Entrepreneurship: Enjoy what you do and keep doing it!

Elena Betés Novoa

Director

Penguin Portals

https://www.linkedin.com/in/elenabetes/

I started my professional career as an auditor at Arthur Andersen.  I understood that this was not my world, I sensed the glass ceiling and did not share the culture of presence (until 11pm) to show commitment but I enjoyed being part of something great and of which I felt proud. I valued learning and the strong culture but I always wondered if there was any possibility of creating a different company that would get the best out of its employees;  the search for excellence, innovation but treating human resources differently.

Over the years, I have gone on to oversee not only the comparators I founded, but also Confused.com (UK), Le Lynx.fr (France) and Compare.com (USA), which are 100% owned by the Admiral Group.

In 2018 I created the umbrella, Penguin Portals, which brings together all these entities, generating more than 180 million euros in annual revenue and maintaining our unique culture, “we care about people” and our purpose of providing transparency to the world, “we empower the world to choose better”.

After creating Penguin Portals, and with the mission of empowering users so that they can make financial decisions safely, providing transparency to the markets in the world, in December 2020 Penguin Portals agreed to be acquired by Red Ventures; the perfect partner who share our vision of developing ecosystems in the digital world, our values, and perhaps most importantly, our purpose, to create work environments that propose to change the world whilst respecting diversity and bringing out the best in each and every individual. I feel that in this transaction I have remained and continue to remain true to my principles. I know that I speak on behalf of the entire 'Penguin family' when I say that we are delighted with the road ahead.

I am still an idealist who enjoys what she does, at the end of the day that is what allows me to sleep well at night.