All posts by Althea Taylor-Salmon

Blog

Entrepreneur Blog – Getting Funding

Chirag Shah Family Photo Sept 2013 Edited
SMF Chirag Shah, a successful serial entrepreneur

In my previous blog I discussed the importance of ‘knowing your numbers’ – the key business metric of knowing how much you need to sell of something and at what price to NOT LOSE money. Of course in reality you wish to make money (lots of it hopefully) and this almost always results in the need to spend money upfront in order to make more money afterwards. For this, you need a business plan.

There are so many How To Guides on writing a business plan that I won’t go into the details here. Rather, I will focus this post on a few tips to assist you when preparing your business plan.

Do it Yourself
As entrepreneurs we are itching to dive into the lab and perfect our mousetrap, or get out on the street and talk to customers. But you need to have a deep understanding of what all the costs are and how much money you will need – not just now – but for the foreseeable future to ensure your business can prosper. There’s plenty of ‘advisors’ out there who will prepare a business plan for you, but you really must avoid this. However painful it might be for you to sit in front of a PC, if you don’t understand what went into your plan then you don’t really understand how you are going to make money from your business.

Understand the Dependencies
Most folks tend to lean on Microsoft Excel for the production of their business plan. And I have no issue with that but there is an issue with Excel that one has to watch out for or be an extremely sophisticated XL wizard. When you put all your costs and all your revenues into your model be careful to link them as much as you can. For example, you may have assumed that you will acquire four customers from each Marketing Conference that you sponsor.

If you then find that you are only acquiring two customers you need to rethink your approach to Marketing Conferences and change the business plan accordingly. Most people get that. But did you also modify all your costs to reflect the slowdown in customer acquisition? Maybe you assigned some part of executing the plan to a colleague who is innocently plodding along acquiring all these staff/supplies/premises as per the requirements in the business plan. Sounds trivial? Believe me, you will never stop having to adjust and re-adjust your plan and the successful entrepreneur is the one that a) intuitively understands the inter-dependencies and b) has the strength to swallow their pride and modify the plan in the face of adversity.

Shah’s Law
This brings me to the final point in this blog – which I have coined Shah’s Law – because I’m not aware of anyone else coming up with a similar heuristic before.  So you are proudly looking at your shiny new business plan with all your costs and revenues and it all adds up neatly and shows lovely profits at some point in the future, right? At this point you need to apply Shah’s Law which states: “Your sales forecast is over-optimistic by a factor of 4 divided by the number of start-ups in your experience including this one”.

For example, if this is your first venture, and you estimate you will be selling 2000 units a month by the end of six months, then Shah’s Law predicts that you will be selling that number by the end of 24 months. But if this is your second venture then you’ll probably be hitting that number by month 12 and if you are on your fourth business – happy days – you are probably staring at a business plan that is actually quite accurate!

Why Shah’s Law? Well, two factors feed into this; firstly sales forecasting is a delicate skill that can only be honed through experience (school of hard knocks) and secondly, as you conduct more ventures your business credentials – reputation, risk, contact network – all improve which in turn contributes to reducing the sales cycle in subsequent ventures.

So, go back and take a knife to that hockey stick forecast, but don’t despair, if you’ve got your inter-dependencies connected then your costs will go down too!

The cash shortfall in your business plan is then the amount of money that you need to get your business funded. We’ll look at how to fund this in the next blog instalment.

Press Releases

Time to Banish Hard Hats?

Following-like-sheep counting hard hats May 2013

SMF calls for a ban on hard hats and clichéd images from advertising and promotion to improve the image of engineers and attract job applicants

Sainsbury Management Fellowship (SMF), the charity that furthers the development of engineers through educational bursaries and mentoring, has launched the Hard Hat Index which measures how frequently hard hats appear in selected media. The Hard Hat Index is complemented by a YouGov poll on public perceptions about engineers, and focus group research with engineering graduates.

The hard hat has become symbolic of engineers and SMF believes that this association is an example of how images detrimental to the perception of the role of engineers have far-reaching effects. This includes the ability to inspire, recruit and retain engineering graduates within the profession. SMF believes that the prevalent use of hard hats in the media, advertising, marketing literature, company and research reports defines engineers inaccurately, undermining their role as creative problem-solvers who improve our lives and shape tomorrow’s world.

The SMF Hard Hat Index is based on 12 months monitoring of the appearance of hard hats in carefully selected engineering media and 18 months monitoring of the national broadsheets. During those periods, 185 depictions of engineers wearing hard hats featured in 16 engineering titles (118 adverts and 67 editorials); where more appropriate or aspirational images could have been used to better engage with readers. Nine national newspapers featured 940 hard hat images (258 adverts and 682 editorials).

SMF created the Hard Hat Index to encourage the industry to examine the image it portrays of engineering through its depictions of engineers in hard hats and other uninspiring images that obscure the excitement, diversity and rewards of the engineering profession.

SMF President, David Falzani explained, “Whilst intentionally whimsical, the index highlights a serious issue. A recent EngineeringUK study revealed that engineering companies will have 1.86 million jobs requiring engineering skills by 2020, but the UK produces only 46,000 engineering graduates each year. At this rate we will not meet the economy’s demand for qualified engineers. The institutions and educational establishment are doing good work to encourage more young people into engineering, but the industry is neglecting the impact of the visual identifiers they use for engineers. Whether this neglect is due to a lack of awareness of the importance of this issue or sheer laziness, ‘brand engineering’ needs a radical overhaul. We must better understand the importance of image to Generation Y and replace outmoded images with more accurate, dynamic and appealing ones.”

YouGov Poll
When YouGov asked over 2,000 people online throughout the UK what items (up to four) they thought engineers primarily wear on an average working day, the hard hat came top with 63% of the votes, whereas a business suit received 25% of votes. The voting for ‘locations where engineers predominantly work’ showed stereotypical views with building and construction sites coming top (69% of votes), followed by industrial sites (66% of votes), with offices coming fifth (40% of the votes). Most people picture engineers working on building, industrial or manufacturing sites, yet the reality is that thousands of engineers work in office settings.

David Falzani continued;”HR directors ask us why engineers are always portrayed by pictures of people wearing hard hats. Images of hard hats appear in annual reports, job adverts and other publications perpetuating the myth that all engineers work hands on.”
More positively, engineers came sixth (49% of votes) in a league table of 11 professions that are particularly well respected in society.

When asked to choose between a selection of attributes and skills associated with engineers, professional came top (66% of votes), followed by seeing them as well qualified (64%), and being practical came third (61% of votes). However, ‘having exciting jobs’ pulled in just 19% of votes putting it in 9th place out of 10. This suggests the industry is not managing nor selling the attractiveness of engineering careers to the public.

Focus Group
The focus group research, conducted with winners of the Engineering Leadership Awards (ELAs) scheme, supports SMF’s assertion that the visual representations of engineering careers ‘turn-off’ young graduates. The ELAs viewed a range of editorial and advertising images from the industry’s own engineering magazines and were asked to give their opinions on the images. The majority of the images were deemed to be:
• Too traditional, old-fashioned or clichéd
• Contained negative stereotypes
• Too male orientated
• Bland, dull, boring and uninspiring

The few creative adverts without hard hats or other stereotypical props such as visibility jackets, were seen as eye-catching and a positive representation of engineers; demonstrating teamwork, problem-solving skills, expertise, dynamism, progress, influence and success. These companies appealed to young people as prospective employers, yet these ads were in the minority.
Falzani continued; “Our research and Hard Hat Index highlights the need for engineers to take greater responsibility for the image of our profession. We cannot complain that insufficient numbers of young people are drawn to engineering while paying scant attention to the image we are giving them. Employers complain that they can’t get the right calibre of people with the right skills and training. But they can’t hope to attract and retain the brightest engineering graduates – people with high expectations of working in a prestigious job where they can make a difference in the world, gain job satisfaction, travel globally and earn a good salary – when they do not support the creation and maintenance of an accurate and suitable image.”

The focus group showed that corporate image is very important. Who we work for reflects our own self-image and most young engineers don’t want to work in a business that projects itself with hard hats and overalls.

“The industry is being ineffective in how it portrays itself. It is our responsibility to communicate the opportunities better – we need to excite people about the diversity of engineering careers, so they can see the scope of responsibility, the opportunity to improve mankind’s condition, grow the economy and earn a good salary. Building a better brand identity for engineers, alongside the work being done to promote engineering to young people, will draw more high calibre graduates towards the profession and ensure that a diversity of people stay within engineering.

“We hope the Hard Hat Index will start a dialogue about the image of engineering and encourage companies and the professional societies to review how they portray the profession through their marketing, recruitment, publishing and reporting,” concluded Falzani.
Sainsbury Management Fellows will continue to monitor the trade and national media to track how the industry is progressing with re-packaging and representing itself to the engineering community, as well as to the wider public. The Hard Hat Index will be published annually.

Note : Figures are from the quantitative research, are from YouGov Plc. Total sample size was 2,064 adults. Fieldwork was undertaken between 12-15 April 2013. The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all UK adults (aged 18+).

Blog

A Two Year Transition – My MBA Journey

Gil Rabbie SMALL
SMF Gil Rabbie

It’s almost two years to the day, when after 6.5 years as a loyal employee, climbing up the ranks of the corporate hierarchy, through manufacturing, operations and project management roles – I resigned, to pursue my MBA at London Business School (LBS). Looking back now, I can recall the anxiety of not only losing my steady income but also the unease I had about ‘jumping ship.’ After all, this was my first and only full-time job after graduating from Imperial College as a chemical engineer back in 2004. I quickly realised that the ship I had seemingly jumped was far more resilient to my departure than I had previously felt.

I had considered making a career switch to a commercial direction for some time and eventually decided that I wanted to achieve that by learning best practices, cross-functionally from all over the business world: Understanding corporate strategy in addition to how to finance start-up ventures, appreciating macroeconomic growth trends as well as improving negotiating and other communication skills. I felt that an MBA would be the best way to combine what I had learnt ‘on the shop-floor’ and build a broader sense of perspective on those foundations. Furthermore, studying at a top-quality international business school, would provide a globally recognised qualification, a valuable lifelong network and not least, enable a better return on the heavy investment expected.

The research, preparation and significant application process took me over a year, particularly as I had little down-time at work, with one project after another requiring my time and attention. With GMAT scores in place, essays written and references gathered I was determined to make my application successful first time, as the window of opportunity for completing a full-time programme was closing steadily. Engineer that I am, I systematically considered my choice of school and concluded that with my desire to study in an internationally focused school with a mature student body that encompassed a range of experiences and crucially, my plans to work in London immediately after the programme – the best school for my purposes was right here in Europe. Ultimately, I chose London Business School as it offered everything I was looking for and moreover, was close to home making it easier on my personal life and expense outlay.

The two years at LBS have gone by like a flash. No sooner had I begun to take in the mass of new information from coursework and academic life, was it time to make the career switch and in particular, find an internship for the summer – my number one priority. Nevertheless, I tried to remind myself throughout, that the enormous wealth of opportunity to learn and try new things as well as a vibrant network of new friends and contacts was not going to last long – all of which resulted in a busy schedule full of activities, some 12 hours a day, 6 days a week. I attended a plethora of interesting talks, conferences and seminars, apart from my required studies which I found by and large, to be truly eye-opening and thought-provoking, particularly the electives I took.

I spent my summer after the first year gaining experience in strategy consulting, through an internship at The Boston Consulting Group, in its London office. In addition to developing my ‘consultant toolkit’ of analysis and presentation skills, I also had the opportunity to learn about the activities which the firm and office are involved with, in more depth and how they are impacting business thinking at the most senior levels. I was delighted to receive a full-time offer at the end of the internship and intend to commence my full-time post-MBA career at BCG London.

Whilst at LBS, I also became heavily involved in student leadership roles, becoming the president of the Running Club as well as the Industry Club. This not only gave me fantastic experience to try out, in a fairly ‘risk-free’ manner, some of the tactics and ideas I had picked-up in the classroom and from previous experience, but also widened my circle of friends and professional contacts even further. I even achieved a few unique firsts, including a triathlon and organising a conference.

Additionally, the flexibility of student life and in particular the second year at LBS, offered the chance to pursue some personal priorities, which would be more challenging in full-time employment. The first was taking quite a few trips abroad including sailing in Antigua, hiking in the Indian Himalayas and wine-tasting in South Africa.

Gateway of India

Holi – festival of colours, experienced with the locals at The Gateway of India – Mumbai

The second and most important of all, was deciding with my wife to become parents for the first time and our daughter was born at the end of my first year of studies (in fact, on the day of my final exam!). That transition has been my most momentous and fulfilling of all.

So all in all, I have had two hectic and intense years during which time I learned an enormous amount: completely repositioning my career in a commercial trajectory whilst at the same time developing myself immensely and building a significant network of contacts and close friendships. Having just had my graduation and with work restarting imminently – the future seems full of promise and opportunity from where I am sitting. I also know there will continue to be plenty of challenges, but I doubt I would have gone down this path, if I did not highly relish those…

Finally, my advice for those who may be considering the MBA may be somewhat surprising having read the above. I believe it’s not a benefit to everyone and is a need for few. That is to say, the course and learning that comes around it, are only as good as what you make of the experience and the same goes for graduates returning to the workplace: there will be those that revert to what they feel comfortable with and there will be those that seek to continue to learn and push the boundaries of what is possible. I intend to be the latter and much of that desire has been driven by the fundamentals and the flames of ambition that have been further fuelled by the MBA. I am in no doubt that this was the right decision for me and I know that, without the help of the Sainsbury Management Fellowship my experience would have been very different, perhaps even non-existent and for all this – I am immensely grateful.

You may also be interested in reading interviews with the winners of the SMF MBA Scholarship.

 

Press Releases

Getting More Women on UK Boards

SMF and IDDAS Debate Panel - Women on Boards
To coincide with Cranfield’s report The Female FTSE Board Report 2013 business leaders of prominent UK organisations took part in a debate on women on boards.  The panellists included James Raby, Trustee, Sainsbury Management Fellows; Anne Richards, Chief Investment Officer at Aberdeen Asset Management; Nicola Winn, COO Finance Infrastructure, Deutsche Bank; Jenny Young, Manager of Diversity, Royal Academy of Engineering and Caroline Cake, Director of 2020 Delivery and Sally Davis, holder of several Non-Executive Directorships including at the BBC.

Hosted by Helen Pitcher, Chairman at IDDAS and David Falzani, President of Sainsbury Management Fellows, the panellists explored the bottlenecks preventing female board appointments and practical steps to increase the number of women on FTSE boards.

Cranfield’s latest report shows that whilst there was a hive of activity after Lord Davies’ women on boards report published in March 2012 – 44% of new FTSE100 appointments and 36% of FTSE250 posts went to women – over the last six months the level of appointments has fallen significantly to 26% and 29% respectively.

Three main themes dominated the debate:

Mentoring and Sponsorship: Role models play a vital role in helping women to envisage their own success.  The debaters said that prominent business women allow other women to imagine what they too can achieve.  Being mentored by a successful business woman enables an aspiring director to think through career goals and weigh up different options.  A mentor can also explore assumptions and perceptions that lead women to opt-out of new opportunities.

Helen said: “It is vital for successful business women to set aside fears about mentoring and share their knowledge and experience with other women.  Mentors can help by challenging self-limiting beliefs – which are often based on inaccurate stereotyping of senior roles, and how the job might be done by them, rather than a predecessor.

The panel also highlighted the need for women to seek a sponsor; someone who sees the talent and potential of an individual and goes further than a mentor.  A sponsor actively supports the individual in their endeavour to secure new senior roles, for example, through referral, endorsement or recommendation.

Having a positive attitude and confidence are key to success – women can build their confidence through mentorship, as well as skills and personal impact training. 

Confidence: Most women who aspire to boardroom positions have a hunger to achieve at this level and will strive to create and seize opportunities, but the panel felt that some are held back due to lack of confidence linked to cultural grooming.  Subliminal messages that start from childhood work to boost boys’ self-confidence and moderate that of girls and this can follow into adulthood and the work pool.  This results in women not putting themselves forward for promotion, or worse, selecting-out of opportunities.

Research into the differences in promotion between men and women shows that huge subliminal bias still exists amongst both genders when promoting staff – men are promoted on potential (32% of men get onto a FTSE board without ever having been on a FTSE board), while women are promoted on past performance. They panel argued that those responsible for promoting staff must kick-against bias and promote men and women on equal criteria.

Helen Pitcher said: “In my experience women apply for senior roles only when they have almost 100% of the job specification nailed, whereas men have the confidence to apply even when they do not tick all the boxes.  The panel felt that to get more women on boards in a sustainable way, employers and women must eliminate limiting beliefs about women’s capability to do the top jobs.

Panellists who had worked in the USA commented on the marked difference between the aspirations for women in America compared to the UK.  They felt America has much higher expectations for women reaching senior posts, which we should emulate.  Women should be encouraged to shake-off concerns about applying for jobs only when they are 100% qualified because skills can be learned.

Networks: The panel concluded that there is a stark difference between the way men and women network, to the extent that women restrict their chances of being put forward for senior posts.  Men have much larger networks than women and regard networking as an integral part of their job – it’s where they build contacts, share knowledge and acquire new information.

Anne Richards, CIO at Aberdeen Asset Management said: “Women network far less than men.  Many see it as extra-curricular, something that encroaches on personal time so other priorities trump networking.  Consequently, women are known by fewer influential people and are less likely to be recommended for unadvertised posts and excluded from head-hunters’ interview lists.  Women must treat both traditional and social media networking as legitimate business activities, where they learn, broaden their perspective, build relationships and promote themselves.

“LinkedIn is a powerful networking tool where women can promote themselves to the search community, which is using it increasingly to find senior candidates.”

 


 

Press Releases

Libertine Receives Recognition and Funding From the 2013 Shell Springboard Award Scheme

 Sam Cockerill Shell Springboard Award photo 2

Matthew Tipper, Shell Vice President of Alternative Energies presents the award to Libertine CEO Sam Cockerill and Chairman Derek Shepherd.

Competing for a share of this year’s Shell Springboard funding alongside seven other regional finalists selected from a field of over 120, Libertine CEO Sam Cockerill and Chairman Derek Shepherd successfully pitched Libertine’s low carbon technology and business concept to an expert judging panel to secure a runner up award of £30,000.

Speaking at the regional finals in Newcastle on 30th April, Sainsbury Management Fellow Sam Cockerill said “This is fantastic news for Libertine.   Shell Springboard funding and recognition will accelerate our waste heat recovery demonstration programme and help raise Libertine’s profile, supporting our fundraising and partnering plans.

“This has also been a great event to showcase some of the most innovative low carbon businesses in the UK, and shows that the big challenges we face are creating some really exciting business opportunities.”

Run by Shell, the high profile competition aims to find the next big idea in low carbon enterprise and innovation by small and medium enterprises. Now in its eighth year, Shell Springboard has awarded £2.6 million of funding

for innovative low carbon businesses in the UK that have developed new ways of cutting CO2.

For more information on the Shell Springboard scheme click here.

case studies

Engineering my Way into Digital Publishing

Serge Taborin
Serge Taborin, MD, Archant Digital Ventures

Engineering qualifications and skills have led Serge Taborin in directions he couldn’t have imagined, including winning a Sainsbury Management Fellows (SMF) MBA bursary which is available to professional engineers who want to pursue a career in senior management. “I can honestly say that without the MBA I would not have been able to pitch myself for certain roles and develop such a diverse and challenging career,” said Serge.

Today Serge is managing director of Archant Digital Ventures, part of the 165 year old Archant Group, one of the UK’s largest independent regional media businesses with £142m turnover per annum.  Archant publishes regional newspapers, magazines, and websites and offers a wide range of services including digital publishing, specialist publishing and contract printing.

Serge ‘caught’ the engineering bug in his early teens, captivated by the notion of creativity and practicality embodied in a single discipline.  His interest stemmed from his parents being engineers.  “I didn’t stand a chance,” said Serge.  “What with dad fixing radios and mum designing bridges, which she would excitedly point out on journeys, their passion for engineering rubbed off on me.  While they didn’t push me towards engineering, they instilled in me the value of education and the importance of subjects such physics and maths.  Engineering teaches you how to solve problems, how to take a step back from the challenge in front of you; evaluate all the ingredients at your disposal and to develop a solution that is both creative and practical.  Engineering opens up many career opportunities.”

After gaining his Engineering Science degree at Oxford University, Serge worked in leading edge technology companies.  First, he joined the IT services specialist, SEMA Group (now part of Schlumberger) as a graduate trainee and worked his way up to project manager in eight months. By that stage, he was handling client-facing teams working on the implementation of customised telecom network systems globally.

Next stop was INTEC Telecom Systems where, as a senior business consultant, he travelled the world implementing billing systems and developed strong relationships with global telecom operators.  After three years with INTEC, he took a year out of industry to undertake an MBA programme at INSEAD in Singapore and France, having been awarded a £30,000 SMF scholarship.

Serge picks up the story: “My career had progressed rapidly into the strategic side of business and I wanted to move upwards into senior management, but I didn’t have enough knowledge of some areas of business.  I had to decide on the fastest route to plug my knowledge gaps; learning on the job at INTEC was, of course, possible but it would have taken longer and I was eager to get on. The MBA route won hands down and was definitely the right choice for me.

“Having an MBA from a leading business school opens up a host of career opportunities that might otherwise be more difficult to access.  It has enabled me to build a more diverse and exciting professional life. INSEAD has, and continues, to open doors to me. As well as gaining the academic knowledge and business tools I needed to progress, I also have the INSEAD brand behind me and fantastic contacts I made during my MBA course.”

On graduating from INSEAD, Serge was appointed business development manager of new media at the BBC, where he helped the broadcaster identify areas where its technology and content management skills could add value to clients’ digital strategy.

A year later, Serge landed the head of group strategy role at Perform Group, a global leader in the provision of broadband and mobile digital video services and the commercialisation of digital rights for sports and entertainment brands.  Serge was responsible for developing the growth strategy and negotiated commercial deals with many organisations including the Premier League, Chelsea FC, Liverpool FC, Tottenham Hotspur, Major League Soccer, Warner Brothers, Virgin Media, ITV and Channel 4. Perform Group grew rapidly, from 20 people with a turnover of £3m to £650m valuation when it floated five years later. Today it is a £1bn+ business with 900 staff worldwide.

Fast forward to today and we find Serge heading up Archant Digital Ventures, the investment and incubator arm of Archant. Serge is responsible for identifying new opportunities in the online and mobile space for the whole group, developing or acquiring the technology needed and then turning this portfolio of products into profitable businesses.

Serge continued, “I have an exciting and equally challenging job in a sector that has undergone huge changes. After 100 years of having virtually a free reign, regional newspapers in general are facing their biggest threat, not just to their revenues, but to their very existence. The internet has transformed how we consume content and the advertising model has also changed dramatically.  And the rate of change is accelerating, with mobile being the next battleground. There are no easy solutions for traditional publishers, but those that succeed will be the ones that supplement pure news/content distribution with new services that are relevant to increasingly segmented customer bases. Finding, developing and commercialising those solutions are top priority for my team.

“Achieving our goals means recruiting the best talent, but attracting smart digitally-born young people to a traditional publishing business is not easy. We’ve approached this creatively, hiring people with great potential and enthusiasm, regardless of whether they are graduates, and we develop and mentor them on the job. This approach fits very well with my own belief in coaching and passing on business skills. I mentor seven staff who report to me, plus other team members in group sessions where we look at business development strategies.

“Our Digital Ventures team is ambitious to grow business within Archant and through external ventures so I’m involved in mentoring online and mobile start-up businesses, advising on strategy, funding and marketing so the inventors can develop their novel ideas into great businesses. For example, a contact I met at INSEAD is an investor and director of Streetlife.com, a social networking site that connects people living in the same geographic area who have shared community interests, but may not necessarily know each other. Archant has acquired an equity stake in Streetlife and I have become a director of the business, providing advice and direction.

“By combining my engineering experience with first-class business education and becoming part of the SMF network, I am enjoying a very rich career.  Apart from enabling me to attend INSEAD, which financially would have been difficult without the bursary, SMF has a network of highly ambitious and successful individuals who provide support and advice to its members, other business people, professional and educational institutions; as well as mentoring young engineers.

“The SMF network carries a certain gravitas when talking about one’s profile and achievements, which is helpful in career terms and in promoting professional engineers.  For 25 years SMF has done an excellent job helping engineers like me move into leadership roles. I hope it continues to support the most talented individuals to gain the skills needed to get into leading edge companies and to start their own ventures,” summed up Serge.

Case studies correct at the time of publication.  SMFs may have moved to new posts since publication.  For the latest career information on our Fellows visit our SMF Profile Page.

Press Releases

Sainsbury Management Fellows Scholarship Awards

group of graduates holding diploma

SMF has awarded its latest round of scholarships to 10 young engineers who are aiming to  become business leaders in UK companies:

  • Rafael Cepeda Lopez, CEng FIET – Rotterdam School of Management
  • Oritsedere Ogbe, CEng MIMechE – London Business School
  • Ozan Yalniz, CEng MICE – Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  • Avijit Singh, CEng MIED – London Business School
  • Julia Nammuni, CEng MICE – London Business School
  • Edward Sclater, CEng MIMechE – Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University
  • Mahipal Ganeshmal, CEng MIMechE –IMD Switzerland
  • Penny Cox –  INSEAD
  • Robin Northcott, CEng MIMechE – London Business School
  • Ross Gordon, CEng MIChemE – Rotterdam School of Management

Six of the successful awardees tell us what inspired them to do an MBA programme and their ambitions after graduation.

Ross Gordon, CEng MIChemE – Rotterdam School of Management

Gordon Ross SMF MBA Bursary Awardee London RSM

Prior to commencing his MBA studies at Rotterdam School of Management, 30 year old Ross Gordon worked in the process industries, primarily in oil & gas and pharmaceuticals, with an emphasis on sales and project management.  His most recent assignment with Jacobs Engineering was based in Switzerland at Novartis, working on the design of a new pharmaceutical facility to be built in Singapore.

Ross commented, “I first learned about the SMF bursary several years ago, while still a junior engineer, from an article about Lord Sainsbury and his charity work.  Six years later, I’m delighted to have been awarded a scholarship to do an MBA.  My desire to study for an MBA stems from working in the process industries for the last six years.  I want to have greater understanding of the business dynamics and complex interactions of global companies and the MBA will give me this and build my management skills.

“This award is life changing for me. The ability to focus on whatever industry I choose without the burden of debt, combined with being an SMF member and interacting with such an esteemed cohort is truly exhilarating.”

On graduation, Ross‘ ambition is to work within a diversified chemicals or industrial  biotechnology company and help an industrial  biotechnology company in the UK to grow significantly.

Ed Sclater, CEng MIMechE – Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University
Ed Sclater SMF MBA Bursary Awardee Kellog School of Management

Prior to attending business school, Ed spent five years as a senior design engineer for Magna Parva, an international provider of engineering R&D services and scientific instruments for inter-planetary satellites. In 2011 Engineer magazine named Magna Parva ‘one of the UK’s most exciting young engineering companies.’

“I was fortunate to learn about the SMF bursary through online research, as studying for an MBA in the US is extremely expensive. The bursary has made an enormous contribution towards making my studies possible; helping me towards my long-term goal of setting up an enterprise that makes a positive impact on the world’s great engineering challenges.”

Oritsedere Ogbe, CEng MIMechE – London Business School
Ogbe Oritsedere SMF MBA Bursary Awardee LBSPrior to starting his MBA course, Dere worked as an operations engineer with BP in Europe, Middle East and North Africa for seven years.  He was responsible for implementing operational best practices and continuous improvement.  He enjoyed his career in engineering but wants to broaden this into commercial/managerial roles.  The MBA, which he is studying at LBS, provides a springboard into these roles, giving him both the management tools and the opportunity to challenge himself in new directions.

Dere is enthusiastic about his award, “I learned about the SMF bursary while working towards my engineering chartership and I was amazed by the forward thinking behind the scheme. Combining technical and commercial skills brings practical insights and leadership to any top management team.  The bursary was a key factor in my decision to pursue the MBA – it would have been difficult to take the financial risk without support.  I am not overwhelmed with debt and have the space to pursue opportunities that are in line with my long term goals.”

After completing his MBA, Dere is aiming for a position as a commercial manager at an international energy firm, and the opportunity to manage a major energy development which brings leadership, commercial and technical challenges simultaneously. 

Robin Northcott, CEng MIMechE – London Business School

Robin Northcott SMF MBA Busrary Awardee LBS

 Robin Northcott has left behind the racy world of F1 cars.  He previously worked for Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team as a senior structural analyst, responsible for the structural performance of carbon fibre F1 car parts.

Robin takes up the story: “I had three great years building F1 cars and wanted to explore new opportunities.  I was seeking a career where I could use my strengths to make a positive impact on the world and decided it was time to take my wife’s advice and ‘become part of the solution.’  By acquiring additional knowledge and skill, I can help to solve some of society’s challenges.

“I was inspired by the very idea of an MBA and found out about the SMF bursary while researching into MBAs and business schools.  The interview day at the Royal Academy of Engineering was life changing in two ways – first, I received the bursary to do my MBA at LBS and second, I learned that that my wife is expecting our second child.  A very happy day.”

“I am not 100% sure yet what career I will pursue post-MBA, but that’s the joy of the SMF scheme.  You do not have to commit to a career option upfront to secure a bursary; you have breathing space to consider your options during the MBA programme.  I think asset management looks very attractive.  For me, the essence of good capitalism is using people’s savings to invest in good businesses, generating wealth and pensions for investors and economic growth that benefits everyone.”

Rafael Cepeda Lopez, CEng FIET – Rotterdam School of Management 

Rafael Cepeda Lopez SMF MBA Bursary Awardee RSM

Rafael has worked in telecommunications for over 10 years.  He leaves his most recent role in the research and innovation group at BSkyB, where he was the leading expert in wireless communications, to do his MBA/MFM dual degree at RSM.  Prior to BSkyB, Rafael was a principal research engineer for Telecommunications Research Laboratory of Toshiba Research Europe (TRL-TREL), where he was responsible for blue-sky research in wireless communication and was sponsored to do a part-time PhD at the University of Bristol.

With such a strong telecommunications background it’s not surprising that his inspiration for doing an MBA is linked to communications. “I was inspired by a desire to learn about the reasons behind the insufficient level of communication and understanding between the research and business arms within hi-tech companies; and how this can be bridged to achieve better strategy and outcomes,” said Rafael.

“I am delighted to be awarded a Sainsbury Management Fellowship bursary and am pleased that the Institute of Engineering & Technology promotes the scheme.  It’s very interesting that a professional body in my field is highlighting the need to combine engineering and business knowledge. I believe this is key for the UK to hold its position as a top technology innovator,” said Rafael.

Mahipal Ganeshmal, CEng MIMechE – IMD Switzerland

Mahipal

Mahipal has worked in the aerospace industry for 10 years, developing advanced materials and manufacturing practices. He has worked for leading brands including GE Aviation and the University of Ulster. Before embarking on his MBA, 33 year old Mahipal was working with Rolls-Royce as project team leader, developing the next generation carbon fibre composite material. His inspiration for going down the MBA route is about professional and personal development.  “I want to learn about my leadership style and how to become a great team leader and team player.  That’s why I chose IMD – it has a specialised MBA programme for leadership development.

“I discovered the SMF scheme when I was researching the MBA. The whole experience of getting the scholarship has taught me a great deal – it is much more challenging and competitive to get an award than I realised.  It took me 12 months to get through the process!  It’s good to know that being ‘good enough’ will not get you the Fellowship, you have to be exceptional.  If you’re not, the panel is in no rush to award the Fellowship, they will interview more candidates.

“My post-MBA goal is to move towards leadership roles in business and strategy development in hi-tech or engineering firms.  This will enable me to use both my engineering experience and my learning from the MBA,” explained Mahipal.

Blog

Intrapreneurship and Smarter Impact

085
SMF Phil Westcott

Inspired by recent entrepreneurial articles from the hugely impressive SMF community, I thought I’d chip in with a story of my own.  I consider the courageousness of the classic entrepreneurs in some awe… but as a man of less iron resolve, I prefer my entrepreneurship from the vantage point of a large corporate, in my case IBM.

So my story is one of “Intrapreneurship”… applying entrepreneurial skills to pursue new opportunities for your company and in doing so, create new exciting career opportunities for yourself.  If your career ambition is driven by a desire for personal impact on society at large, then leveraging corporate scale might be as effective as going it alone.

In summer 2011, I joined IBM in the midst of it centenary year, celebrating its role in technology leadership from the personal computer to the moon landing.  And as I looked at the vast portfolio of solutions, I bought into the IBM Smarter Planet vision, aligning good business by tackling global and societal problems.

However, there seemed a gap in the solution set.  It appeared that our planets greatest challenge of our time – the challenge of global inequality – was not being directly addressed by an IBM business unit or solution set.  And this is hardly surprising. Despite the popular support for Prahalad’s Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid, few companies have found business models that effectively serve this market at scale.

So coming into IBM fresh from my Sainsbury Management Fellows-sponsored MBA, and full of the naïve optimism of a newbie, I set about finding the business models that might harness the collective power of such a great institution – 430,000 employees, and $6bn a year in R&D – to address this challenge: and not by way of philanthropy or traditional CSR; but with the conviction with which business pursues attractive growth opportunities.

And so outside my day job as a strategy consultant, I launched IBM Smarter Impact. Through a certain amount of belligerence and networking, the concept has evolved over the past year and a half into a global initiative with global resources. So I’d like to use this blog to air some thoughts on intrapreneurship before concluding with a brief word on where the Smarter Impact journey has led…

Encouraging intrapreneurship in large organisations…
Large corporations typically require a disciplined structure of business unit, product and industry alignment, a discipline that enables predictable business performance on a quarterly basis.  My view is that there is a temptation to leave innovation to the R&D department, however successful a company might be at churning out patents.

However, many game-changing business innovations originate from employees who spot a business opportunity that cuts across traditional organisational silos.   For a systematic solution, companies must encourage the behaviours that are required to drive these ideas in their early gestation.  This requires the right recruitment, incentive and promotion policies, so that the middle and senior leadership are populated with leaders who at least recognise, if not exhibit, true entrepreneurial behaviours.  The organisation must then have the platforms to accept or reject the new ideas once they have reached a period of maturity.

  • Recruit the right blend of employee, and look out for those with an entrepreneurial spark
  • Ensure there is an entrepreneurial element within formal training programs
  • Use the formal mentoring structure to encourage pursuit of ideas in their early stages
  • Allow employees some leeway to work on their pet projects on the side of the day jobs, and recognise these activities in their remuneration review
  • Find a platform for sponsorship of new business opportunities.
  • But not too early in the life of the idea, perhaps once a first sale has been achieved or the model proven as commercially viable This ensures that the employee has the tenacity to stick with their idea, and the conviction to see it through

What makes a good intrapreneur?
Like the entrepreneur, the intrepreneur has the benefit of being able to create and lead new ventures at any stage of their career and not just once a senior position has been attained. Also like the entrepreneur, they work with limited resources – even including their own time.  Therefore similar skills are required to improvise, acquire resources and build momentum.

But there are additional skills required by the intrapreneur. At a recent meeting with a large UK city council, it was proposed that there are three types of city leaders: Political leaders, Thought-leaders and Managerial leaders. The rational was that an effective city leader will be one of the three.  Which got me thinking about intrapreneurs… It seems to me that the most effective intrapreneurs need to be pretty good at all three.  In the context of driving change and innovation in a large company, this means:

Political leadership – managing up, don’t always ask for permission, ask for advice to unlock resources and help. Identify some senior sponsors, and in doing so, choose the most appropriate ‘home’ within the organisation.  For example, the momentum behind Smarter Impact has benefited greatly from positioning as a surrogate of IBM’s Smarter Cities business.

Thought-leadership – taking ownership of the idea, find other global thought-leaders through blogs and networks, participate in the debate and help move the conversation on.

Managerial leadership – an ability to manage sideways and downwards to galvanise support and herd existing disparate efforts/initiatives into a critical mass of success stories. An ability to secure additional resources on limited budgets: for example, leveraging university relations as a source of bandwidth and innovation*.

Take my IBM colleague Rick Robinson, a global thought-leader on smarter cities.  Rick may be famous for his thought and technical leadership around data solutions for cities, but he also displays the other traits of a highly effective intrapreneur.

(*As a side note, Universities are always looking for interesting commercial, explorative projects, but having witnessed from both sides, too often these are badly conceived, poorly supported and then stray off the desired outcome. The academic teams need leading and motivating and then the output can be fantastic. For example check out this video delivered by LSE for Smarter Impact and the city of Rio de Janeiro after just 3 weeks of work.)

So where is Smarter Impact today?
Smarter Impact was publicly launched at a London conference in September 2012, an event I actually missed as it coincided with the birth of my first child!

This event engaged participants from across private, public and third sector, and really moved on the discussion.  Smarter Impact has now crystallized into a mechanism for new partnerships between private, public and third sector to drive inclusive economic development.  It has evolved a suite of data-driven solutions, which capitalise on exciting new sources of data and connectivity, such as the proliferation of mobile data and crowd sourcing.  While originally pitched at the international development sector, the principles are now being applied to drive social inclusion agendas in our UK city partnerships.  Crucially for its future in IBM, Smarter Impact is now bringing in revenue and opening up new lines of dialogue between global leaders from the World Economic Forum to Sunderland City Council.

Phil is Business Development Executive for IBM’s Smarter Cities business in SE Asia, and global leader of IBM Smarter Impact. For more information contact Phil (phil.westcott@uk.ibm.com).

Press Releases

Silicon Valley Internship Programme to Inspire UK Entrepreneurship

Michael Hughes, Chief Executive, LoopUp, Creator of Sillicon Valley Internship ProgrmameBritish software engineering grads work in Silicon Valley for a year and bring their experience back to the UK.

Silicon Valley Internship Program (SVIP), a new consortium of start-ups and industry organizations led by Michael Hughes, co-CEO of LoopUp, today announces its initiative to inspire entrepreneurialism in the UK.  Its program will offer select, recent computer science and software engineering graduates a year’s experience in Silicon Valley, the quintessential hub for entrepreneurship and start-ups.

SVIP will match each program participant with a sponsoring start-up in Silicon Valley, where they’ll work full-time for one year, earning a $60,000 salary. Each participant will learn the ins and outs of building a company in the tech space by eating, sleeping and living the life as an early employee of a start-up.  To further enrich their experience and development, each participant will also receive a mentor from outside their start-up, plus formal training on subjects such as business strategy, fundraising and team building.

To remove the barriers of their one-year move abroad, travel costs to and from the US are paid and SVIP is working with the British Consulate and British American Business Council in San Francisco to arrange working visas, a key barrier to preventing UK graduates from finding internships in the United States. “We welcome this opportunity to further exchange knowledge between the US and UK. This internship gives our students the chance to study with some of the brightest entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley and put these new skills to work upon returning to the UK” said Priya Guha, the British Consulate General in San Francisco.

“There is something intrinsically different in the way Brits and Americans approach innovation and entrepreneurship. In Britain, we see too many barriers, and any stumble or fall is seen as a potentially career-ending failure. But in the U.S., wrong turns are more likely to be seen as lessons to eventual success.  We envision the SVIP engendering willingness to take the first step and determination to succeed in the UK’s most capable engineering talent at the very beginning of their professional careers.” says Michael Hughes, who created SVIP and is the co-founder of LoopUp, a leading provider of better, everyday conference calls.  He made his way from the UK to Silicon Valley and entrepreneurial life after he was awarded a Sainsbury Management Fellowship to pursue an MBA at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

“The Sainsbury Management Fellowship develops engineers to become leaders in UK industry. Michael Hughes is one of 300 Fellows who have benefited from the generosity of our patron, Lord Sainsbury of Turville.  I can’t think of a better way to reciprocate than the SVIP program.  A fantastic and creative way to encourage entrepreneurialism in the UK” said David Falzani, President of SMF.

Successful candidates will head to the Silicon Valley this coming summer. To learn more and apply, visit us at facebook.com/svipuk and at www.siliconvalleyinternship.com.

 

About Silicon Valley Internship Program

The SVIP aims to give new UK-Software Engineering grads the unique experience of working at a hot Silicon Valley start-up through a one-year internship, in the hopes that this experience will bring a little of the Silicon Valley attitude back to the entrepreneurial community in the UK. SVIP is the brainchild of Michael Hughes, who developed this consortium of start-ups and industry organizations in 2013.  Participants are matched with a sponsoring start-up, a mentor, and receive formal training on how to launch their own tech company during their one-year stint, which starts in the late summer. Internships are salaried, round trip flights are paid, and by working with the British Consulate and the British American Business Council in San Francisco, J-1 visas are issued. Learn more at facebook.com/svipuk and www.siliconvalleyinternship.com

Uncategorised

From Oil Rig to Board Room

Richard Kluth SMALL
Richard Kluth, Managing Director Pulse Structural Monitoring

Richard Kluth’s journey to becoming Managing Director of Pulse Structural Monitoring, a fast-growing structural monitoring company for the offshore industry, took some interesting turns, including a job in offshore drilling, an MBA programme at Spain’s IESE Business School and a stint in asset management at Morgan Stanley.  Richard shares his experience and his views on the need to promote engineering as an exciting career choice.

Like many young lads, I had an idealistic notion of becoming a musician, but as our band members drifted off in different directions, reality hit and I started thinking about a proper job!  My maths was strong, so I studied physics and after graduating travelled throughout Asia and Australia and caught the travel bug.  This motivated me to find a job that would allow me to travel the world.  I joined my father’s pioneering fibre optic business, Sensor Dynamics, the first to install fibre optics in the oil industry.

It was a very exciting time, as I went from developing demonstration products for clients to creating prototypes and then travelled to California to oversee production and implementation of the products.  I received great development and mentoring at Sensor Dynamics and it gave me a passion for working in the oil industry.  I particularly enjoyed the service side and being out on the rigs.

After a fantastic grounding at Sensor Dynamics, it was time to spread my wings.  I landed a job as a field engineer on a fast-track management programme at Schlumberger, a leading oilfield services provider.  Schlumberger satisfied my thirst for getting in the thick of a job and travelling.  As a field engineer, I moved to a new country every 12 to 18 months, working as the second or third hand in a 2-3 man crew.  Drilling is a very complicated and complex function which requires absolute precision.  Initially, I was responsible for providing the technical information that enabled the crew to drill safely, but by the end of my training, I was also drilling wells.  I worked in Germany, Canada, America and the Middle East and at the end of that three year period, I was head of the team, leading on the rigs.

By then the wing-fluttering had started again, and I realised that I didn’t want to pursue a structured career path that would lead me into managing logistical projects; I was after more intellectual rigor and wanted to join one of the big operators.  So I left Schlumberger. This was back in the 1980s when oil prices were at rock bottom and hiring in that sector was not high on the agenda.  Rather than see it as a setback, I decided it was the ideal time to do an MBA to develop my management skills.

Funding an MBA can be a challenge, so I was very fortunate to learn about the Sainsbury Management Fellows scholarship through a university brochure and even luckier to get through the stiff assessment panel and be awarded a £30,000* scholarship.

Learning a new language was a big factor in where I did my MBA.  In all the years I had worked abroad I still hadn’t learned a second language, a source of great embarrassment, so I decided to learn either Italian or Spanish.  I fell in love with Barcelona when doing my recce, so chose IESE Business School in Navarra to do my MBA and learned to speak Spanish into the bargain.

The MBA rounded-off my commercial knowledge and improved my confidence in conducting commercial discussions.  It also enabled me to see that it was possible to make the leap from a technical function to a management/commercial role at a plc.

The MBA work placement was another big experience and confidence boost – I joined a global growth equity team at Morgan Stanley. They needed someone with an engineering background who understood fibre optic technology to help with the stocks they were managing in this field.  This was intellectually challenging and I learned more about the economy. I must have done something right as they offered me a full-time position which I took after I graduated from IESE.  I received great training and worked with very bright people in a less structured career model than Schlumberger.  For example, if we wanted to create new products around what was happening in the industry, we could.

After working in asset management, I plunged straight back into the oil industry, taking up the role of business development manager at the VC-backed start-up, Sensornet, which specialises in fibre optic sensors and monitoring systems. Its growth was rapid and I progressed quickly into a sales and marketing role, and then became sales and marketing director.  When the original investors decided to sell Sensornet, I was elevated to chief operating officer and ran the company freeing the CEO to focus on the sale.

Tendeka acquired Sensornet and I made a bid for COO but they needed someone with both oil and gas experience, plus mergers and acquisitions expertise.

After seven years with Sensornet, I was at another career crossroads, and the SMF network – you become a Fellow when you graduate – was incredibly helpful at this point.  I put out feelers to Fellows who were very willing to talk and share ideas and contacts.  I even started discussing an entrepreneurial venture with another Fellow.  The SMF network will always be there to support the Fellows and it certainly inspires you to take the next step in your career.

While thinking about my next move, I did what I love most – I went travelling with my wife and young child assuming that we would have a six months’ adventure. But no sooner had we landed in Australia, a head-hunter called with the exciting prospect of joining Pulse Structural Monitoring, a dynamic young company with a lot of promise.  The long-distance interviews were followed by a personal one when I returned to the UK.  I was drawn to the role because Pulse is a strong company, with highly skilled engineers with a fantastic work ethic.  They needed a senior manager with both commercial and technical skills to consolidate and help grow the business.

Managing growth is our biggest challenge.  When I joined we were 17 staff and we’ve tripled in size in three years, with 60 people working in Aberdeen, Woking, Rio, Houston and soon Singapore.  We have had to adapt quickly to manage the growth. Previously, we operated more like a project management company, where all the expertise was concentrated within project groups.  We have now developed new production and procurement departments so that key knowledge and expertise is centralised.  Likewise, we have introduced new systems in areas like quality and training to ensure that we capture the expertise of existing professionals to train the next generation of young engineers joining Pulse straight from university.

Engineers are critical to Pulse and wider industry and I don’t think the UK takes engineering as seriously as countries such as Germany. When companies are growing as fast as Pulse, it’s frustrating to be faced with the struggle of finding engineers at the entry level. The UK needs to produce more engineers to tackle the big problems in society now and in the future. More needs to be done to highlight the diversity and excitement of careers in engineering.

People tend to think of engineers as a bit nerdy, but engineers change the world – take energy – without it, the world cannot grow and prosper.  Today, we all have to think about renewable energy and who will deliver the technology to make that a reality? It is engineers who will provide the solution to cleaner energy.  We need to change the perception that engineering does not offer an attractive career path.  We need to communicate that engineering skills and experience can catapult you into different careers, especially when complemented with commercial and people management training.

Sainsbury Management Fellows helps to equip engineers with the business skills and experience needed to broaden their career opportunities and move into senior management positions, as in my case.  Engineers have a diversity of skills that are valuable at board level, a key one being logical, analytical thinking.  We bring a good structured analysis and approach to key issues in a business, which helps companies to grow and prosper.

*The SMF Scholarship is now £50,000 per awardee

Case studies correct at the time of publication.  SMFs may have moved to new posts since publication.  For the latest career information on our Fellows visit our SMF Profile Page.