Bamford was born in Tanzania and grew up in Tanga, as her father worked for Unilever.

[1] After a few stints of volunteer efforts, Bamford accepted a position with a language training company in Jakarta, Indonesia, where she eventually became their marketing director.

While there, Bamford developed and managed five start-up businesses and set up a charity called "Challenges Worldwide".

[3] In 2003, she accepted a position as director of the Scottish Institute for Enterprise (SIE), taking over from Carl Togneri.

[5] The year after the UKIBC launch, Bamford was nominated for the 2008 First Women Awards.