An avenue open to young adults as an alternative to university is a professional apprenticeship scheme, where they earn and learn and do achieve either a degree or other professional qualification, with companies such as Deloitte, Clifford Chance, BBC, GlaxoSmithKline, Barclays Bank, Sky, Google and many more. This has the added benefit to the student of being debt free, working and studying with like-minded individuals and being looked out for as they transition into the workplace.The benefit to the parent/family is that their teenager gains a professional qualification, is debt free and has a job from when they leave school at 18, which stands them in good stead in the highly competitive job market of today. My team and I have put together a specific programme to coach/mentor students to prepare them as best as possible for professional apprenticeship application opportunities, as these are limited and highly sought after. On this webpage is a brief description of what we offer: https://www.natalie-dee.com/apprentice-application-coaching/

Proven ability identifying new business opportunities, from start-ups to multi million pound contractsSuccessful track record in high revenue sales and contract negotiationReceived classic sales training via Xerox and AT&TSkilled communicator and networker with ability to build relationships at every level from industry regulators and high net worth investors through the whole chain to end usersReliable and focused team player, having recruited, managed and built up many teamsHands on experience in Sales and Marketing; Business Plan Development; Due Diligence; Supply Chain/Service Delivery; Procurement; Risk Management; Managing Crisis SituationsChannel planning and management, contract negotiation, securing and protecting IP Industry/Sector experience* Utility and Financial payment services, digital payments, proximity marketing * Electrical distributors and computer service VARs* SaaS, EMV, token and credential management* Manufacturing – procurement to customer* Legal, financial and consulting service providers

PE designs and develops integrated Powerline networking solutions that incorporate Powerline and other complementary technologies inside a power socket and various other form factors. PE’s expertise, platform of software and cloud services delivers a robust solution for end customers, installers and channel partners to monitor, manage and monetise these new “Smart” services and to deliver the Internet of Things (IoT) in a robust and manageable way. Current responsibilities• Formulation of company direction• Developing strategy and mission and carrying it through with confidence and vigour• Negotiating legal contracts (IP, Commercial, HMRC and Audit)• Budgetary forecasting and funding• Producing concise information for the BoardFrom a piece of paper concept to a unique working hardware/software/cloud solution with IP.

The team developed document management software, which was marketed and sold directly to corporates.I was invited to join this company by one of the directors to turn around its fortunes. The software was written in a 3rd generation language and during the time I was involved with this company later generations of programming code came to market. Despite seeking new initiatives and alternative solutions to better the product, all interventions were deemed to be not cost-effective. The model had been developed in the opposite direction to the way this market was going. I made the decision to stop any further investment in order to protect the investors and by agreement the company was put into administration.

Since December 2001 Payshop has operated across Portugal accepting various bill payments including telephone, electricity, water, gas and cable TV. It also enables mobile phone top ups, transport tickets recharging, internet payments and facilitates charity cash donations.I started Payshop with my former Chairman and Managing Director, Dick Horsnsell and Rob Farbrother, from PayPoint. My value was to introduce the idea, galvanise support, develop a sales plan and then execute the plan.I approached all the major utilities, financial institutions and insurance companies with the concept of cheaper payment collections at more convenient outlets for customers. I encouraged them to invest in the project, thus PayShop began. PayShop initially had 5 team members. When I left it was a national network, with around 4000 convenience store outlets, 100 employees and had just been purchased by the Portuguese Post Office. For further detail please see: - www.payshop.com

The PayPoint network was set up in 1996 with the aim of enabling customers to load credit onto their prepayment energy meters, for gas and electricity, in cash at their local convenience store. Tested in Northern Ireland, expanded to London, incorporating the biggest national customer base of British Gas prepayment meter customers, the PayPoint retailer’s network went National. Annually PayPoint, now handles over 145 million payments for parking, payments and consumer services. Now linked to 16 acquiring banks in the UK, Europe and North America delivering secure credit and debit card payments for over 4,600 online merchantsTo begin, I approached all the major utilities, followed by the other national bill issuers and convinced them to consider this concept. I based the business model on the “LINK banking payment system”, developed for the ATM market for the smaller banks and building societies.My role was to then persuade the Boards of these major corporations to trust their customer payments to an unknown, non-proven entity. Having achieved this, I managed the contract negotiations, compliance and risk factors through to active participation in the scheme. PayPoint now has revenues in excess of £220 million per annum. For further detail please see: - www.paypoint.com

Senior sales positions – these included managing major accounts focusing on the financial services and technology sectors.