Meet our Entrepreneurship students and alumni

Alumni of the Masters in Entrepreneurship run their businesses in many countries and in a variety of industries.

To give you a taster of the types of ventures our students are building and to show you how they applied the knowledge they gained throughout the 2 years of their study, we recorded some short videos of a few of our students, some of whom have since graduated from the programme.

Hear from our students

MSt in Entrepreneurship Abbasali Merali.

Abbasali Merali

2022 MSt in entrepreneurship student Abbasali Merali, working in his family business in the agriculture space, he highlights the uniqueness of this programme, and the opportunity to immediately apply what you learn.

I am Abbasali Merali. Currently, I work at my family business, which is an international commodity trading firm. We specialise in the trade of agriculture.

I think a uniqueness of this course, in particular, which I guess I found particularly attractive as compared to other courses, is that it has this sort of blend of part-time learning, part-time working, or, in my case, sort of full-time working. And it has this good sort of middle point as well, where you have the mentors as well kind of bridging that gap.

You study two years. You can work on your venture at the same time. And each and everything that you learn, I found myself already applying it to my full-time job and applying it to my family business. So I think that’s the uniqueness of this is that you get the opportunity to immediately apply what you learn.

Something in particular that really stood out to me in my first year of learning was the strategy course that we took. We learned about niche strategies, price strategies, focus strategies. And through being a part of this course, I was able to identify the strategy that was right for our family business. And now I hope that, in the next year, I can start to implement it and perfect the strategy.

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MSt in Entrepreneurship Budoor Almulla.

Budoor Almulla

2022 MSt in Entrepreneurship student Budoor Almulla. Co- founder of Five Degrees Artisan Ice-Cream, talks of the ability of being able to apply learning directly to her business.

My name is Budoor Almulla. I’m from Bahrain, and I’m the co-founder of an ice cream business called 5 Degrees Artisan Ice Cream. A big part of this programme, which is absolutely amazing, I think, is the fact that you can use what you learn and apply it within your business in real time. And at the same time, have mentors to guide you through that, which I think is pretty great. And you can’t really find it anywhere else.

I think what I learned most from the course itself is how to make decisions, but also within that, how to take your company from point A to point B. Before the programme, I didn’t believe that I was able to lead a company. Right now, a year into it, I actually feel that I have the potential to do so with confidence given the background and experience I’ve gotten. And I think every residential kind of empowers you.

You walk in and there’s so much energy in the room from everyone. As a cohort, we’ve had the time of our life getting to know each other. And I think we’ve made memorable relationships and friendships that will carry on, even beyond the programme itself. And I think that’s going to be instrumental in not only our personal development, but also in our business relationships and pursuing our own careers as well.

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MSt in Entrepreneurship Jason Domieux.

Jason Dormieux

2022 MSt in Entrepreneurship student Jason Dormieux, consultant in the media industry, explained about the unique delivery of the programme, via the practical, academic and community pillars.

I’m Jason Dormieux, and I am an advisor and sort of consultant that specialises in working in the media and technology industry.

I think what brought me here to the Programme was that it’s pretty unique in terms of its composition. I did a lot of research, as I’m sure everybody will do. And I couldn’t find a course that was actually kind of designed and delivered in this way. It really relates to the three core pillars.

So clearly, there’s the knowledge pillar. And that’s certainly kind of made me feel a lot more confident in terms of the advice that I’m able to give, both to the businesses that I work with but also some of the thinking I’m applying to the development of my own business. But the other two core pillars, as well– so the practical pillar of being able to kind of translate that knowledge directly into practise, and that’s certainly given me the confidence to actually try out some of those frameworks and really navigate through them and work out what works and what doesn’t for me and also for those organisations as well.
And then the third pillar, which is very energetic, which is the community, that’s certainly something that I’d underestimated in terms of the energy and, if you like, the positivity that I’ve got from being able to access to those kind of wider communities.

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MSt in Entrepreneurship Viktoria Peocz.

Viktoria Peocz

2022 MSt in Entrepeneurship student Viktoria Peocz, working in the skin-care sector, talks about the mentoring and industry support received via the programme.

My name is Viktoria, and I was previously in the technology industry. And currently, I’m doing my research in the skincare sector, specifically trying to find solutions for how to solve the overconsumption in the skincare industry.

The reason why I decided to join the programme, next to naturally the academic knowledge that I would receive, is the mentorship and generally the support from all the industry professionals that are very much eager to help us.

I feel like I’m constantly surrounded with people who are either directly or helping me or knowing someone who can help me in all of my projects. I would say, previously, as somewhat of a perfectionist, I was very much looking at one straight way or one good way to do things. And what I really learned at Judge and especially at this programme is that there are so many ways to tackle a problem or approach a situation, a challenge or, even your own venture. I think this very much opened my eyes towards it.

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MSt in Entrepreneurship Randolph Rodrigues.

Randolph Rodrigues

2022 MSt in Eentrepreneurship student Randolph Rodrigues, Corporate Finance & Venture Capital Executive, Second STAX, explains the importance of meeting and networking with like-minded entrepreneurs whilst on the programme

My name is Randolph Rodrigues. I’m from Ghana. I live in the US.

My venture is called Second Stax. It’s based out of Ghana, and for my day job, I work at Bose Corporation. I run corporate development and venture investing.

Thinking particularly about the MSt in Entrepreneurship at Cambridge Judge, there’s probably 3 things that I’ll mention that made it important for me. One is starting a venture in entrepreneurship, like I mentioned, I wanted to get formal education on how to approach the entire lifecycle of a new venture. One amazing thing has just been the network. I’ve actually found someone in the Programme who is interested in investing in my venture. I’ve come across ventures that I’m interested in learning more about.

The third thing, which is really personal, is I’m from Ghana, I mentioned. Long-term aspiration, I want to be active politically. One of the things that I think will help the country, from an economic perspective, is really being able to unleash entrepreneurship in a way that helps the country sustainably thrive. Obviously, doing that with, one, the education from Cambridge but also the network from Cambridge and the stamp of credibility that Cambridge provides us, I think that that says it all.

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Bingbing Chang.

Bingbing Chang

Bingbing Chang, who has a background in real estate investment, is starting a business that looks to improve the mental health and emotional resilience for young children since their early childhood.

My name is Bingbing. I am starting a business that looks to improve the mental health and emotional resilience for young children since their early childhood. The Business School has seen many, many entrepreneurs, successful ones, come and going and has really craft, I think, the technique to help people learn, help people think, help people develop. One thing that really resonated with me in this programme that I found absolutely special and precious, that is the diversity of the people.

When I first joined, because I’m still early on the other side I think compared to some of the other people in the programme, I was kind of thinking, oh my gosh, could I fit in? Is it the right place for me? But then afterwards, I realised just how diverse the cohort is. And when you put all of these people together, something miraculous always sparkles from all kinds of conversations and drinks we’ve had and all the fun times. And that’s something that I’ve absolutely loved about the programme.

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Suraj Thakrar.

Suraj Thakrar

Suraj Thakrar works for family business Turnells of London. His mentor has a senior position at a famous customer relationship management software company.

My name is Suraj Thakrar, and I work for a family business, which is called Turnells of London. The best thing that I have found about the MSt in Entrepreneurship has to be the people I’ve met. I hate to be cheesy, but I’ve genuinely learned so much about different industries. And I think that’s really valuable for me because in a family business, you’re so often surrounded by people doing the same things as you and with the same interests as you.

But what’s great about the cohort here is that everybody has an interest in entrepreneurship, and they have the confidence to start their own ventures, or at least contemplate it. My mentor works for a very famous customer relationship management software company, and he’s quite senior there.

And he’s given me so much insight into the value of systems. And then combined with the lectures that we’ve had in systems, and thinking about how our processes currently are, has given me a lot of opportunity for reflection on how we can improve what we’re doing, become more efficient, and scale.

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Eliot Johns.

Eliot Johns

Eliot Johns works in the hospitality sector. He was particularly drawn to the academic rigour that the programme could lend to his professional experience.

My name is Eliot, and my sector is hospitality. The cohort is, probably for me, one of the best things about the programme. It’s the diversity, range of experience, and knowledge. And so you’re guaranteed to pick up insights into areas that you had, perhaps, little prior knowledge of before but also to see areas you might be more experienced in in a new light.

So I think I was particularly drawn to the academic rigour it could lend to my professional experience but all focused within the context that’s all about the practical application. So picking up theoretical insights from some of the industry leaders, but all the while, focused on actually making things happen.

It really has meant that the external disruptions have had a minimal impact on the actual learning experience. And aside from that, I think in times like these, there are many more subjects that could be of more use in something like entrepreneurship, which ultimately, is all about creating value.

So I would say, I’m very much at the start of my entrepreneurial journey. And my sector is hospitality, and there’s a lot of uncertainty with regards to how I will achieve my ambitions within it. However, the one thing that I am sure of is applying to this programme has definitely been a step in the right direction.

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Millicent Stone.

Dr Millicent Stone

Dr Millicent Stone is CEO and co-founder of iOWNA, a digital healthcare solution for clinicians to share patient-centric information with their patients, to enable them to have a better outcome and live longer, healthier lives.

My name is Dr Millicent Stone. And I’m CEO and co-founder of iOWNA, a digital healthcare solution for clinicians to share patient-centric information with their patients, to enable them to have a better outcome and live longer, healthier lives.

I’m doing the Masters in Entrepreneurship programme, and the single most important, useful piece of knowledge was learning the word, value, and how to discover value for my venture, and how to create value, and how to execute to give value to my customers.

There was one thing I learned on the programme that I never had any inkling about, and that was systems. It’s taught by Jeremy Hutchison-Krupat and I found it extremely hard at the time to learn, but I put the effort in. And now I apply systems to every facet of my life not just my ventures, and it’s hugely helpful.

If you’re thinking of this programme, one of the most useful things is to understand that just because part of it is remote, it doesn’t impact at all on the experience. In fact, it’s a way of working, and a way of life in the work world now. So I think if anything, Cambridge Judge Business School have really grasped how to deliver high-quality education in a hybrid manner, face-to-face and remote. And it’s been a wonderful experience.

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Sharena Shiv.

Sharena Shiv

Sharena Shiv runs a property management company and also has a podcast show called, Start Up Start Now. She join the programme wanting to take full advantage of the Cambridge experience.

My name is Sharena Shiv, I run a property management company and I also have a podcast show called, Start Up Start Now. So I would say the best thing about the programme is the fact that now I did my undergrad five years ago and graduated, I’ve now come back into the classroom and just being around lecturers that are entrepreneurs themselves and people that have embarked on the journey.

I love the fact that there’s like over 60 of us from 30, I think it’s like 35 different countries, which just means that everybody comes and gives a different perspective on things. On this course you don’t need to move physically, you could do it from anywhere in the world. But with that I’ve wanted to take advantage of being part of the Cambridge experience. And there is something really special about that.

So kind of getting also those experiences of meeting other students, meeting world leaders I think is really important. And who wouldn’t want to come here and grow their network at the same time?

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Michael Quartey.

Michael Quartey

Michael Quartey of Eczodex found value in the programme’s network of entrepreneurs, and being able to bounce ideas off a collective group of like-minded peers.

My name is Michael Quartey, MSt Entrepreneurship, first year student, and my venture is Eczodex. As an entrepreneur, you tend to believe that you’re on this journey alone, and that you’re the only one in the world who’s crazy enough to try to come up with your own ideas to solve problems. And joining this course, it was reassuring to know there are many people interested in entrepreneurship. And it’s great to bounce ideas off a collective group of like-minded peers.

You’re already in the right group. You have a great network of people who are open to creativity, to taking risks, and to embark on a very uncertain journey as we all know, especially the very early stages of a startup. So yeah, the chances of you finding a founding team are much higher by joining a programme of this sort than on any other type of business school. I would encourage anyone who believes that they can do something else to take a step back, come back, study, and then move forward.

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Hear from our alumni

Ruby Pillai.

Ruby Pillai

Ruby Pillai is the founder of iWarranty, a UK technology startup that is developing a cloud-based solution to eliminate paper-based warranties and manual claim process. Riuby was a corporate lawyer before embarking on her new career as an entrepreneur.

I’m Ruby Pillai, founder of iWarranty. iWarranty is a technology startup founded in the UK. We are developing a cloud-based solution to eliminate paper-based warranties and manual claim process. So to give a bit of background about myself, I’ve been practicing law in London for the last 13 years. I was a corporate lawyer before embarking on my new career as an entrepreneur.

iWarranty originated from my own personal frustration dealing with a warranty claim and missing out on receiving a free replacement of an item by two weeks. So when looking very deeply into the problem, I found it’s not only a consumer problem, it’s also a manufacturer problem as well as an environmental problem. Globally 40 million tonnes of electronic waste is disposed of every year. Consumers, when they can’t access their warranties for a low-value item, they tend to throw away those items and purchase a new item.

This, in turn, causes significant electronic waste. So I did not know as an entrepreneur, I did not know what pivot means. With the help of Cambridge Judge Business School faculty members, we actually sort of moved away from some of the initial assumptions we made on startup. And we also found attraction in that approach because a number of small to medium-sized manufacturers want to work with us.

They wanted to digitise their paper warranty, and they wanted to show to their consumers the green initiative they are embarking on. But we took a very different approach. Learning from Blue Ocean Strategy, part of the course, it was really a mind opener for us. Because it doesn’t really kind of– I mean, the course allows us to think outside the box in several different ways in different stages of your startup journey.

Because you don’t need to disrupt and you don’t need to take out, you know, go after competition. You could actually work collaboratively with the manufacturers to deliver value to consumers. Again, that kind of thinking wouldn’t have happened without being part of this programme. This programme is extremely valuable for someone from that experience background, or you know, someone coming out of university.

It’s hugely valuable to be part of the programme, to take advantage of this journey, and to make sure that you don’t fail. At least you can actually rescue yourself, and you can navigate to a different direction, and you can survive in this really complex world of entrepreneurship.

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Nicola Kennedy.

Nicola Kennedy

Nicola Kennedy joined the programme as an intrapreneur, with the intention of helping her set up ventures within a big multinational energy company. On her first day at Cambridge, she met somebody who ended up becoming her co-founder in 3 new ventures.

So I’m Nicola Kennedy. I am a current student on the Master of Studies in Entrepreneurship at the University of Cambridge. I joined the programme a year ago with the intention of helping me set up ventures within a big multinational energy company. So when I joined the programme, I was an intrapreneur. I was building companies from within a big multinational corporate.

So I was the head of Ideas Lab at Centurion Innovations. And my job was to find ideas from within the business, and to incubate those businesses– build them out– and then to look at how we can build the future of the company. And one of the things that the course gave me was access to a really brilliant network. And it gave me the confidence to think about how I could do this by myself.

On my very first day at Cambridge, I walked into a lecture theatre. And I met somebody who ended up becoming my co-founder of the three new ventures that I am setting up at the moment. And we spent about 12 months talking through lots of different ideas– testing lots of different things out– really exploring whether or not we thought we could work together.

One of the things that really benefited us was being on the course. And being able to go through the theory together. So it wasn’t one of us that was learning, and the other one was still trying to understand what they were talking about. We knew the right questions to ask, and we were able to really use that experience and expertise to balance each other out. And to really test each other.

I’m based in London, and my business partner is based in America. And that understanding and access to two very different markets has created a really interesting opportunity where we can spot things that are happening that aren’t happening in the other market.

So we now have three very early stage ventures that we are testing out. The first of those ventures is called Notoma. And it is a nontoxic marketplace that sells products for families. And this was a challenge that we found that we had when we had very small children at home. We would go and look for products, and we were finding that so many products that we bring into our homes aren’t regulated.

And the second business that we’ve been testing out– again, it’s a very early stage business– is called Juventology Labs. One of the first products that we have developed within Juventology Labs is a beauty drink. It has 15 different multivitamins in it, and it is designed to provide beauty from within. So it looks at all of your skin, hair, and nails.

The third business has actually sprung up over the last three months. So ever since we’ve had the pandemic, we noticed a huge shift to online learning. So our third venture is something that has happened very, very quickly. It’s actually going to be the first to launch. And we’re running online five-day boot camps that teach you survival skills.

One of the huge challenges that, I think, we have as entrepreneurs is whether or not to look at venture funding, or to fund businesses ourselves. It’s been one of the things, actually, that through the course– really starting to unpick that relationship between an investor and an entrepreneur– has enabled me to make some really clear choices in terms of what I want to be doing.

So coming from a background of clean tech, the biggest challenge that we had was there were very few female entrepreneurs coming through in clean tech. So in clean tech, that’s a really strong thing– is that it’s much harder for female entrepreneurs to go out there and to get investment.

One of the things I love about being an entrepreneur and having my own business is that I have the ability to fit it around my life and my responsibilities as a mother. And that’s one of the really big challenges of having a corporate career. And what I found with entrepreneurship is, actually, it gives you so much more freedom to be able to live the life that you actually want to lead.

My take on entrepreneurship and the people that make the biggest strides in disrupting industries or building new, interesting businesses is they’re the people that don’t come from the sector. Because they’re the people that are not bound by the rules or the regulations, or the old ways of doing things.

And so it’s been a really interesting challenge to actually say I know clean tech– I know clean tech inside out. But what I want to do is– I want to take my understanding of things like regulation, and take that to a completely new sector, which is really exciting.

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Daniel Gearon.

Daniel Gearon

Daniel Gearon is a surgical trainee at Royal Papworth Hospital. His venture, You OK doc?, is a mental health and well-being charity for doctors. About 80% of doctors reported burnout in a British Medical Association study of about 6,000 participants, with 55% of those going on to seek psychological help.

Hi, my name’s Daniel Gearon. I’m a surgical trainee at Royal Papworth Hospital and I’m currently enrolled on the Master’s in entrepreneurship at Cambridge Judge Business School. My venture is called You OK doc? It’s a mental health and well-being charity for doctors. Like I said it was founded in October 2018. So as the founder and as a doctor at the time, I’ve been a doctor about three years. I realised the stresses and strains that doctors go through.

There are some pretty alarming statistics regarding doctors mental health, particularly with burnout. About 80% of doctors reported burnout in a British Medical Association study of about 6,000 participants. And then 55% of those went on to seek psychological help. And then also the amounts of doctors taking their lives was estimated to be about to four times more than the national average when compared to a general population.

And I think obviously the very nature of being a doctor, you will be witnessing traumatic events. My cousin was a consultant down in London on a labour-intensive care unit. And in December 2016, she took her own life rather unexpectedly. We created a service called The Huddle. In essence, it was a 25 person group therapy held online every Thursday for doctors. That was our first real service and that was a success.

So we started the webinar series and the idea, again, for some of the speakers in the webinar series stemmed from my background. I used to play tennis in America, I was a college tennis player and before that, I was at Tennis Academy. And when I was at Tennis Academy at 16, I had access to a sports psychologist. And we all had access to sports psychologists. It was the same sports psychologist for about hundreds of us. I mean, it was a drop-in clinic that we could go and see him and talk about the latest matches, et cetera. When COVID-19 happened, and when the thought of the webinar happened and the thought of athletes and then kind of Zoom came into its own being and me, I’m not a very tech-savvy person.

But something actually once one service probably could be delivered through online services. It’s now our vision that we do replicate that every doctor has access to a name psychotherapist. And what this platform will be able to do is to be implemented across hospitals say, hopefully, Papworth and Adam Brooks first. As I mentioned, I’m part of Cambridge Judge Business School and the Masters in Entrepreneurship.

And I think one of the really important things that being part of that cohort of people that starts in 2019 is that when I first arrived during the residential week, I realised that actually, I’m not alone like we’re all starting our own ventures. And when you start a venture it can be a quite isolating place. There are not many other people that are doing what you’re doing. And having that group of people to rely on or sorry, not necessarily rely on but to communicate with and knowing that they’re there going through the same process that you are. It’s extremely comforting and also academically, it’s extremely enriching.

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Heiko Altrichter.

Heiko Altrichter

Heiko Altrichter is the co-founder and head of product development at Laxford, who develop specialised artificial intelligences for applications in the finance sector. The company are building deep learning networks that can make good decisions in uncertain environments.

My name is Heiko Altrichter, and I’m the co-founder and head of product development at Laxford. We develop specialised artificial intelligences for applications in the finance sector. We’re building deep learning networks that can make good decisions in uncertain environments.

Back when we started out in 2017, we were looking at the finance sector and found something very interesting. Nine out of 10 money managers underperformed the public sector. Why is that? After talking with many hedge fund managers and portfolio advisors around the globe, we figured out that most investment decisions are ultimately driven by human bias not through data. There’s simply so much data out there, so many millions of market participants, it’s impossible to consider them all and to weight them all.

The company that I co-founded is in various places in the world. We have offices in Dubai and Mexico and Cayman Islands and in Berlin. Out of Berlin, we have created an AI and research laboratory where we create neural networks trying to make good decisions in imperfect environments. In Dubai, we have built up a non-profit development bureau that tries to bring digital learning to developing countries. We are starting out in Venezuela where we provide a digital learning infrastructure for Venezuelan schools and provide them with online payment gateways that help them mitigate the risks that come with hyperinflation.

Cambridge University has been instrumental in showing us how to take our research out of academia and into entrepreneurship.

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Wallen Mphepo.

Wallen Mphepo

Dr Wallen Mphepo is one of the founders of xShüu Technologies, currently based in Shenzhen, China. Their product is a 3D display technology that could be used for movie theatres so that people do not have to wear glasses to actually perceive 3D in a movie theatre.

My name is Dr Wallen Mphepo. I am one of the founders of xShüu Technologies, which is currently based in Shenzhen, China. Initially, this all started when I was an exchange student in Taiwan at Hsinchu Chiao Tung University. My interest there was to learn more about display technologies because I had just finished my masters degree in Sweden in display technologies.

I managed to do some, by luck, amazing 3D technologies, which was a 3D display technology that could be used for movie theatres so that people do not have to wear glasses to actually perceive 3D in a movie theatre. Simply put, this is a full-colour, high-resolution, full video electronic paper that is flexible. That’s basically what it is.

So with that in mind, I decided to take this little piece of technology that I just built and try to shop it around to see if anybody will be interested in seeing this being commercialised. To be very honest, I was completely naive. I had no idea what I was doing. Everybody in the industry in displays was excited about it, but every time I go to these VCs, that didn’t do anything at all.

But I realised, OK, maybe I really need to do that. I want to push this. So I’m going to have to build something with this. So what can I really build that would allow me to show how versatile this material was? Then the idea settled down to OK, we’re going to have to build a high heel shoe.

The next part was, when we actually brought this shoe to the VC’s offices, we’d put it on a desk, and we tried to explain what it was, and then they just look at us and wondering, does it actually really work or is this just a dummy mock-up of what you really are trying to build? Then I’ll take out my smartphone, turn on the app, click a couple buttons, and voila. The shoe would change. And just like that, you could see the atmosphere in the room changing.

But that wasn’t enough because the VCs are very smart. They could tell that I had no business experience. Neither did the people around me, and we really didn’t know what we were doing. So they were excited about it, but they were not that ready to actually put a bet on it.

It all boils down to, we have to make sure the core team has the tools that it needs to be able to make this work. I didn’t know what to expect until one of the classes, Assembling and Managing Innovative Teams. It changed a lot of things, a lot of assumptions, in a way that I didn’t quite expect. This was a different kind of learning.

I had only done natural sciences and engineering in my academic background, so this was very eye-opening for me. Maybe some students, this was not necessarily new for them. For me personally, this was new. I was engrossed by this material. I dove right into it, read voraciously, beyond what was being given.

And it began to show, even in my own venture. Some of the things I would apply almost immediately. Some I would store and bookmark for later because I knew further down the road I was going to need these things. And so far, I have applied a lot of these things in my venture, and the progress has been phenomenal. I can already sort of see where I’m going with this.

I have an intellectual capacity in entrepreneurship to figure out and map out my journey, something that I didn’t have before. Before, I just used to go by hunch. Maybe this will work, maybe this won’t. But I didn’t have any theoretical or fundamental understanding of the entrepreneurship methodologies that goes into making this happen. But now I do, and this is where I am right now.

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Mark Ashton.

Mark Ashton

Mark Ashton’s venture, Mini Grids, is a for-profit social enterprise designed to alleviate poverty for those individuals at the bottom of the economic pyramid. There are over a billion people on the planet with no access to electricity of any sort. MiniGrids’ goal is to provide electricity to one million of them by 2030.

Hi there. My name is Mark Ashton, and I am currently enrolled in the MSt Entrepreneurship at the University of Cambridge. And my venture is called Mini Grids. Mini Grids is a for-profit social enterprise, which is designed to alleviate poverty for those individuals at the bottom of the economic pyramid.

I’m not sure if you know, you’ll probably recognise but there are over one billion people on the planet with absolutely no access to electricity of any sort and another one billion whose electricity access is very intermittent. Mini Grids’ mission to alleviate energy poverty is so that we can do this through productive renewable energy, and electricity is a poverty alleviating tool that helps individuals increase their access to education, improve their income as well as alleviate the home duties, especially for women in the world. Once they have access to electricity in their community, then they’re able to then use all the many different tools, et cetera, such as raising chickens, carpentry, welding, education. There are so many things that can be done whose first step is to provide electricity.

So our big, hairy goal is to provide electricity to one million people by 2030. It’s important in looking at starting a venture that you draw upon your background. My background includes over 30 years in the semiconductor industry, manufacturing and operations. I’ve been involved in two small firms and a variety of enormous billion dollar companies.

A key thing that attracted me to the University of Cambridge MSt Entrepreneurship programme is that the curriculum builds class upon class, term upon term to help you understand how to better succeed and how to better understand the best practises that are available in the world right now for such things as founding a company, how to use digital marketing, what are the best ways to recognise your market, and how to then dig down into the market and discover exactly what is the slice or niche that you’re targeting.

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