A FORMER Army officer has won an international business honour for the nursery firm she started 10 years ago when she could not find childcare for her son and daughter.

Sarah Steel raised £500,000 to open the Old Station Nursery in Faringdon when she left the Army in 2002.

Her firm now employs about 200 people and looks after 800 children every day in 13 centres across the country – five of which are on Army or Royal Air Force stations including RAF Benson.

Mrs Steel, 42, a former pupil of St Helen and St Katharine School in Abingdon, will fly to Florida in March to accept an award from Enterprising Women magazine.

She was one of two female UK entrepreneurs the American magazine honoured in the ‘Over $5 Million and up to $10 Million in Annual Revenue’ category.

Mrs Steel, managing director of The Old Station Nursery Group, said she looked back on the last 10 years with a sense of pride.

She said: “It is an achievement and I feel really proud of that, but we have a great team and that’s what makes it work.

“I’m absolutely over the moon to be in the company of such an impressive list of businesswomen around the world.”

“It’s important to celebrate achievements of women in business so it can inspire other people.

“Hopefully this will encourage other women who are thinking about starting out in business to follow their dreams.”

She said she had based her business on what she would want to see as a parent, adding: “We have been careful to work with parents and be as homely as possible.”

Mrs Steel, who lives in Southrop, Gloucestershire, was nominated for the Enterprising Women award by United Success – a network which connects women in business internationally.

Her nurseries provide part-time and full-time care and pre-school sessions for three- and four-year-olds.

The company won the business development category of the Nursery World Awards in November 2008.

Mrs Steel has two children – Harry, 13, and Jessica, 10.