EF News
With 25 years of entrepreneurial experience, this seasoned founder reflects on how the Scale-up Leaders’ Academy with the Entrepreneurs’ Forum transformed their approach to business.
Can you give a quick snapshot of your entrepreneurial journey?
When people ask about my entrepreneurial journey, the simple answer is that I have been running businesses for around 25 years, and I am still learning every single day.
Going through the Scale-up Leaders’ Academy with the Entrepreneurs’ Forum was honestly one of the best learning experiences I have had in all that time. It completely changed how I think about building a real business, not just something that survives month to month. It helped me level up my mindset, my leadership, and how I build and support teams, and it opened my eyes to what a substantial business can actually look like.
Because of that programme, I now think very differently about growth, both in the UK and internationally. I am focused on building full management and leadership teams and really taking our technical development and our unique strengths properly into the market.
What key experience or lesson from your scale-up journey do you bring to the Entrepreneurs in Residence programme?
When I joined the Academy, I was quite a way behind a lot of the businesses on the programme, especially around structure and size. Within two years, we have grown internationally, built leadership and management teams and put in place most of what I learned there. Now we are one of the larger businesses in that peer group, which still feels a bit strange to say, but it shows how powerful the right mindset and structure can be.
That is what I can bring into the Entrepreneurs in Residence programme. Not just the theory, but the lived experience of being the one who was behind the pack, doing the work, and then catching up and pushing on. I can add a lot of value around mindset, leadership, and how to actually implement what you learn when your head is already full, and you are spinning a lot of plates.
Why are you excited to support founders through the Scale-up Leaders’ Academy?
I am excited to support founders coming through the Scale-up Leaders’ Academy because I know first-hand what it can do. I would genuinely love to see other entrepreneurs get from it what I got from it, to watch their confidence grow, their thinking expand, and their businesses step up to that next level.
