A Lithuanian-born and American-raised entrepreneur said business people like her have come under wrongful scrutiny since the vote to leave the EU.

Giedre Brandao, who runs a disease screening company at Kent Science Park in Sittingbourne, said Brexit will present new opportunities and that the media portrayal of the economy is causing problems.

She launched her company, AbBaltis, after moving into a small lab on the site in 2011 and now employs eight British people.

Her firm supplies clean blood plasma to drug research companies across the globe and won a Queen’s Award for International Trade last year.

She said: “There is a lot of bad press about people coming here and taking British jobs but there are people coming here and creating jobs for British people.

“Not only that, we export to China and South Korea so I bring money into the economy. There are a lot of positive things I bring to my community.”

Mrs Brandao, who speaks seven languages, including Mandarin, criticised “doomsday stuff” about the state of the economy, adding: “Even in a soft economy there are opportunities.”

Her company would consider opening satellite premises on the continent, she said, to keep her customers in the single market, as suggested by the Mayor of Calais in an open letter to the Prime Minister last month.

She said: “If we have to go through a lot of red tape to ship our materials to the EU but it means our customers don’t have to, then maybe that is what we have to do.”

She would not consider completely relocating her business because of the Brexit vote.

“The UK is still a great country to run a company. It would be a shame if we left the UK. What would I tell my staff?

"I have seen the positive effect on their lives of working for this business so it is important to me that they keep their jobs. In a small company you can see how they work really hard and they become like part of your family.”