The Managing Director of Ipswich-based web company A Recipe For Success has won a place on a boot camp for company bosses in France. Tonya Hills obtained a place on this prestigious £10,000 course after entering a national competition backed by insurer AXA and the Financial Mail.

A Recipe For Success (ARFS) was selected for the course as they are experiencing significant growth and it was felt they could accelerate even faster with the correct processes, systems and resources in place. In order to do this Tonya’s style of leadership needs to be developed and she needs to learn how to be a better boss.

A Recipe For Success has been designing and marketing web sites for the last 10 years. They have an impressive portfolio of clients ranging from small local businesses to larger corporate organisations such as BT and numerous local authorities in the East of England. In the last decade the business has grown from Tonya working by herself, to managing a group of 25 staff in Ipswich, Edinburgh and Shanghai.

Tonya says “I taught myself how to lead the business. Over the years, I have made a lot of mistakes and know that there is still plenty of room for improvement. I am excited at being given this opportunity to learn how to run the team more effectively.”

Tonya will take part in an intensive three days of interactive tasks and get practical advice on how to polish her management style and take the company to the next stage of development and profit.

20 business leaders from small and medium enterprises will attend the course at Chateauform' Romainville, a training centre near Paris, at the end of May. The AXA SME Masterclass is a three day residential course.

Lou Macari, AXA's head of business consulting, will guide the executives through the three-day event. He says 'The object is to help people understand their roles as leaders managing growth in their business'.

'The impact they have on the operation is both its biggest asset and its greatest drain. If you want to grow your company, you have to be aware of how your role changes. You've got to grow as the business grows.'

If you are interested in finding out how Tonya gets on at boot camp then you can read her daily diary at www.arfs.co.uk.