IT was once considered a male dominated industry but Tracey Besters is proving women are a force to be reckoned with in the numbers game.
Mrs Besters, 33, of Proview Financial Services is the winner of the inaugural Business Woman of the Year Award presented at the 2009 Southern Highlands Business Award for Excellence.
The award was sponsored by the Southern Highlands Business Women’s Network.
Mrs Besters said she believed her success as a business person, along with her aim to mentor young school leavers and encourage them into a financial career, had been key in her award success.
She said she had a strong focus on promoting opportunities in the industry and “changing the image of what was once a male-dominated career”.
And she is leading by example.
The former Moss Vale High School student said she was proud of her achievement to forge a successful career in finance in the local area.
“You don’t have to leave the area to find good career opportunities,” she said.
“Anything is possible if you put in the hard work.”
Mrs Besters said that during her school years she had keenly considered a career in hospitality management.
However, she said she soon changed her mind after working in the industry when she left school.
She said she decided hospitality wasn’t for her and she had to head in a new direction.
“I got a good mark in my HSC and had always enjoyed math and business studies at school so I decided to change my chosen career path to study accounting instead,” she said.
“I did a year of full-time studies at university and then completed my Bachelor of Commerce part-time while working in a local accounting firm.”
Mrs Besters teamed with her husband Jason Besters three years ago to provide a “one-stop financial service” through their Moss Vale-based business.
Mr Besters had established Proview two years earlier to offer finance and mortgage assistance to the people of the Southern Highlands and further afield.
Mrs Besters, who was a qualified tax agent and the only specialist self-managed super fund advisor in the Highlands, brought a new dimension to the business in 2006.
An added bonus was that both were qualified financial advisors.
“We had been keen to establish a family business and recognised that we could provide an all-encompassing financial service if we pooled our expertise in the one business,” she said.
“Our focus is on providing financial support for small business people, investors and self-managed superannuation funds,” she said.
“We are passionate about helping people to understand what makes them tick financially.
“When it comes to financial advice we look at people’s life values and help them to articulate their life goals with a financial element and we work with our clients to help them meet their financial goals.”
Mrs Besters is equally committed to encouraging and supporting young people on their financial journey.
She has previously been involved in the Young Achievement Australia Awards mentoring students from Frensham in business studies.
“Under this award the students had to create, run and wrap-up a business over about 12 weeks,” she said.
“They had to appoint financial and marketing directors and generally learn about what was involved in running a company.”
Mrs Besters said she was keen to establish a financial literacy foundation to teach young people about “real life” financial and business matters.
“Unfortunately finances are often not talked about in the family environment,” she said.
“I’m intent on getting out there to spread the word about financial understanding.
“I have run a few financial seminars and spoken at meetings such as the BWN breakfast functions.”
Mrs Besters said her goal was to help more people be comfortable and understanding of their financial situation and direction.
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