James Murray

Two years ago, I was searching for my next career move. I had seven valuable years of experience working in global engineering companies BAE Systems and Mott MacDonald. I knew I wanted the challenge of setting up and growing a small company but I did not know how to go about making the move or obtaining the necessary skills. The Saltire Foundation Fellowship really did help me shape my career path and bring it to fruition.

For me it all began in January last year when I flew to Boston to meet with the other Saltire Foundation Fellows at Babson Executive Conference Centre. There were fourteen of us in total and we began our year-long journey with a 16 week intensive programme focused on learning business fundamentals and developing our leadership skills. This was a remarkable experience. The Financial Times recently ranked Babson College as number one for entrepreneurship and I now fully understand why. What they offer goes well beyond the traditional teaching of business theory and practices. Here, the course is focused on detailed discussions on real business problems. A typical day (if there was such a thing) would start with a discussion and detailed analysis of a case study on company we had read the night before. These discussions would cover a range of topics (from debt finance to recruitment to what makes a leader) and include a couple of break-out sessions where the fellows would outline their take on the issues facing the company and how they should be tackled. At the end of the day we often got to meet the CEO (or other member of senior management) of the company to find out what actually happened and the decisions along the way. What made this experience so beneficial was that we were able to get personal insights from experienced individuals who had lived through the tough business decisions. This is learning that you cannot get from a book! As the class was small I found that I was really engaged and had the opportunity to have detailed discussions on the topics that interested me the most. I also found that I was also able to learn a great deal from the other Fellows who all had very different backgrounds and experiences to my own.

After our time at Babson each Fellow spent 12 weeks working in a global bluechip company. These secondments were in various locations across USA and the companies involved included Monsanto, Sun Microsystems and Shawcor. I went to work with Veolia Energy North America with another Fellow Martyn Tulloch. Together we worked with the CEO Stewart Wood (who is also a GlobalScot) and his senior management team on the growth strategy for their North American business. This provided excellent insight into a new industry for me and Stewart was very kind to open up his senior management team for us to work with and learn from.

My final secondment on the Fellowship was with NGenTec, an early stage company that have developed lightweight and low-maintenance generator technology. NGenTec aim to become a supplier of generator technology directly to wind turbine manufacturers. This was ideal for me because it was an early stage company with a great team and a product with the potential to significantly reduce the mass and maintenance costs associated with wind turbines. I worked directly with the board of Directors of the company who have a wealth of experience in business growth and generator technology. In my 12 weeks with NGenTec I was tasked with delivering their business plan, which meant I was fully engaged in all aspects of the business. Based on my performance in this role I was given the opportunity to stay with the company as a Business Development Consultant, which I was happy to accept. I now play a key role in preparing the company for investment and growth. We are currently going through a major investment round and it has been a very exciting time to be involved in NGenTec (www.ngentec.com).

Obviously, the Saltire Foundation Fellowship played a major role in enabling me to take my next career jump. As a Fellow, I found that whatever I wanted to pursue everyone involved at Babson and the Saltire Foundation were very supportive and helped make it happen. In reality the Saltire Foundation Fellowship is a lot more than a learning programme. It really did open up opportunities and provides support and guidance along the way. It was then down to me to take the opportunity and make it happen!

The year culminated with a graduation ceremony at Airth Castle in December 2009 and I am proud to be a Saltire Fellow and a part of the Saltire Foundation community. The Saltire Foundation are now accepting applications for the 2010 Fellowship programme and I would highly recommend it to anyone who is ready to make their next leap forward in their career.