The I2B (Ideas to Business) Entrepreneurship Group, sponsored by the business school's Strathclyde Business Forum, held its debut event on February 17 within the Department of Management, with two guest speakers - Dr Sunil Kadri, CEO of his own technology start-up OptoSwim, and Dr Stuart Allison, senior executive accounts manager for Scottish Enterprise.
Dr Sunil Kadri told the group of business students, "I've never done any kind of business training, and I don't have any business qualifications so you probably know a lot more about business than I do. But what I do have is a passion for fish farming."
OptoSwim Technologies is a technology start-up engaged in products and services for fish health in salmon aquaculture. Dr Kadri explained he had been involved in fish farming since he was a teenager and after years of experience he realised that there were lots of problems in the industry he wanted to solve.
His first 'eureka moment' was discovering a British scientist in New Zealand who had engineered a system of moving lights which made fish swim more; in turn growing faster and living happier 'stress-free' lives. Commercially, this sort of technology could be invaluable to fish farmers and signify up to £150 million in annual global savings.
Dr Kadri also described the challenges in acquiring start-up capital, the technical difficulties in protecting his intellectual property, struggling with dysfunctional prototypes and disheartening test trials, and dealing with the departure of staff and key investors.
"By January 2008, I was last one standing, with no money and a system that didn't work, I guess that's the point at which you think of giving up, but I don't know what it is in me that means I don't give up at times when everything's telling me I should.”
Finally, after a final cash injection, a major product innovation, Dr Kadri received a phone call in May 2009 saying the fish using OptoSwim technology were biggest in their sea cages. Later that year he received the 02 Male Entrepreneurship Award. He is now testing OptoSwim's newest prototype in Norway, which has one of the biggest fish farming industries in the world.
Dr Stuart Allison, investments expert from Scottish Enterprise, also presented. He has managed major investment decisions into several global operations and he talked about what an investor typically looks for in a solid business plan and concept. He described what young entrepreneurs can do to get funds and make their projects more investable.
I2B's mission is to offer the consultancy, industry-exposure, network of contacts, workshops and events necessary to help young entrepreneurs get their business ideas off the ground.
I2B's next event will focus on starting-up businesses in the emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China. To find out more, go to www.i2b.strathclydebusinessforum.com