Entrepreneurs Growth Programme (EGP)
16th August 2009
Workshop 1
Topic: Entrepreneurial Sales and Product Marketing
Date: 3rd - 4th September 2009
Location: The Drumossie Hotel, Inverness
Cost: £395
Workshop 2
Topic: Recruiting and Building a World Class Sales & Management Team
Date: 23rd - 24th November 2009
Location: TBC
Cost: £395
Workshop 3
Topic: Leadership and Operational Excellence
Date: March 2010
Location: TBC
Cost: £395
Workshop 4
Topic: TBC
Date: June 2010
Location: TBC
Cost: £395
Workshop 5
Topic: Entrepreneurial Financial Strategies for Sustainable Growth
Date: August 2010
Location: TBC
Cost: £395
Background
MIT is one of the world's pre-eminent research and entrepreneurship universities, dedicated to advancing knowledge and educating students in science, technology, and other areas of scholarship that will best serve the nation and the world in the 21st century. It has an open business model that welcomes partnerships and collaborations from businesses, organisations and governments around the world. HIE has a partnership relationship with MIT that benefits from the experience onsite at MIT, but also the MIT global community through their relationships with corporate sponsors and other regions and governments around the world. MIT are renowned in their field for being entrepreneurial in culture, style and delivery. This series of workshops, tailored to the needs of H&I businesses aims to teach core skills of entrepreneurship to address skills exchange, mindset and significantly raise ambition with in the business. Led by senior lecturers of the MIT Sloan School of Management's Entrepreneurship Center, the EGP workshops will encourage businesses to look inside their business, understand their business plan, define their market position, perfect their sales proposition and set more ambitious goals for their business to grow.
.
Who is running the course?
The series of workshops and surrounding events will be organised by Stephanie Anderson and Laura Dingwall of the Enterprise Solutions Team.
Who is the course aimed at?
The workshops are open to applications from companies throughout Scotland and internationally although are primarily focused on HIE Account Managed businesses. Participation is subject to a selection process against criteria based on business growth aspiration and global potential.
The workshop is aimed at CEOs, directors, executives and other ambitious staff of companies with growth potential who fit the following criteria:
§ are committed to improving long term customer relationships by enhancing the value delivered by the business
§ are committed to enhancing the company's revenue and profit performance
§ are interested in building a company that can successfully compete on the global stage
Application is via the website www.entrepreneurship-scotland.com and applicant companies are asked to provide an electronic photo, full contact details and a summary of their motivation to attend the course.
Who will be teaching the course?
The MIT Sloan School of Management faculty and staff are experienced entrepreneurs who are highly credible in the international businesses world. They have the experience, knowledge and global connections that businesses value and consistently deliver on what they promise to H&I businesses. The "Global Entrepreneurship Team" who will be delivery the EGP workshops in the H&I consists of:
§ Ken Morse - Head of the MIT Sloan School's Entrepreneurship Center; Chair in Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Competitiveness, Delft University of Technology, Netherlands. Ken is a serial entrepreneur and has been a high performance leader in global high tech sales and sales management for over 35 years
§ Bill Aulet - the Entrepreneurship Center's Entrepreneur in Residence and Acting Head of the Entrepreneurship Center. Bill is a highly successful business leader with over 25 years of experience in all areas of high technology business operations and financing strategies, from start-ups to public companies
§ Laura Barker Morse, Visiting Lecturer to the Entrepreneurship Center, Managing Director, Entrepreneurship Ventures Inc, and Former Human Capital Partner at Atlas Ventures. Laura Morse has deep experience in strategic human capital issues including recruitment, organizational development and total reward and compensation systems.
What format does the course take?
The Entrepreneurs Growth Programme will consist of a series of workshops which will be run in sequence once or twice over the course of the 3 year programme of planned activity with MIT (2009-2012). The workshops will be delivered in the Highlands & Islands region for 30-60 high growth businesses per workshop and will cover the following topics:
· Entrepreneurial Sales and Product Marketing
· Recruiting and Building a World Class Sales & Management Team
· Leadership and Operational Excellence
· Entrepreneurial Financial Strategies for Sustainable Growth
· Another topic of relevance to H&I businesses that will be decided on after feedback from participating companies
The workshops are designed to encourage businesses to support one another and build networks with each other to provide ongoing peer-to-peer support beyond the workshop. Additional experts are brought in to the workshops to judge the businesses progress throughout the workshop e.g. judging elevator pitches to investors. These experts come from the investment community, legal profession, experienced entrepreneurs, networking organisations, academia and government and their role is to advise, mentor and connect the businesses to other expertise amongst their extended networks.
The workshops will also be complemented by:
§ A pre-workshop seminar series for HIE staff (account managers, sector staff and regional innovation contacts). These will reflect the subject areas of the MIT faculty delivering EGP as listed above but will have a principal focus on "Building an Entrepreneurial Eco-System" and what this means for the region, HIE and its key stakeholders.
§ A virtual conference via Learning Works with the MIT faculty member delivering a live key note speech to businesses across the region with the event being available to many other business people as a downloadable podcast after the event to extend the reach of the MIT faculty knowledge to a wider group of businesses.
The course fee is £395 per person for businesses based in the Highlands & Islands and £495 per person for businesses based out with the Highlands & Islands. This fee includes the course book and all materials, lunch on both Days 1 and 2, drinks reception and dinner on Day 1 of the course. Accommodation costs at the venue are not covered in the course fee except for businesses travelling to attend from the islands in the HIE area.
Why is HIE supporting this?
This project fits well with the Government Economic Strategy and will impact on many of its strategic priorities. It specifically aims to address the strategic priority of creating a "Supportive Business Environment", with particular emphasis on:
§ Increasing productivity and competitiveness
§ Stimulating economic participation
§ Increasing GDP Growth
§ Ensuring growth is shared and sustainable
§ Responsive and focused enterprise support to increase the number of highly successful, competitive businesses;
§ A broader approach to business innovation in Scotland that moves beyond viewing innovation as the domain of science and technology alone;
§ Addressing gaps in access to capital that are constraining Scottish businesses to grow, while helping to build capacity in the investment community;
§ Targeted support to business in the pursuit of opportunities outside of Scotland and the development of internationally competitive firms;
HIE's priority is now to support businesses of growth and those with growth potential and to develop the entrepreneurial ecosystem in the Highlands & Islands. This series of workshops fits that priority exactly and will also succeed in raising the ambition, confidence and skills of individuals and businesses in the H&I.
What benefits to participating businesses are there?
Participating on these courses will enable businesses to:
o Develop key entrepreneurial and business skills
o engage in international business development
o develop new or improved products, processes or services developed
o consider potential for creating a new business
o accelerate business and personal growth
o engage in knowledge transfer activities
o implement strategic change within the business
o access new networks locally, nationally and internationally
o access new partners, suppliers and customers
o benefit from peer to peer support
o access external investment channels
Ultimately HIE believe the partnership with MIT will make a significant impact on GVA, but also more widely signs of success will be a sense of a true entrepreneurial eco-system in operation in the Highlands & Islands where businesses are:
§ Operating on a global scale
§ Larger in scale and size
§ Pro-actively accessing and attracting investment in to the region
§ Collaborating on a business to business international basis
§ Increasingly involved in international programmes e.g. Global Scot, Saltire Fellows
§ Engaging in new models for collaboration with academia
§ Increasing the levels of research income in to the region
§ Increasing the levels of commercialisation activity
§ Increasing numbers of highly skilled migrants moving in to the region
§ Relying less on public sector support
§ Celebrating and promoting success stories widely
Outcomes from H&I companies previously participating on MIT courses include:
An evaluation was carried out on the MIT Programme reporting the following outputs and findings:
« Over 85% of businesses participating consider the MIT project to have been very influential on their business performance.
« These businesses reported the key impacts as being noticeable improvements in:
Ø Advanced business skills
Ø Clarity on strategic direction
Ø Confidence
Ø Sales in 3 years
Ø Attracting new customers
Ø Penetrating new markets
« Businesses get access to specialists, material and experience which they feel is unique. They recognise that it is a very valuable learning experience and value it accordingly.
« The businesses consider MIT to immerse them in a culture of 'can-do' activities. They report the key difference of this project from other business support programmes supported by HIE is the perspective of those leading the sessions, and the positive energy of the other participants as key areas of value.
« Many businesses have suggested that HIE has created a cohort of unusual firms through the MIT partnership. They feel there is a positive feeling amongst these businesses to work together for the benefit of the Highlands & Islands.
Quotes from companies who participated previous EGP courses in the H&I
"The Global Sales Strategies workshop for Ambitious Scottish Entrepreneurs was a turning point for me. It has helped me attain confidence in overcoming previously daunting challenges at a critical time for my business. I now have the tools in place to expand both locally and globally." Ian Drysdale, DanMedical (Medical Device Manufacturing Company), Inverness
"The MIT experience has increased my confidence; allowed me to learn and try out my new skills; provided tools to "sell" products e.g. elevator pitch, value propositions and in particular to be concise; know that my business planning is not far wrong in detail but too much info and not enough sizzle - but now know how to change it. It has provided me with the confidence to take the rest of the Board with me." Donella Beaton, Canan (Creative Media and Language Solutions Company), Isle of Skye
"It's easy to make a buck but much harder to make a difference. A good leader inspires people to have confidence in the leader; Ken Morse as a leader has taught me to have confidence in myself and my own abilities" Stephen Kidd, Kidd's Distribution Services Ltd (Consultancy, Training and Distribution Company), Inverness
"I would say this course is a must for every ambitious entrepreneur wanting to grow globally. The Global Sales Strategies programme really made me think about the way forward for my business and Ken's wisdoms and motivational lessons are still going through my head." Rene Looper, Tuminds (Tourism Communication Company), Forres
"Ken Morse is an incredibly passionate, knowledgeable and indeed inspiring entrepreneur and educator. He delivered what I classify as one of the best courses I have ever attended. I have started to apply some of the learning on my first day back at the office, and I was astounded when I observed a series of people-driven events unfolding exactly how Ken told us during the course." Marco Busi, Carisma rct Ltd (Management Consultancy Company), Dingwall,
"We now intend to hire new staff as soon as we can find a suitable new office and candidates. We will be much more focussed in expanding the business quickly but sustainably." Andy Norrie, Quarch Technology (Data Storage and Testing Company), Moray
