Nottinghamshire business guru honoured with MBE in Queen's Honours List 2021 'thought it was a hoax'

When Tracy-Jane Duncan-Moir received an email notifying her she was one of the incredible people to have been named in the Queen’s Honours List, she had to ‘phone the cabinet office to check it was real’.

The 49-year-old, a veteran of 30 years in the hard-nosed world of industry in the Mansfield area, has been honoured for her services to ‘Female Entrepreneurship and Business Recovery from the Covid 19 Pandemic’ after founding new company to help rebuild East Midlands businesses.

Through Business Glu, Tracy-Jane acts as a consultant using her 30 years’ experience to identify and fix problems within her client’s companies.

As part of the venture, she helped to mastermind the Coalville firm Ubiquitous Engineering’s switch from 3D printing parts for the aerospace industry to making PPE equipment for the NHS, care homes and food producers.

Tracey-Jane said: “I never expected to receive anything like this- I thought it was a hoax.

"I’ve had to keep it a secret from everyone but my husband for weeks, but as soon as restrictions allow we’re hoping to have a little celebration.

"I originally planned to set up Business Glu in April 2020 and when we got the devastating news about lockdown, it was a real ‘do I or don’t I’.

"But it turned out to be the best decision, as we’ve been able to help so many businesses forced to close due to the pandemic out of awful situations.

"I’m looking forward to going down to Buckingham Palace, although we don’t have a date yet.

"I also found out that due to my MBE my children have the honour of being able to get married in St Paul’s Cathedral if they so wish, which is pretty incredible.”

Before the lockdown, Tracey-Jane worked with a metal fabrication company in north Nottinghamshire to secure a project worth hundreds of thousands of pounds.

This enabled the firm to secure an order from a giant online retailer and this has since led to the company having two more orders in the pipeline worth £1m.

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