Strategic Thinking for Entrepreneurs – Workshop

Workshop hosted by Mongoljin Merchant Banking & Strategy Consulting.

Introducing the Workshop Trainers

Malcolm Wade and Toby Philpott have extensive international experience supporting the development of entrepreneurs and have a clear understanding of the key success factor of having an effective strategy in place for SMEs.

Malcolm Wade, Chief Strategy Officer of Mongoljin, has 11 years’ experience in supporting SMEs to grow and develop, as well as being a megaproject, strategy, and finance expert, who has extensive, hands-on investment and operational experience. At Oyu Tolgoi (Rio Tinto) in Mongolia (one of the world’s largest copper mines), he was responsible for treasury management, technical development of the Fixed Asset Capitalization Model ($7.5 billion), conversion of 3 million accounting records from Ivanhoe Mines & Oyu Tolgoi legacy financial systems to project costs, and monthly project management & project controls reporting to executive management.

Prior to joining Oyu Tolgoi, Malcolm was GBU Manager of Planning & Scheduling (Chief Planner) for the $2 billion-per-annum Telecommunications Global Business Unit at Bechtel, as well as, Bechtel Chief of Staff on the Bechtel / AREVA $20 billion UAE nuclear power Joint Venture, based in France. Malcolm holds an MBA in Strategy & Marketing (Kellogg) and is a member of the AmCham (Mongolia) Board of Directors.

Toby Philpott has lived and worked internationally since 1997 and brings more than 30 years experience in SME and private sector development, having lived and worked in more than 25 countries around the world. Prior to joining Mongoljin as Chief Marketing Officer, Toby was Director of International Cooperation of a bank in Mongolia. Additionally, he has undertaken many technical assistance assignments related to SME and private sector development for various donor organisations including EuropeAid, Asian Development Bank, the former UK Department for International Development, and World Bank. He was also the founding Executive Director of EuroChamber in Mongolia. He has direct experience of running his own enterprises in the UK in the field of training and coaching as well as delivering technical assistance on international development projects. Mr Philpott has also held academic appointments in Economics and SME Development at Birmingham City, Staffordshire and Durham Universities in the UK. Toby holds an MPhil in SME Development & Finance and is a member of the BritCham (Mongolia) Board of Directors.

Purpose of the Workshop

The purpose of the workshop is to introduce a method of structured thinking entrepreneurs (or would-be entrepreneurs). The process of structured thinking will assist entrepreneurs in planning the early phase of their enterprise, help put their existing enterprises on stronger strategic and marketing foundations for future growth, and help them build competitive advantage. The workshop is fundamentally based on empirical research, which demonstrates that successful serial entrepreneurs generally use the scientific method in the early stages of their businesses to explore new business models. Once they have initially tested their Minimum Viable Product (MVP), they adapt and retest the MVP or they implement a go-to-market strategy and scale up the business. Strategy (what?) sits at the apex of the business issues hierarchy, therefore, we prioritise strategy training for entrepreneurs before functional discipline (how?) training, such as marketing management.

Anticipated Learning Outcomes

By the end of the workshop, participants should achieve the following:

• Understand how entrepreneurial management differs from administrative management;
• Understand how to manage genuine innovation in their businesses to achieve competitive advantage;
• Understand how to use the scientific method to build scalable resource-limited “experiments” which can be evaluated and then scaled or adjusted without the need for an “all in” approach;
• Understand the different stages of the business life-cycle and the changing needs of businesses in terms of structure;
• Understand the functional model of business and how to ensure that the functional disciplines are integrated and working toward a common objective (strategy);
• Understand the phases of management and leadership (the difference between general management and strategic management and the difference between team leadership and enterprise leadership);
• Understand the importance and process of developing an effective business strategy and an effective marketing strategy.

How to book

This event has limited spaces. If you are interested in attending the workshop please email: events@cambscci.co.uk

Address

Cambridgeshire Chambers of Commerce Clifford House 2 Station Yard CB24 3AH