Newsletters

May 2016 Edition

Enterprising Spirit

We are delighted to continue the theme of celebrating your successes in this issue of our newsletter. The entrepreneurship strand runs strongly throughout ranging from social entrepreneurship projects to merchandising accessories and hosiery. In addition, we have an alum putting on a theatre production at the Edinburgh Fringe and looking for a bit of support via Crowdfunding to take it there, and an Edinburgh Marathon runner hoping to gain some extra support in time for her run on 29th May. Also don't forget to check out the fresh jobs on our alumni website.

Institute news is that Dr Paul Beresford-Hill received his CBE at a ceremony held at the British Embassy in Washington DC on May 4th with his family in attendance. This was indeed a very proud moment for Dr Paul, his family and for the whole of the Mountbatten Institute.

Meanwhile, MBA students just embarking on their third semester in Bangkok enjoyed a Thai Cookery class which looked fun and produced some extremely deliciously looking food (you can see the link to the recipes below).

One final note, the Institute is still looking to expand our roster of sponsor companies both in London and New York, so if you think this is something that the company you work in may seriously consider, please to get in touch with Kate Bullen for London placements, and Jo Harvey for New York.

50 Shades of Brown!

You may remember we featured Tahlia Gray (New York, March 2011) as an Entrepreneur in our November 2015 newsletter regarding the launch of her business sheerchemistry.com, a hosiery brand specialising in tights for women of all shades of brown. Well, Tahlia recently gave us an update with the exciting news that Sheer Chemistry entered #VOOM 2016, the UK & Ireland's largest and most valuable pitch competition for startups and small businesses. Led by Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Group, winners have the chance to share in £1 million worth of prizes. In addition, Sheer Chemistry was recently featured on the movie actress Thandie Newton and Kay Montano's blog, ThandieKay.

In the meantime, Tahlia has the products all made and boxed, and is now looking for retail outlets to stock them. She is aiming to launch this September. We wish Tahlia every success with the launch of her venture.

Alum
of the Month

Ngozi Kemjika
New York, Mar 2014

"At the moment one of my main focuses is my company ZI & LUWA, my own e-commerce fashion accessories brand. Myself and my business partner work around the clock on pretty much everything from designing, to social, to content etc. so a lot of my time is consumed by that...However I have not forgotten my passion for journalism, so I will be moving back to New York permanently in the next few months to work in that field. Since I was young it was my dream to build my career in New York so when Mountbatten came to an end I was determined to get back out there. I’m really looking forward to living that dream and pushing my career in an exciting direction...getting stocked in stores globally is one of our main goals right now."

Read the full article

A Day In The Life

Claire Wheaton (New York, September 2009), a graduate of Nottingham University, currently works as an HR Business Partner for the online genealogy brand called Find My Past. Claire's role is to ensure that the company attracts and retains the best talent and to help create and drive a culture of high performance and success. Claire says "what I love about HR is no day is the same. Today I've been working with our design team preparing our marketing collateral for a jobs fair we are attending, interviewing candidates, editing our company video that is currently being produced, and meeting potential suppliers about a new HR system we are looking to implement." Read the full article

Entrepreneurial Alumni

Gordon Dudley

New York, September 2005

Gordon is a graduate of Bath University, recently setup RDI (Research Direct International) Worldwide Ltd. in Seoul, Korea after having lived there for the last six years. RDI is a British company specialising in Executive Search and Professional Development. The company focuses on Korean companies who are trying to expand overseas, help them find the right talents and build successful partnerships in local markets. The company slogan is "Passionate about People" because (as Gordon says), "we are a people business- our clients and the candidates we place are central to our entire business model. I am the country manager working with a business partner whom I met during my MBA here in Seoul". Gordon goes on to highlight "when we won our first client, we got validation that we were now a real business - that was a proud moment to have created something and be totally responsible for the output and final service delivery". Gordon offers these words of advice to others thinking of setting up on their own: "Truly believe in yourself, many people have the skills to run their own business, but few have the determination and self-belief to make it a success...often the best ones (opportunities) are the most unexpected".

Read full article.

Matthew Packer

New York, May 2003

Matt is a graduate of Leeds Metropolitan University, has been working hard on establishing an entrepreneurial charity, Jumpstart Youth, which seeks to empower disadvantaged young people through enterprise. Jumpstart Youth, which provides groups of young people with a financial grant, guidance and a mentor, so they can create, market and sell a business product, recently won its first project in Cape Town, South Africa. For many students at Claremont High School, they will be the first person in their family to study towards further education, and on presentation of the project, 30 students put themselves forward to be involved with it. They are being mentored by MBA students from the University of Cape Town, and Jumpstart Youth has also provided the finance. To measure the success of each project, there is less emphasis on profits and more emphasis on the life skills, experiences and confidence gained by those involved. Through involvement in these projects young people will develop and gain key skills to help them in future, as well as hopefully encouraging tomorrow's entrepreneurs.

Read the full article and find out how to get involved.

Fundraising Alumni

Nicola Masters

New York, May 2013

Nicola recently put on a production, The Miserables at the Etcetera Theatre in London for a couple of nights, enjoyed such a success, that she is now taking it up to the Edinburgh Fringe where it will run at Just The Tonic at The Caves at 12pm from the 4th - 28th August. To help cover the costs of the Edinburgh trip, Nicola is crowdfunding, and in return one of the best perks she is offering is to do a private performance of the show at peoples' offices! We wish Nicola all the best with the production and look forward to an update.
Check all the details and show your support.

Miranda Bay

New York, March 2011

On 29th May Miranda is running in the Edinburgh Marathon to raise money for the charity 'Action Breaks Silence' which helps support women in the UK and internationally in areas where inequality and violence are unfortunately commonplace. It offers empowerment workshops, education and self defence classes and has already supported 29,000 women and girls in India and South Africa FREE of charge. They also offer workshops across London to support women in business and help people feel empowered in their careers. Check her just giving page. We wish Miranda the very best of luck, and look forward to hearing about how it goes.

Institute News

Dr Paul Beresford-Hill receives CBE award

Dr Paul Beresford-Hill, founder and Director General of the Mountbatten Institute, was invested with the insignia of Commander of the Order of the British Empire at a ceremony held in the Ambassador's Residence at the British Embassy in Washington DC on May 4th 2016. Presiding at the event was the British Ambassador to the United States, Sir Kim Darroch, who reflected on Dr. Paul's distinguished record as an educator in the United Kingdom, the United States and in Thailand. Particular mention was made of his contribution to international educational exchange, his role in creating and overseeing the work of the Mountbatten Institute and, more recently, his election as Chairman of the English Speaking Union of the United States. Read full article and see photos

March 15 MBA Thai Cooking Class in Bangkok

On Saturday 30th April the latest group to embark on the Bangkok semester of their MBA Mountbatten journey were treated to the now customary Thai Cookery Class. As you can see from the photos, after a culinary demonstration, the students produced some delicious and extremely edible dishes including coconut sticky rice with mango (khao neaw ma-muang); chicken in coconut milk (tom kha gai); and, stir-fried chicken with cashews (gai pad med ma-muang). See photos and full recipes!

Universities in the Spotlight

This month's Alum of the Month, Ngozi Kemjika (New York, March 2014) is a graduate of Queen Mary University London, one of our PGC and MBA awarding institutions, with which we have enjoyed a longstanding relationship. Queen Mary's University has been providing Mountbatten with quality candidates (around 40) since 2003, and we look forward to continuing and building upon this relationship. In addition, our Day in Life of, Claire Wheaton (nee Ferrier) (New York, September 2009) graduated from The University of Nottingham alongside some 60 other programme candidates, and Nottingham is another university we endeavour to continue working alongside in the future as the degree courses seem to lend themselves to providing a good base for our PGC and MBA programmes.

Jobs

White & Case LLP, NY, are currently seeking a Legal Recruiting Assistant; Populus Brands (a Branded Entertainment Business Development company in Valley Village, CA) has several roles to fill at present, including Branded Integration Operations Project Manager and Administration Assistant/Production Assistant. Prospect33 in London's Canary Wharf need someone with Volcker Business Analyst experience, as well as a Strategic & Regulatory Change PMO and MiFID II Project Manager all based in London.

For details of all the above posts and more, please go to our alumni website EXCEPT for the Volcker Business Analyst role, for which please contact ME direct.

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Jo Harvey
jharvey@mountbatten.org

Vicki McCordall
vmccordall@mountbatten.org

http://alumni.mountbatten.org