Through its unique Learning Collaboration, Cambridge Network has helped several of the region's most successful businesses scale-up and build leadership skills at all levels over the past decade.
Recognising that inspiring, well-informed leaders make a monumental difference to the level of success a business can achieve, it has now put together a collection of courses to accelerate leadership growth in local organisations.
Claire Ruskin, CEO, comments: “We are launching the School for Scale-Ups to combine the values of our peer groups with the intensity of our high quality training, with mentoring and coaching from a range of experts on hand where wanted.
"With the enthusiasm of our board members and other mentors and supporters we are looking forward to having small cohorts of people – 10 or so in a group – take up the challenge to accelerate their leadership capability. Cambridge will continue to recruit people from around the world but it will be great to see our founders and their teams taking their businesses sky high. Fifteeen Cambridge companies have already gone from start-up to billion-dollar valuations to date and we would like more to follow suit.”
(Image removed)Sherry Coutu CBE, successful serial entrepreneur and angel investor who wrote the Scale-Up report for the government, spoke at last night's Business Lecture where the School for Scale-Ups was announced. Sherry talked about the importance of scaling-up for the economy and how we can all take a part in helping the next generation be inspired to lead and take science and technology forward for the continued success of the UK: "Competitive advantage doesn’t go to the nations that focus on creating companies; it goes to nations that focus on scaling companies," she said.
"In the UK there are only around 9000 businesses that are classified as scale-ups. If we were to get our proportion of the business population of scale-ups to grow from 0.5% to 0.7%, the gross value to the GDP would be £1 trillion 400 billion, and the net impact would still be £225 billion.
"We have more start-ups in the UK than anywhere else in the world, but we sometimes run into obstacles and we are not doing so well at growing companies," she added. "Research shows that only a small group of start-ups achieve significant growth in revenues – just one per cent have sales of more than £1 million six years after they start."
Cambridge Network's new offering will help businesses grow by enabling leaders to exchange ideas and experiences with local peers who are facing similar management challenges and opportunities. Sherry added:"I'm delighted to see this initiative from the Cambridge Network. There's no doubt in my mind that it will work."
The School for Scale-Ups
Starting with an introductory dinner to set out aspirations and enable individuals to meet fellow participants, the new programme consists of 11 modules, spread over 15 months, with others added as options to broaden understanding and practical skills. Selected modules include Q&A time with up-to-date leaders.
Modules include:
- Effective communication
- Project management
- Managing performance
- Effective influencing
- Picking a winning team
- Negotiation
- Effective appraisals & succession planning
- Coaching for managers
- Managing change
Additional modules will be based on development needs and interests, but can include finance, product marketing, the art of selling, business systems for productivity, decision making and governance.
Read more about the School for Scale-Ups here.
Andrew Lynn, CEO of Fluidic Analytics, said: “School for Scale-Ups would have been invaluable to Orthomimetics and CamGaN and I am certain that it will prove to be a fantastic resource as we build Fluidic Analytics.”
The programme costs £4,800 plus VAT per person. If you know someone who would benefit from this collaborative Cambridge programme or would like to find out more, please contact learning@cambridgenetwork.co.uk or the Cambridge Network team on 07825 513612.
Cambridge Network hopes that a few subsidised places might be sponsored by big businesses or investors backing this initiative, so if you are interested please make contact quickly.
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