Margot
Spalding

Speaker Profile

Margot Spalding, co-owner and co-Director of Jimmy Possum Furniture, studied Primary Teaching and Graphic Design.

Margot commenced a career in children's clothing manufacturing. She moved into furniture design and production – and established Jimmy Possum Furniture with her husband, Alan, almost fourteen years ago (yes, Jimmy's now a teenager!) The company's significant 10th anniversary in 2005 was celebrated in true 'Possum Style' with a party for 300 people in the new 1,000 square metre Upholstery Shed, at the already 'multi-shedded Head Office' in Bendigo. Just a couple of months later two new stores (one in Cheltenham, Victoria, and one Mosman, NSW) were added to the Jimmy Possum Retail Stores stable, bringing the total to five, across three states. As the original showroom in Brisbane had become too small to meet the growing demand for Jimmy Possum product, a new, much more spacious, two storey showroom was opened in Fortitude Valley, in Queensland, in October 2006. In April 2008, Jimmy Possum opened another store, its sixth, this time in 'the home' of Jimmy Possum... Bendigo. And five months later, September 2008, the seventh Jimmy Possum store opened its doors in Adelaide.

Margot is passionate about her family, her business, and the region. She admits to 'living, breathing, eating and sleeping Jimmy Possum'. Add to that the fact that she and Alan are parents to seven wonderfully talented children, and this is one demanding mix – but one on which Margot obviously thrives!

Ever the mother, Margot now has in excess of 150 highly skilled and enthusiastic employees to care about and, with voracious energy, she travels from state to state, from store to store, and back to Possum Central in Bendigo, almost on a weekly basis.

Margot is a much sought after speaker at business and furniture-related conferences and seminars, and is particularly enthusiastic about giving time to educational institutions in Bendigo. Margot is a member of Rotary Bendigo, BEG (Bendigo Executives Group), and is on the Board of Bendigo Community Telco. She has also served on the Board of BRiT (Bendigo Regional Institute of TAFE).

On 31 October 2006 Margot Spalding was, in equal measure, overwhelmed and humbled when, as part of the Telstra Business Women's Awards, she was awarded the Victorian Westpac Business Owner Award, and was subsequently named Telstra Victorian Business Woman of the Year for 2006. The honour was ongoing for Margot when, in Sydney in December, she was named the National Winner of the Westpac Business Owner Award 2006, and, to great fanfare and delight, was named the Telstra Australian Business Woman of the Year 2006.

Margot Spalding's success story is inextricably linked with the Jimmy Possum success story. But this isn't just a story - it's all true, and the Spalding/Jimmy Possum success is due, in no small measure, to Margot's energy, determination, a well-honed business intuition, a flair for colour and style, and a personal connectedness to Jimmy Possum's customer base and to all associated with the company. And, although she probably wouldn't like to admit it herself, Margot is also the ultimate, natural, 'people (and business) person'!

Travels from Victoria