Stef Nienaltowski, Tells us all about his incredible journey in business and shaping Portsmouth

She Made Me Do It!

Stef Nienaltowski Born in Stepney London within the sound of the Bow Bells and yes I'm a Cockney with a Protestant Northern Irish Mother and a Roman Catholic Polish Father :) ( Both now deceased ) Lived and went to school in London and at the aged of 17 joined IBM UK Limited on their youth employment scheme. That was in 1972 and in 1974 they, IBM, moved our Department to Cosham in Hampshire and I have the choice to choose my Girlfriend or a career. Hmmm So I moved to Cosham in 1974 and worked for IBM for another 35 years making it 37 in total. Married to Liz and I have four Children. Three from my first marriage and one with Liz. Three daughters and one son. Four Grandchildren all boys ages range from 2 - 7 years. First went to see Chelsea play in 1963 and some 56 years later I am still fan. Sadly some say. My hobbies are of course Football, Music which is everything from slow romantic stuff to Jazz but nothing too heavy. 34 years ago when I was 30 I gave up playing football locally and started running with my buddy Barry. 34 years later and having run the equivalent of round the world 1.5 times we are still running although a little slower these days. Shaping Portsmouth In 2013 having left IBM I was working for a Software company in Cosham and an old manager of mine at IBM rang me to ask if I could spare a couple of hours a month to join something called "Shaping The Future Of Portsmouth" who were a bunch of volunteers helping young businesses START and then GROW. So began my Shaping career and for 4 years I either ran or helped run the Shaping Business & Enterprise team. In January 2017 the part time Director, Cheryl Buggy retired from the role and I reversed out of my volunteer role and have been the Director now for just over two years. Shaping Portsmouth is a Public / Private partnership that have the mission to bring Business / Education & Our Community together to cooperate and collaborate on 12 specific projects. From inspiring our next and future generations to aspire to reach for their stars, to making Portsmouth a World Class City to Visit, Live & Work. That is what i am trying to do with the Organisation and its army of Ambassadors & Volunteers.