SPIRIT: Stepping into her power
“Having your own business takes resilience and determination. You’ve got to give everything your all and not do anything half-heartedly.
Just go for it and don’t have any ‘what ifs…’.”
Interview: Sue Wilcock | Martine Silkstone
Pictures: Warren Page
Caroline Fright talks to Essex Director
When it comes to starting and growing a successful business, it takes more than just a good idea; it takes drive, character and no small amount of courage. However, despite now being the award-winning managing director of her own energy efficiency company, it actually took Caroline Fright quite some time – and the help of a business coach (more on that later) – to realise she had that strength of spirit herself.
She describes herself as a shy child and now an introverted adult; someone in the shadows who is just getting on with daily life and doing what needs to be done.
But her history tells a different story.
Raised in Kent, she went on to achieve a degree in business studies followed by an MBA, and she has won various awards for her work. She has also raised three children, jumped out of a plane, completed a 5k Tough Mudder, qualified as a football coach, and this year will take on the Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge – just to see if she can do it.
If all that doesn’t demonstrate character, then what does?
Perhaps the fact that in 2012, she and her husband Neil founded a business in energy conservation, helping companies save money and work towards net zero – before net zero was really a thing. And within six months of launch, they welcomed a new investor, bought another company and expanded the offering to include not just consultancy but delivery of works.
Thirteen years later, that same drive has seen Carbon Numbers become an established energy performance and sustainability company. Now employing a team of 45 people, they help a wide range of organisations to reduce energy use, cut carbon emissions and improve building performance by using data-driven technology and smart systems.
All of which are significant achievements, yet Caroline remains seemingly unaware of her own innate fortitude and determination.
“I really struggle with being brave and pushing myself out of my comfort zone,” she says, playing down her many accomplishments. “Putting myself forward for awards, being an industry awards judge, shooting a promo video and doing interviews like this one, are all things I have pushed myself to do in the last 12 months.
“Because I want to keep growing and improving. I want to keep developing people and keep leading the business. I learn something new every day.”
That sounds a lot like true spirit…
Where it all began
Caroline was born in 1976 and grew up with her parents and three sisters in a coastal town in Kent, where her dad had established a chain of newsagents – her first example of what it’s like to run a business, with all its highs and lows.
It was a happy childhood by the sea, and at school she became a dedicated student who loved languages and even took her maths GCSE a year early. A sign of things to come perhaps?
“Maths always came quite naturally to me because I’m very black and white,” she explains. “I’m not creative and I don’t like undetermined answers. To me, it’s either right or it’s wrong.”
Despite the assertion that she is not creative or outgoing, outside of her formal education she went to Thanet Stage School and loved performing in the annual shows. She was also known to be a bit of a swimming star and loved horse riding, dancing, flute and piano. But despite this variety of talents, she still had no idea what she wanted to do as a career, until a period of work experience with a firm of solicitors led her to consider law.
Unfortunately, her A level results were not good enough to secure a place.
“I had discovered clubs and was going out a lot when I did A levels,” she recalls wryly, “so I didn’t work particularly hard and I regret it because I could have done a lot better.
“But I really do believe that everything happens for a reason, and now I’m so glad that I didn’t get into law because I applied through clearing and got into Solent University to do Business Studies. And it’s the best thing I could have done because it set me up for the future.”
Starting out
That future became clear after Caroline completed a sandwich year in the finance department at Southampton General Hospital. She really enjoyed dealing with all the facts and figures, and found it played to her strengths with numbers. Her career path was now set.
After graduating in 1998, Caroline returned home and secured her first job at TSB Bank, before moving on to become a Finance Assistant at Pfizer in Sandwich. It was a role and environment in which she thrived.
“Pfizer was an amazing place to work,” she says. “They constantly pushed you out of your comfort zone and encouraged you to strive for excellence in everything you did.”
By the age of 23 she was dealing with a £6m budget and had become a finalist in the Young Person of the Year. During this time, Caroline was also inspired to start a part-time MBA as her next level of learning. Pfizer sponsored her first year, then, feeling somewhat disgruntled after missing out on a promotion, she decided to move to a new role as Scrutiny Manager at Thanet District Council where they sponsored the second.
She finally graduated in 2004 after a small delay due to the birth of her first child.
Finding love
When Caroline first started at Pfizer, her old colleagues from TSB sent her flowers to wish her well, and as she collected them from reception, she noticed a man she knew through her sister walking across the foyer. His name was Neil and they said hello in passing, then would occasionally bump into each other around the site (Pfizer’s site was more like a small town, so no mean feat). After a while they started to meet up for coffee as friends and when Caroline split up with her boyfriend at the time, Neil saw his chance and asked her out – and persisted until she eventually said yes.
And the rest is history. They had their first date in October 1999 and by the following February they were engaged. Two years later they were married, and within months, she was pregnant.
Still studying at this point, the idea was to complete the MBA during her maternity leave, but the baby had other ideas. The day after finishing work, Caroline was taken into hospital and that is where she stayed until the birth.
They welcomed Charlotte (known as Lottie) on October 31, 2003.
“So yes, I have a daughter with the surname Fright who was born on Halloween,” she laughs.
All change
The next few years were very busy!
Granted a brief extension for her studies, Caroline completed her MBA dissertation (a study into the issues around promoting on length of service rather than merit – employers take note) as a new mum while juggling writing, sleeping and feeding the baby. She then returned to work part-time but soon fell pregnant again, with a second daughter Amelia (known as Milly) arriving in August 2005.
Meanwhile, Neil, a facilities manager at Pfizer, was offered an interesting job at a new company in Stoke on Trent and they briefly relocated to Stafford. However, Caroline missed her family and being by the sea, so within a year they moved back south to Essex. Now expecting their third child, they settled happily in Wivenhoe and welcomed a son, Isaac, in July 2007.
With three small children, Caroline was a stay-at-home mum for the next few years, and it was only as Isaac started school that she began to think about returning to work. She applied for a variety of jobs but struggled to find anything. Meanwhile, Neil had become MD for a private equity company but was becoming frustrated by the constraints of working for someone else.
In the end, the solution was simple – start their own business.
Visionary and integrator
Using Neil’s facility management skills and contacts, and Caroline’s business and finance expertise, they decided to set up their own energy management consultancy. And as a couple, it turned out they were the perfect combination to start a business.
Entrepreneur, speaker and author, Gino Wickman, says that there are two vital roles at the top of most great entrepreneurial businesses: the Visionary (full of ideas and dreams) and the Integrator (the person seeing how, and more importantly if, they will work).
That, in a nutshell, is Neil and Caroline.
“Neil is very creative, so he is the ideas person. I’m more of a planner and finisher; I like order, consistency and process,” Caroline explains. “And that’s how our skills complement each other. He now realises that there are constraints and procedures that I have to work under, while I realise that you do sometimes have to be brave and take a chance on things.
“I guess that’s the benefit of being husband and wife, because you trust each other.”
Building a business
Roles established, in 2012 they launched Carbon Numbers.
They began with six months’ wages from Neil’s last job and no real plan. Then, through Neil’s network, they got their first job, which was a building survey in London.
From there, the business quickly grew, and as a consultancy, they began to form relationships with local building management companies to carry out the operational side, one of which was Eco Control Systems. Over a casual lunch one day, the owner said: “Do you want to buy us?”
It wasn’t in the (albeit rather vague) plan, but they both like a challenge and at the same time they were approached by a potential investor, David Taylor, who liked working with green companies and was interested in what they were doing.
“It was just fate that these two things happened at the same time,” Caroline says matter-of-factly. “Eco Controls wanted to sell, and David wanted to invest because he liked our business. And I think that’s important – to get the right investor; the right fit for the business.”
Still, both are big steps – wasn’t it scary?
“Having your own business takes resilience and determination. You’ve got to give everything your all and not do anything half-heartedly. Just go for it and don’t have any ‘what ifs…’.”
Wise words it seems.
After a few months of due diligence, the deal was done, and by October 2013 they had moved into Eco’s offices in Stoke by Nayland and expanded to offer a dual operation. Within a year they had outgrown those offices, triggering a move to new premises at Lanswood Park in Elmstead Market. Thirteen years later, the business now employs 45 people and provides a full-service energy efficiency operation.
Having no set business plan has certainly worked in this case. But, looking back is there anything you’d do differently?
“Oh, that’s a tricky one. Maybe in hindsight there are things we’d change, but if we hadn’t had those bumps in the road then we wouldn’t be where we are now.
“We learn so much by getting things wrong.”
Personal growth
While based in Stoke-by-Nayland, Caroline was initially working part-time while the children were at school. She says it was often a challenge and, occasionally late to collect them at the school gate, the ‘mum guilt’ was certainly a constant companion.
Fortunately, as they got older it became easier and Caroline began to work longer hours, allowing her role to develop. Still, never one for the spotlight, she describes herself as “working in the shadows” where people didn’t realise how involved she was.
Then in 2021, she was introduced to Sam Lindley who ran a business coaching company. Sam suggested that Caroline take part in a 12-month ‘Mastermind’ course, which offers peer-to-peer learning, with a small group of local business leaders meeting monthly to discuss their challenges and offer potential solutions through industry examples and group discussion.
“I thought: it’s not really for me. It’s for business leaders and I’m not a business leader,” Caroline says unassumingly. “But Sam said it was about being in a room with people that held you to account and really championed you, so I decided to do it.
“I went to the first session and I was absolutely terrified because you had to do a presentation about yourself and that’s everything I hate. After, they were like: ‘But everyone reports to you. All these functions are under you. Why are you not managing director?’
“That’s when I realised the extent of what I was doing and started to become a true leader. Neil was always at the forefront, but he was out a lot of the time because he’s very client facing. And I think we were missing that person who was leading the organisation internally.
“I became that person.”
Today, Carbon Numbers is recognised as a pioneering force in energy efficiency and low-carbon solutions for the built environment. Under Caroline’s leadership, the business has trebled its turnover in the last three years and grown into a thriving organisation with a strong, values-led culture. She has prioritised investment in people, establishing a successful apprenticeship programme that has achieved a 100% qualification and retention rate, helping to develop the next generation of engineering and energy management talent. Caroline has also significantly raised her own profile within the business and across the sector, becoming a trusted partner and adviser to both public and private sector clients seeking meaningful reductions in energy use and carbon emissions. Her leadership has helped position Carbon Numbers not just as a technical provider, but as a collaborative long-term partner in the journey to net zero.
In 2025 Caroline was recognised nationally for her work, winning Gold for ‘Best Green Business’ at the 2025 Best Business Women Awards, and a Silver Award for ‘Best Business Woman in Business Services’.
Meanwhile, Caroline and Neil are still happily living in Wivenhoe and have added a “crazy” cocker spaniel called Blu to the family. Now grown up, all three of their children have been part of Carbon Numbers over the years, and Caroline says it’s nice to have that legacy.
So, what’s next?
“We have strategies and aspirations, and we’re launching a refreshed brand and website this year to mark our growth. We’re good at what we do, so we will keep doing it, but we’re innovating and changing with technology and the evolution of smart buildings. Our industry is relatively unknown to young people and one of my aims is to raise awareness in schools and help BMS and energy management become a career of choice. We want to keep growing the business and helping the environment.”
And more personally?
“I’d like to read and travel more. I love psychological thrillers and can read one a day on holiday but never seem to find time at home.
“It’s a roller coaster running a business, isn’t it? It can be stressful because you just don’t know what’s going to happen from one day to the next. And I do like relaxing by a pool….”
