WHEN it comes to business it’s a jungle out there, so there could have been no better speaker at December’s Women in Business Christmas Lunch than Janet Street-Porter.

Fresh from her experiences in the Australian Jungle for ITV’s I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here show, Janet joined KM-fm’s head of radio Penny Williams to address the 200-strong audience at the Ramada Jarvis Hotel in Maidstone.

As two women who have reached the top in the media industry both excel as role models in achievement.

Penny is at the forefront of developing the on air voice of the county’s KM-fm stations, driving the stations forward in a fast evolving media market, while Janet has conquered the worlds of TV and newspapers, acquiring celebrity status along the way.

Unsurprisingly Ms Street-Porter was forthright and bold in her opinions. Drawing on her own career she spoke of the power struggles women still face in the workplace and on the promotion ladder.

Womens’ dual commitments of work and home she said meant: “Any woman who has been even half-way successful has had to work doubly hard to get there.”

Encouraging women to cut through the “M culture” of men in business - which she sees as predominantly middle-class, mediocre with too many in management - she said women must be bold, brave, brilliant and break through in their approach.

The business world she said is rife with too many large organisations of hierarchical pyramids established by men - with all players vying for the top spot.

As the youngest ever columnist in Fleet Street at the age of 21 to the second only female editor of a broadsheet newspaper, Street-Porter also told her audience: “Don’t be afraid of challenges, even if you fail. If it doesn’t work, discard it and move on."

Adding that she never looked back on the past, she said her route to fulfilment and achievement had always been to look for new challenges. “I always ask myself, what haven’t I done before?” To stay fresh and achieve, always move on in your career every two years, she said.

Concluding that the best piece of career advice she had ever been given - on becoming editor of the Independent on Sunday - was "you can’t spend all your time getting people to like you". She said there would always be one third of people who did not appreciate you so concentrate on the remaining two thirds - of which half would be actively supportive and the other half indifferent.

Ms Street-Porter has famously applied this attitude but her meteoric career, in which she has managed multi-million pound budgets at the BBC, launched independent radio in the UK and set up her own production company, is not without talent, hard work and her dogmatic style. Like her or loathe her, you have to admire her.

Penny Williams spoke of the challenges facing all media, and in particular local radio, in the coming three years with increased broadcasting available via the internet, satellite, portable music players, mobile phones and the advent of digital radio.

She said: “The strength of local radio is its commitment to the communities it serves and the many ways it can bring people together. At KM-fm we have achieved a great deal and we are planning much more.

"I would really urge people in business to get involved with their local radio station and benefit from the creative partnerships which contribute so much to our county."

The next Women in Business Luncheon will be held at the John Foulston Centre, Brands Hatch, on Tuesday, March 1, with guest speaker World Rally driver Penny Mallory.