by Clare Millington -

Business case for purpose-driven organisations

Frank Omare of SAP will deliver a guest lecture at Brighton Business School on the Business case for purpose-driven organisations and ethical procurement.

This is part of the SAP Next Gen programme of working with selected academic institutions in UK & Ireland.

Frank Omare, Senior Director SAP
Frank Omare, Senior Director at SAP and Fellow of  Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supply (FCIPS) will be sharing his expertise on ethical supply chains

The theme of the lecture will be the role that technology can play to increase visibility and transparency across the supply chain, and to improve collaboration between business partners to create more purpose-driven supply chains.

Today, supply chains typically include multiple partners, with services and sourcing managed across many organisations and around the world. Supply chains are becoming more complex and with increased risks.

The challenge is for businesses to use their influence to improve the human, economic, and environmental impact of every organisation that their supply chain touches.

Consumers are increasingly aware of negative impacts on the environment and question where and how products are made. More and more consumers are choosing purpose-centered brands that promote transparency in their supply chain, use sustainable sources of raw materials, and employ fair human and environmental practices.

Society is demanding that companies, both public and private, serve a social purpose. Also, sustainable investments now dominate the stock market. To prosper over time, companies must not only deliver financial performance, but also show how they make a positive contribution to society.

“Purpose” is no longer something that is nice to have; it has become a strategic imperative.

Join us for what promises to be a very thought-provoking talk.

Thursday 21 March 2019, 6-7pm, Lecture Theatre G8 Mithras House, University of Brighton, BN2 4AT.  Everyone is welcome.

Queries & questions to Clare Millington c.e.millington@brighton.ac.uk

by Clare Millington -

From Frankenstein to Star Trek to Her, the dreams and nightmares of science fiction reflect our changing economic reality

Martin Gollogly
Martin Gollogly, Director of SAP Next-Gen, at Brighton Business School

On 27th February 2019, Martin Gollogly, Director of SAP Next-Gen, was invited as a guest lecturer to present a “Sci-Fi Thinking” workshop in Brighton Business School.

It started off with a very interesting presentation by Martin where students were introduced to Science Fiction in a very interactive way.

Martin and students as the lecture begins
Martin sharing his expertise in Sci-Fi thinking

The question comes to … Why Science Fiction?  Well, it is a concept where you expand your imagination and think out of the box.  It is the genre of CHANGE!  For example, there was no iPhone or iPad in the past and how did they happen? Through IMAGINATION! It is really inspiring to get to know how our imagination can bring us to new ideas.  It could be something that we never learnt of.  Thus, never limit your possibilities!  You will never know what you can create out of it!

Presenting our personas
Students tried out Sci-Fi thinking – to develop personas…
Group working together on ideation
After persona creation comes the ideation phase – students getting creative with ideation

In the second part of the workshop, students were grouped into teams to brainstorm together to create a persona to solve “Vodafone’s” problems. It was a very interactive way where students were able to enhance their critical analyzing and creativity thinking skills.  It made students think out of the box to share their ideas.

In overall, it was a very enjoyable session with Martin. It was definitely a very interesting workshop! We would like to thank Martin for his effort to come all the way to Brighton Business School to give a spectacular workshop.

By WEN QI MAI
SAP Lighthouse Event Coordinator
(final year student)

by Clare Millington -

The influential role of a modern marketer: It’s not just the fluffy stuff

Nicky Wells, freelance marketing consultant
Nicky Wells will talk about the misunderstood role of the modern marketer

Nicky Wells returned to Brighton Business School on 29 November following her recent lecture on improving the social and environmental impact of brands

Nicky talked about the sometimes misunderstood role of the marketer in a large organisation and why this function, which typically needs to be influential in every operational department, is therefore critical to business success.  As she explained, it’s is not all fluffy thinking and pretty pictures!

Nicky Wells gained 15 years FMCG marketing experience at Nestle and Unilever before becoming a freelance marketing consultant.  She has led many household names including Felix, PG tips and Marmite as well as more recently bringing strategic advice to smaller brands and businesses.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickywells/

Thursday 29 November, 6-7pm in lecture theatre G8, Brighton Business School, Mithras House, Lewes Road, Brighton, BN2 4AT.

 

by Clare Millington -

Building a resilient company with customers at the centre

Stuart McClure came to Brighton Business School in November 2018 to share his candid story of launching LovetheSales.com in 2015.  A key objective was to reduce waste in the fashion industry and Stuart described how he built corporate social responsibility into the business model from the outset.

Stuart McClure 2018
Stuart McClure, co-founder and chief marketing officer at LovetheSales.com

LovetheSales.com aggregates sale items from 100’s of retailers into a single website, helping consumers to find the best deals on products and brands they want to buy.

Innovative use of artificial intelligence to classify sale items means the business is scalable and can support 5 million products, while keeping operational costs low and serving millions of customers.

Stuart’s Lighthouse Lecture explored building organisational strengths and defensibility into the business model.  Topics were wide-ranging and included team diversity, work environments, family life, importance of systems and data, evolution of business models and turning suppliers into customers.

Love the Sales logo
LovetheSales.com has been recognised as a global discount retail disruptor and one of 15 UK based AI innovators to watch

You can read more in a 2018 interview in Forbes Magazine, where Stuart outlines some key strategies and global ambitions.

LovetheSales.com are acknowledged as a retail disruptor and have been nominated for seven+ awards in the last few months including NatWest Entrepreneur of the Year 2018.

We thank Stuart for his Lighthouse Lecture at Brighton Business School during Global Entrepreneurship Week and wish the team the best of luck with the upcoming awards.

Global Entrepreneurship Week

by Clare Millington -

Serial entrepreneur Kurt Henderson kicks off Lighthouse Lecture Series at Brighton Business School

A passion for innovation drives Kurt Henderson, serial entrepreneur and University of Brighton Titan.  Keen to share his expertise and inspire new students, Kurt came to talk about innovation and new business ideas.  A young entrepreneur, 27, with an impressive track record that includes setting up a music label and building a tech & innovation blog, Kurt is a co-founder at Kompas, recognised as one of the top 300 AI companies in the UK (Artificial intelligence industry landscape report, DKA, 2018) and one of the hottest travel start-ups in Europe (The Europas, 2018).

Kurt Henderson, Brighton Titan, enthralled students with tales of innovation and entrepreneurship

A key element of Kurt’s success is clearly his attention to people and he shared stories that emphasised the importance of diversity in teams, and respect for different ways of working, stressing also the need to build in time to socialise and have fun with colleagues.

Outside work, Kurt is a committed mentor and developer of young people.  Hence his talk here and his work with Young Enterprise.

Questions from the audience prompted a very interesting discussion relating to barriers to entry in new geographical locations and online marketplaces, plus the challenges of raising finance through funding rounds and the importance of planning ahead.

A final question  – where do new business ideas come from? Kurt responded with stories and examples and told us of unexpected opportunities, big problems and day-to-day challenges – all fertile avenues for new business ideas.

The key takeaways for budding entrepreneurs: passion for the idea, a great team, self-management, focused effort, business knowledge and effective management of business operations.

Kurt is a Brighton Titan, a rare award that recognises the contribution to industry and society by alumni of the University of Brighton (BA Hons Digital Media Design, 2013).

We are delighted that Kurt Henderson is the inaugural speaker for our new Lighthouse Lecture Series at Brighton Business School.