Chambers place faith in reign of Isabella II

Business Profile: The BCC's first female president has the task of unifying a deeply divided body

Isabella Moore is hardly your typical business big hitter. She doesn't sit on any plc boards and her CV is distinctly short on, well, pretty much most things. In a head-to-head with Sir John Egan, the president of the Confederation of British Industry, it isn't difficult to imagine who would come off worse.

Yet last week, Ms Moore stepped into the breach at the British Chambers of Commerce, the CBI's less influential rival. She gamely agreed to take on the figurehead role of president in an organisation that has been racked by infighting for much of the past year.

Like her namesake, Isabella of Castille, who famously united Spain in the 15th century by marrying Ferdinand of Aragon, Ms Moore will be hoping to be go down in history for uniting the BCC. The business body has been battered by internal feuds ever since it ousted its director-general on the eve of its national conference five months ago.

While Isabella I chose Catholicism as her force with which to fuse Spanish society, Ms Moore is sticking to the dogma of "representation". She believes that improved representation at a national level for the local and regional chambers of commerce, which make up the BCC, will help forge together a body that has become disjointed, unharmonious and, ultimately, ineffective.

Critics, who range from local chambers to former influential insiders, say the BCC has lost its way, failing to speak out for British business and failing to serve its members by providing the support they need. One labelled the organisation a "vacuum of indecision"; another spoke of a "period of limbo" that has led some chambers, notably Bristol, to question the merits of membership.

Ms Moore, 54, who became a deputy president at the end of last year, is not blind to the BCC's faults. She admits that there has been a "lack of direction". She refers to the "loss of focus on what in the past we've done very well – lobbying and representation". Part of the trouble, she says in an accent that sporadically betrays her Scottish heritage, was a "lack of direction at the centre".

But she insists this particular issue has been solved by the recent radical restructuring that has seen the BCC's staff numbers fall by a third and the organisation split into two distinct branches. One, which sits in London, will become a centre for lobbying and raising the BCC's somewhat battered profile. The other, to be based in Coventry, will be turned into a company called BCC Enterprises, which will offer services including legal advice, international trade support and export market research. These moves, she adds, should avoid "muddying the waters" and help the BCC to rediscover its direction.

"My firm belief is that the BCC can once again be the national voice of British business," she says firmly. "There has been a very comprehensive review of all the different areas of activity. We have done an enormous amount of work at the network level [asking], 'What are our services? How can we deliver them better?' Members were saying 'we want more lobbying, more representation and more development of a relationship with government'," which is what, she hopes, the structural changes will provide.

As someone who has worked her way up through the layers that comprise the BCC's structure – heading up first the Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce and then the West Midlands Confederation of Chambers – Ms Moore is well placed to understand what she terms the body's "unique competence: our distinct membership network at a local, regional and national level". She joined her local business chamber 12 years ago, in search of support for the translation business, Comtec, that she founded. The task now will be to turn her grassroots experience into a unifying force.

Her first challenge will be how to stop Bristol, the second biggest regional member of the BCC, from defecting to the CBI. Nigel Hutchings, Bristol's head of policy, says the chamber hasn't necessarily decided to leave. "We have told the BCC that we will review our position at the end of the year. But we want to see a more streamlined organisation that truly represents its members," he said. Elsewhere in the body, despite suggestions from some insiders that a number of chambers are toying with deserting the BCC, there seems to be an air of calm. Ms Moore's appointment was welcomed by Michael Bird, who heads the regional chamber in the North-east, one of those widely tipped as a possible defector.

But in stressing his chamber's commitment to its national body, Mr Bird said of the changes: "I'm seriously impressed with the way things have been done. [Ms Moore] is good news. She runs a successful business, she's lively and she's determined that the BCC will succeed and serve its members."

Of the rumours that have recently resurfaced suggesting the BCC and the CBI are again contemplating a merger, Ms Moore is dismissive. She argues a union would not work: "We have different constituencies. We very much represent Middle Britain while the CBI represents larger businesses. We are a deliverer of business support services. The CBI is primarily a lobbying organisation." However, she concedes that the two bodies would do well to team up over certain issues, such as transport infrastructure, to increase their lobbying power with government.

Like Isabella of Spain, who is also remembered for being the first woman to achieve the right to succeed to the crown, Isabella of the BCC is the first woman to achieve the right to head a major business body. The straight-talking Ms Moore softens slightly when asked about her achievement. "I know I'm going to be shot down by my male colleagues for saying it," she confides, "but as a woman, having a family and my own business, I have the ability to juggle several things at the same time. It's just something that women can do."

She sees her new position as a unique opportunity to push the issue of female entrepreneurs. Although she cannot say how many of the BCC's 135,000 members are female – because no one has ever thought to find out – she argues that her appointment shows that the organisation's traditional "3Ms image – middle-aged male manufacturers" is changing.

But for Ms Moore to be remembered for more than just her female status she will need to ensure the BCC makes something of this year's structural shake up and, as she puts it, "stops navel gazing". Appointing a new director general would be a start, although there seems to be little chance that the nominee will bring the fresh blood that, arguably, the 220-year-old body still desperately needs.

ISABELLA MOORE TRANSLATING TO THE TOP

Age: 54

Pay: Nothing, except expenses.

Career History: Born to Scottish father and Polish mother, born and grew up in Edinburgh. Graduate of St Andrews University and gained a master's degree at Warsaw University before working on several major bilingual contracts translating for governments, the European Commission and international companies. Runs Comtec, a translation company. Former president of the Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce and the West Midlands Confederation of Chambers.

Hobbies: "Being a typical Gemini I'm never satisfied with the level of knowledge I have." Studying for European studies degree with the Open University, reads avidly and swims.

Biggest influence: "The friendship of two women of very, very independent minds and who are considerably older than me. Their thinking and approach to life has very much influenced my view of life."