By Briony Hale BBC News Online business reporter

Barbara Cassani, the founder and director of low cost airline Go, and winner of the prestigious Veuve Clicquot businesswoman of the year award, talks of the secrets of her success.

"BA said: You've got �25m - goodbye and good luck.

And so there I was with a bag full of money in one hand and a bag of ideas in the other."

That's how Barbara Cassani, the exuberant US-raised founder of Go, describes the start of her biggest business achievement.

Any idiot can lower prices... but doing it within a cost structure that works is more difficult

Barbara Cassani

Four years later, the airline she has built up employs 900 people and has just reported full-year profits of �4.2m, well ahead of targets.

And she has nothing but enthusiasm for the "tremendous opportunity" she was given and the "tremendous man" [BA's former chief executive Bob Ayling] who gave it to her.

"How often do you get the chance in life to be able to think of an idea, see if it makes business sense, get some money from people who have the money available, and then make it happen," she muses.

The thinking stage took six months, another six months were spent implementing the plans, then lift-off.

Difficult birth

She admits it has been stressful, admits she gets tired juggling work with two small children.

But there can be no doubt that she loves her job.

The 41-year old jokes and laughs throughout the interview, but also demonstrates a steely determination

Go's birth had its fair share of trauma, including a lawsuit from Easyjet's equally charismatic founder Stelios Haji-Ioannou.

Barbara Cassani: Toasting her success

Then her hero Mr Ayling was replaced with Rod Eddington who did not think BA should bother with a low-cost airline.

The airline was sold for �110m to a venture capital group, 3i, but Ms Cassani kept her job and her ultimate control over strategic decisions.

Ironic twist

A few years down the road, Mr Eddington is eating a large slice of humble pie and being forced to adopt a no frills strategy at BA once again.

"Life is full of little ironies," says Ms Cassani cheerfully, referring to her former boss' u-turn.

You just have to keep laughing or you go nuts

Barbara Cassani

"Humour is a big part of my philosophy of life...you have to keep laughing or you just go nuts."

But she also has a warning for her firm's former owner.

"Any idiot can lower prices. But its more difficult to do it within a cost structure that works," she says.

"What BA is doing is rational, but whether it works or not is another matter."

Uncomfortable in the City

The Boston-born Ms Cassani started her career as a management consultant at Coopers and Lybrand in Washington and then moved to the UK.

"I don't know if it was because I was American or female that I felt slightly uncomfortable in some aspects of City life," she says.

Her prize includes free Veuve Clicquot champagne every birthday

But she never encountered any such difficulties at BA, which she joined shortly after its privatisation in 1986.

A host of recent reports have highlighted the difficulties facing women entrepreneurs, including unequal pay packets and boardroom exclusion.

Ms Cassani denies that being a woman in a male-dominated industry has been difficult.

She does however admit that it is slightly annoying to be singled out as a female success story rather than a success story per se.

"I work with a whole bunch of men who should get as much credit as I'm doing" she says.

Informal leanings

"I take fairness in the workplace and equal salaries very seriously," she says, but adds that many of her male peers do likewise.

"I'm not a feminist, I'm a humanist.. I judge people by how they behave."

And she attributes her success to her irreverent and informal manner rather than her gender.

Older men carry a lot of baggage of what society expects, she explains, they feel that success follows on from being formal and following set rules.

The joys of haggling

Having achieved so much in so short a space of time, there is no danger of Ms Cassani taking an early retirement.

"Reaching goals invigorates me," she says, adding that she's been like that since she was a little girl.

And the rapid growth period isn't over yet. Go increased its sales by 30% last year and is planning on a further 40% expansion this year.

The purchase of 75 new planes is currently under negotiation.

"It couldn't be more fun I can tell you," she says referring to the joys of haggling with Airbus and Boeing over who gets the contract.

Going places

In 2003 Go plans to set up new bases in other European countries, while central European locations such as Poland are a medium-term target.

And all this while the industry is in one of its worst recessions and expected to undergo a period of intense consolidation.

It's all about the challenge of going into unchartered territory

Barbara Cassani

"Yes there are too many airlines," she agrees, "but too many of the wrong kind."

"Bigness isn't an objective, it's all about the challenge of going into unchartered territory."

Ms Cassani fended off competition from Sly Bailey, the chief executive of IP Media group; Rachel Elnaugh the founder of Red Letter Days; Chey Garland, the founder of Garlands Call Centres and Jo Malone, the founder of a chain of skin care and fragrance stores.

Previous winners include Pearson's Marjorie Scardino, Camelot's Dianne Thompson and the Body Shop's Anita Roddick.