A graduate of the University of Cambridge (MPhil and DPhil), my first academic role was as a Director of Studies at the University of Oxford. At Oxford, my role was to run executive leadership programmes. This put me in touch with members of the investment community and high net worth individuals who were keen to explore investing in University of Oxford spinouts. My role at Oxford evolved into evaluating research that was being spun out of the University and liaising with potential investors.
After leaving Oxford in 2002, I then worked for a number of business schools: Kent, as a Lecturer in Strategy and International Business, and the UWE as a Senior Lecturer in Strategy and International Business. I started my own strategy consulting businesses in 2006 and secured Russian and Malaysian government contracts in research commercialization and the development of market access strategies. This company was shortlisted for the Queen’s Award for International Business in 2015 and is still supporting clients across the globe.
My company took an investment position in a client’s company in the UK from 2018 to 2022, which we scaled and exited via a trade sale to a consortium for a six-figure sum. The parent company of that business was later acquired in 2023 for $225 million.
From 2022, I was asked to join the US investment firm, the Hamilton White Group Switzerland, and lead a turnaround of one of their universities. I helped lead their Swiss and later US accreditation efforts and redesigned their DBA programme, turning it from loss-making to the highest revenue-generating award for that university.
In 2023, I joined the IDM Group in the UAE, a TNE provider. Upon joining the group, I expanded their portfolio of UK university partners from two to five. As part of this role, I created the IDM Accelerator Hub. In January 2023, we launched the hub to support both students and local entrepreneurs, providing an ecosystem that improves local business success, ensures equality of access for community stakeholders (even if they are not IDM students), and enhances diversity in the local economy.
The accelerator hub offers a range of resources such as access to literature on starting, scaling, and exiting businesses, and provides a safe, tolerant space for would-be entrepreneurs to enhance their value propositions and develop commercially viable products or services. Mentorship is available from IDM students and accelerator mentors from the investment (venture capital), legal, business development, marketing, branding, and technopreneurship communities.
In support of the accelerator, IDM works with the Ajman Free Zone authorities to assist in pre- and post-business licensing for spinouts. The team has also built connections with other hubs such as Imperial’s Enterprise Hub (Ben Mumby Croft), Warwick Innovation (Dr. Tim Hart), Spark (TAR UMT Malaysia), Cyens Cyrus (Dr. Olga Shvarova), and PUC Minas in Brazil.
Education
1990–1992
MPhil
University of Cambridge
1992–1998
DPhil
University of Cambridge
Experience
1996–2002
Director of Studies
The University of Oxford
