'I was JD Sports' top lawyer and now I'm helping companies become the next global success'

Siobhan Almond spent over a decade at JD Sport, helping it to grow into the retail giant it is today.

Working her way up to general counsel, she had global responsibility for all the group's legal operations and was at the heart of efforts to acquire brands across the world. But after the well-documented changes at the top of the business, she decided it was time for a change of her own.

Having joined Manchester-based venture capital investor Praetura Ventures as an operational partner in May, she's now focused on helping companies from all over the North West follow in JD's footsteps and become the next global success story. In an exclusive interview with BusinessLive, Siobhan Almond spoke about what she learnt from her time at JD Sports, why she decided to leave and how she's working to help create the next big thing.

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"When I joined in 2012, JD was just embarking upon its international expansion", she said. It was already a pretty successful UK retailer, successful on the High Street despite the difficulties, and it was just moving into France and Spain. I saw it go on this phenomenal international expansion journey as well continuing the growth in the UK.

"There was double digit like-for-like retail sales consistently year on year which was just unheard of as well as establishing itself in countries where the sports market is different and it's not the same type of High Street. Of course you've got language differences, cultural differences, but we really went on a journey to bring JD Sports to lots of different international territories.

"My role was to see if we were acquiring a business that existed in one international territory already and to assess that business, do all the due diligence and the decide if it was the right business to acquire. We then the actual transaction itself and then post-conclusion, it was about integration.

"It was about learning about that business and I helped them in any way possible. I got them the range of advice that they needed and helped them become part of the group and I guess that process is what has enabled me to be a real help to the portfolio companies within Praetura. I can relate to what they're going through and help them make the decisions about the founders and which ones we think we should back.

"Once these founders have got that investment, it's just the same as some of those I used to work within the JD group. Suddenly they have cash in their own pockets and they are part of a group and they have the expectations of an investor for the first time.

"At JD I worked to get them used to that process and to meet those exp