New Chance to Learn from the Masters
One of the top executives in Nottingham will kick off a new course that aims to inspire the city's business leaders of tomorrow.
John Saunders, the boss of the global business information giant Experian, is to launch the Innovation Masterclass, a new initiative that puts emerging entrepreneurs into contact with business leaders who have succeeded through innovation.
The course, which is being run by Nottingham Development Enterprise, has won the backing of bosses' organisation the Institute of Directors.
It follows on from NDE's OnCourse programme, which was designed to help business leaders play a part in their community that is being rolled out nationwide
Neil Horsley, NDE chief executive, says the new initiative will run for at least three years and create a portfolio of knowledge that will be made available online to Notts businesses.
He told the Post that the idea for the course emerged from a desire to share business success stories so people could learn from them.
"We have felt for some time that there are some great business success stories in Notts, but that we haven't always been very good at selling them," aid Mr Horsley.
"But there is more to this than just celebrating business - there is a lot to learn from these successes, because many companies are trying to make the most of innovation.
"You can read about success and innovation in books but you tend to come away from these books still asking questions.
"So the idea behind this programme is to get people who have been there and done it to tell us how."
The first innovation masterclass will take place on March 23 and will be hosted in the city by Experian.
Mr Saunders will be joined by Patrick Hughes, the strategic business development director of clinical technology company ClinPhone, and they will answer questions from the audience in a Question Time-style event chaired by BBC Working Lunch presenter Rob Pittam.
Entry is free, and it will be the first of a series of masterclasses set to run in the city over the next three years.
Other speakers lined up for this year's launch programme include former Toyota Motor Manufacturing UK boss Bryan Jackson, who is now chairman of the East Midlands Development Agency, security industry entrepreneur Sukhi Ghuman, and Ian Wilding, who co-founded medical technology company Pharmaceutical Profiles.
Mr Horsley said: "This programme is designed to provide emerging entrepreneurs with ideas and inspiration through learning from the experiences of innovation leaders.
"What we also want to do is capture these insights and make them available more widely through our website."
He added: "We need innovators today more than ever; it will be these individuals who will develop new and more profitable ways of doing things, as well as the products and services of future generations.
"The OnCourse Innovation Leadership Programme is really designed to help them maximise their potential."