Right chemistry for entrepreneurship
Mitesh Soma, CEO of ChemistDirect, and Jon Bradford MD of Springboard, and Founder & CEO of the Difference Engine formed a special double act at the recent Enterprise Tuesday session managed by the University’s Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning (CfEL).
Around 200 people heard them talk about how entrepreneurs often have a vision for their new ventures but need to develop comprehensive plans in order to attract investment and aid growth.In a fast-changing world and turbulent economic climate, it is important to understand what investors may be looking for but also to be flexible enough to adapt to changing commercial influences.
Mitesh was inspired to start Chemistdirect.co.uk while assisting his wife, Krishna, with her small independent chemist shop in Westminster, London.
Mitesh identified the huge high street mark-ups and realised that by cutting out the middlemen and keeping overheads to a minimum, he could slash costs to the benefit of the consumer.
He and Krishna moved to Leicester where they built a 'home office' at the bottom of the garden running the business. All the products are sent from a 10,000 square foot warehouse based in Birmingham, where Mitesh spends much of his time overseeing his small team of 25 people.
Less than eight months after founding the company, Chemistdirect.co.uk was listed as the most popular online pharmacy in the UK.
John Bradford has spent most of the last 10 years working in and around start-ups; both for advisory firms and venture capital backed start-ups, including an Oxford university spin-out. He is currently MD of Springboard, mentorship-led accelerator program for startups which provides seed capital, office space and networking support.
Enterprise Tuesday is a series of lectures and networking sessions on entrepreneurial themes, managed and delivered by the Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning (CfEL), Cambridge Judge Business School, University of Cambridge. It is free to attend and open to the wider community.
The next session, ‘Growing Your Venture’, is on Tuesday (February 21) with an exciting panel of experts: Sherry Coutu, Angel Investor and LinkedIn Advisory Board member; David Gill, MD of St Johns Innovation Centre; Robert Sansom, Angel Investor and Chairman of Cambridge Angels; and Andy Richards, a serial biotech entrepreneur and Business Angel.
More information about Enterprise Tuesday can be found at http://www.cfel.jbs.cam.ac.uk/programmes/enterprisetuesday/programme/timetable.html
• PHOTOGRAPH SHOWS: Mitesh Soma, CEO of ChemistDirect and John Bradford MD of Springboard and founder & CEO of the Difference Engine: Photo by Phil Mynott Photography.
