Principal of Grow Inspires Academy - turning claimants into contributors

• Jan 2017 - Present

Grow Inspires is an IoEE accredited academyWe empower the socially disadvantaged through enterprise, coaching clients to grow real businesses rather than just learning about it. Facilitated learning through practical experience empowers far more effective skills development leading to more impact on sustainable poverty alleviation than traditional training or loans on their own. Phoenix develops motivated ex-offenders and long term unemployed into confident and capable business people, while our Kickstart Gateway is securing thousands of new roles for the unemployed among hundreds of SMEs, bringing huge benefits to both sides of the relationship.Any surplus from our trading activities supports the development of pioneering models of economic empowerment. We are pleased to partner with VSO Knowledge Exchange, Bristol University, Rolls-Royce and Love Entrepreneurs and are grateful for the support of the National Lottery, Alan Lane Foundation and others.

Senior Lecturer in Innovation and Entrepreneurship

• Sep 2017 - Present

Harnessing the unfettered creativity of some of the UK's brightest young people to work on projects with real impact. I am a practitioner combining 25 years of innovation in industry with post graduate research into the very latest and most effective ways to teach innovation and release the potential of the socially excluded.

Volunteer Academic Mentor

• Jan 2019 - Present

I work with students studying for degrees in prison giving them a business perspective on their studies and helping their academic understanding.

Member Of The Board Of Advisors

• Jan 2018 - Present

Innovation Coach and consultant

• Oct 2013 - Present

Innovation is often perceived as rocket science or some abstract thing that has no relevance to "normal" businesses. I correct this perception by helping SME clients achieve more by thinking differently.The result is more money for less effort. Real examples include:- doubling profits in a year by focussing on different partners- quadrupling sales in 6 months by finding a consistent market engagement approach- Adopting cloud based automation for a field service business- tripling prices by finding the right niche- extra revenue and happier customers for the same work though value mappingMy clients are clever people, but are often too close to the "coal face" to spot better opportunities. Many are surprised by how easily they implemented a step change in business performance by doing simple things that were only obvious in hindsight.For really innovative clients, I also offer a service to help them find grants and benefit from the tax breaks for R&D. As a Xero Certified Partner, I help businesses automate their finances to gain the insight to better target their efforts and facilitate claiming tax breaks.

Chairman of Board of Trustees and Volunteer Consultant

• Oct 2014 - Oct 2016

Grow Movement provides education and skills transfer to micro entrepreneurs in East Africa from business professionals in over 50 developed economies using digital technology. Each project costs ~£500 and typically creates more than 2 new jobs - a highly cost effective way to help African Entrepreneurs help themselves and their countries out of poverty.As chairman I have been focusing the Grow Movement business model. The capability to inspire clients to change their ways of working to really grow their business is surprisingly rare - many educational programs deliver very little impact. Our challenge has been to amplify the insights we have gained along the way so that we can deliver more of it using the few resources we have.I have led a partnership with London Business School to verify the effectiveness of our model, the development of a new technology platform to support growth and harvest the insights from our program and an efficiency program that has cut costs by 25%. We started over 600 projects in Uganda in the second half of 2015 - more than the previous 5 years combined. Our vision is to educate Africa out of poverty by 2030 through a highly evolved and effective program of entrepreneur empowerment and by partnering with organisations that share our vision so that we can pool resources.My ambition is to move Grow Movement away from dependency on grants and donors as I believe that the charity model is broken. I believe that we can achieve far more with social ventures like Grow Inspires. You can read more about my thoughts on my Business Fights Poverty Blog.

Lecturer and Startup Coach

• Oct 2012 - Sep 2013

Visiting Lecturer in Strategy, Entrepreneurship and InnovationIntroduced Business Model Canvas as a key component of the Master of Entrepreneurship course.Coach helping startup and small technology companies grow by deploying more effective Business Models.- Ran a 4 week startup course for social enterprises using technology to solve social issues- Mentor for Audacious (university business plan competition)- Organised and facilitated 2 "Startup Weekends" helping over 100 people develop enterprise skills- Secured grant funding for R&D of 3D endoscope using optical flow technology

Head of Business Transformation (Europe)

• Oct 2009 - Oct 2012

Leading business model innovation in mobile network operators through restructuring infrastructure and service management to help telcos regain competitiveness in a rapidly changing market. Specifically facilitating the journey from managing technology to managing mobile broadband experience through more intelligent use of OSS and reengineering the infrastructure cost model.Key responsibilities included defining the business case for technology and operations transformation projects and negotiating outcomes and how to assure them leading to successful closure.

Managing Consultant

• Jan 2000 - Oct 2009

PA Strategy Partners / Communications, Media and EntertainmentA senior consulting role encompassing innovation and complex digital transformation programs with increasing emphasis on leading /mentoring junior consulting staff. Significant activities include:Directed the commercial stream / lead negotiator for innovative €100M telco outsourceDevised "Intelligent Customer Function" for £2bn outsource programJointly led the commercial/ strategic workstream for a complex RAN sharing arrangement.Interim Program Director with 20 technical FTEs for financial services organisation integrating 2 live trading platforms post merger and rescue a Disaster Recovery Program. Particularly valued for ability to prioritise conflicting tasks, drive progress with extremely limited resources and gain operations buy in.Devised comprehensive OSS modernisation plan, doubling efficiency in a European Telco. Assured plan with carefully researched benchmarks and internal data.Business Strategy / Corporate Finance Provide strategic advice to financiers and board level clients with sufficient credibility to influence major investment decisions.Led team advising a PE buyer bidding for a Scandinavian Telco. Presented an achievable recovery / growth plan for a poorly performing business unit and highlighted investment risks in other departments. Led a team reviewing the revised business strategy of a mobile operator close to bankruptcy. Quantified the investment risks of the strategy and prepared new business plan to secure backing from a sceptical vendor financierProvided direction and advice for Finance Lead in Europe's first Radio Access Network share deal.Produced a 10 year forecast of the market conditions required for the success of a High Tech IPODirected PA's Innovation Unit editing a twice yearly magazine and organising marketing eventsAddressed / chaired a number of conferences ranging from improving business sales to mobile TV

3G procurement

• 2008 - 2008

Commercial lead for network procurement

Product Head, National Consumer Services

• Jan 1998 - Jan 2000

Joined ntl as a temp and within 2 years had advanced through IT project management to head a new product portfolio with £20M revenue in its first year, leading a virtual team of 25 in 5 distinct disciplines Driving consumer change through technical innovationLed the development of web based customer processes encouraging self-service, which reduced service costs and increased customer satisfaction.Specified functional requirements and managed development of UK's first online telephone billing siteChanged customers' behaviour by offering real incentives to use more cost-effective contact channels Leading Technical convergence and Service Development programmesLed a team managing the convergence of billing and fulfilment processes following the merger of a number of cable companiesSpecified a single tariff arrangement across all regionsFacilitated the convergence of billing functionality to support the unified product set.Strategic LeadershipDeliver strategic objectives through a combination of analysis of critical success factors; inspiring teams to achieve challenging goals and ruthless attention to detail. Led a team to recover a failing project achieving significant advances in KPIsChampioned the adoption of a more commercial focus through the creation of a comprehensive costing model to rationalise decision makingPersuaded the CEO to adopt a radical voice tariff - subsequently much copied in the industryProved convincingly that a project with senior support could never be successful saving substantial losses

Aircrew Officer and Advanced Instructor

• Sep 1981 - Jul 1996

Qualified for sea command and directed flying training as advanced flying instructor. Worked in multi-national teams and as diplomat throughout the world. Leadership, Training and Executive DevelopmentUndertook extensive theoretical and practical leadership training as part of the role. As head of flying training, responsible for teaching of aviation and leadership skills to both trainees and staff. Directed a team of 31 staff, responsible for their professional standards and development.Directed search and rescue operations throughout Bosnia during the conflictExperienced with communicating complex technical and tactical concepts at all levels10 years line management experience expecting and rewarding high standards Drove out inefficiencies in units under my management to improve use of scarce resources and increase response times Redesigned the programming of student courses increasing efficiency by 40%. More effective aircraft usage allowed redeployment of redundant aircraftPartially outsourced the training role to keep core skills at the front lineIncreased the training throughput of students to clear a backlog and improve retention of those waiting.Managed the transfer of Operational Control for support helicopters from United Nations to NATO in Bosnia - streamlining the chain of command allowing support staff to be cut by 60%.Technical and Project ManagementSignificant exposure to advanced communication technologies e.g. CDMA. Experience with procurement and management of software development projects.Managed the client side of a £1M simulator upgrade liaising with the defence contractor, specifying requirements and confirming contractual compliance.While managing the transition from United Nations to NATO for helicopter control in Bosnia built the new command and control structure; oversaw a complex program to move the frontline support base to a new location; and disbanded the previous UN organisation.