ENTREPRENEUR STORIES
GEORGE NEVILLE-JONES, METROBANK
George Neville-Jones is the local director of Metrobank in Cambridge, and support for local start-ups is a key part of his strategic mission. Raising start-up capital is an important part of developing your own business as an entrepreneur, and we are working
together to support the Cambridge ecosystem in doing so. At the B3 event, he focused on access to funding for early stage companies and strategies for growth, as well as Metrobank’s unique business model and solutions for start-ups.
LORNA CUDDON, ZYME COMMUNICATIONS
Lorna Cuddon founded Zyme Communications in 2010, when she saw a gap in the market for a Cambridge-based communications agency focused on supporting early stage life science companies. Almost a decade later, with offices now in Cambridge and Manchester, Zyme provides strategic and specialist PR and marketing advice to more than 50 life science organisations across Europe and the US, ranging from start-ups though to industry-leading global businesses. Lorna and her team have been my marketing partners for years and were instrumental in the pivot of Cambridge Epigenetix. Zyme’s help with developing new company messaging to support the transition into a clinically-focussed company was
invaluable, and I am grateful that the team is now supporting us to build the Start Codon brand. Lorna’s approach emphasises the importance in aligning your communications plan with your corporate objectives. Whether your focus is raising investment or generating commercial leads and revenues, establishing partnerships or raising the company profile to support a recruitment drive, communications should link directly to your corporate strategy and target audiences. Branding, website, social media, press releases, articles and interviews are key to helping you engage with your audience, but it’s important to know who that audience is, the challenges they face, where they are based and where they source their information.
ROOP CHANDWANI, AGGIOSERGEANT
As managing director at AggioSergeant, Roop Chandwani’s focus is building high- performing life science and healthcare teams globally that continually deliver superior return on investment. Roop helped me recruit senior experts to my management team at Cambridge Epigenetix and has taught me that strong teams are essential for the success of high potential companies.
Roop understands that as a company grows, the culture and people will change, and many companies simply do not invest sufficient time in planning how they will build a great team around this transition. A core component is understanding your company culture from the beginning, and how it will change, then aligning that with the vision and strategy for the business.
IDEASPACE B3 This article is the first in a regular series inspired by ideaSpace’s B3 events, at which you can hear from a successful entrepreneur and the three professionals who were instrumental in helping their business to flourish. The events also include networking, with pizza and beer to finish. The next B3 takes place in September and will feature Pint Shop non- executive director and co-founder of 10to8 Matthew Cleevely. Keep an eye on ideaspace.cam.ac.uk for updates.
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ISSUE 02
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