Buddi to more than 80 UK councils and believes she could save the Government 2bn a year by delaying the need for residential care. She is also planning to launch a Buddi product that can remotely monitor the health of elderly and vulnerable patients which could revolutionise outpatient care.

She sits on four different ministerial-led small business forums, advising on the best way to help entrepreneurs like her, including the British Governments Technology Strategy Board, the Small Business Economic Forum and the new Entrepreneurs Forum. She is a founding board member of Seedcamp – an organisation to jumpstart the entrepreneurial community in the UK and Europe.

She is also a non-executive Director of Schering Health Care. She was named Entrepreneur of the Year at the 2009 at the Orange National Business Awards and in 2008 she was a finalist in the Blackberry Awards for Women in Technology and a finalist in the Real Business First Woman Awards. She was given an OBE in 2012 for services to entrepreneurship and innovation. She flies her own helicopter and takes an interest in encouraging more women to enter the engineering sector.

Speaking Style

Informal, Passionate and Educational.

Sara Murray is known for seizing opportunities, making innovation happen and knowing the importance of continuous development. She is a sought after advisor to the government on small business and how to encourage entrepreneurs.