Entrepreneur in Residence to encourage students to think big on business

Innovation is at the heart of award-winning Strathclyde Business School (SBS), and two new programmes have been devised to inspire the next generation of Scottish entrepreneurs.
Shaf Rasul, Strathclyde Business SchoolShaf Rasul, Strathclyde Business School
Shaf Rasul, Strathclyde Business School

Leading Scots businessman Shaf Rasul has taken on the role of Entrepreneur in Residence at Strathclyde. Announced at the recent Business Quiz organised by SBS, the event welcomed industry partners to join staff and students in competing to see who knew most about the business world.

Shaf will be based in the Enterprise Hub and on a weekly basis will be welcoming students at undergraduate and postgraduate level to approach him with innovative business ideas.

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The Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurship has also spearheaded an initiative with ScottishPower-Iberdrola. Announced on March 1, this Entrepreneurial Challenge is open to all students across the University - students are being asked to bring their new business ideas forward to be considered by a judging panel of Strathclyde faculty, entrepreneurs and Iberdrola managers.

Successful ideas will be eligible for seed funding backed up by advice and support.

Strathclyde’s focus on innovation takes many forms, including the programmes and teaching methods.

The Centre for Corporate Connections at Strathclyde Business School – which works with industry to produce bespoke executive education programmes – is innovative in its approach with all clients.

Strathclyde worked with William Grant & Sons to produce MBA25, a programme with a strong focus on leadership and innovation, with the firm – and other handpicked businesses - helping structure new electives, scenarios and case studies, illustrating true collaboration between industry and academia.

Strathclyde’s most recent executive programme, the Growth Advantage Programme (GAP), is unique to Scotland. With the support of Santander Corporate & Commercial, Strathclyde Business School launched this pioneering programme to provide a unique opportunity for the leaders of growth-oriented Scottish SMEs to take a step back from the daily demands of their business to focus on the best tactics for growing it. A second cohort is now benefiting from this unique programme.

Programme director John Anderson said: “The substantial impact of the programme - average annualised growth in employment and sales across the cohort exceeding the OECD high growth threshold of 20% - was credited by participants to them having greater clarity of the business, sharpening their value proposition, extracting more value from current operations, focusing on core values, measuring activities and changes in structures and people.

“The benefits of the programme are not simply realised in terms of business performance but also by the impact on the individuals who cite having greater confidence, more energy, more growth orientation and growing networks as a result of taking part.”

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This month saw the first of a series of Masterclasses being offered by the Centre for Corporate Connections, the initial Masterclass took place on March 22 when Dr David C. Steinberg focused on strategic questioning. The next Masterclass is on 19th and 20th April, when Ranjit Das will be covering change management. These one and two day classes provide the opportunity to gain new business knowledge without taking much time away from busy and demanding careers. Future Masterclasses will focus on leadership skills, leading digital transformation and customer experience management.

As business moves forward so does business education, and new programmes are needed to suit changing business needs. Strathclyde’s business programmes are using innovative means to reflect the nature of the business world today.

For more information on Masterclasses click here.