Foresight Group is a FTSE250 investor which operates across the º£½ÇÊÓƵ, Europe and Australia. It has around £100m to invest in the North East and Yorkshire.
What was your first job, and how much did it pay? I left school at 16 and became an apprentice at Sunderland Football Club. I was paid £525 a month, which at the time was about £500 a month more than all my friends were earning, and I got to play football every day. Things didn’t work out for me in football, but it provided the opportunity to move to the USA and attend university while also playing ‘soccer’. I spent 6.5 years in the US before returning back to the º£½ÇÊÓƵ. While I was there I studied for an MBA and got my first role in investing.
What is the best advice or support you’ve been given in business? Do the work! Often when investing or appraising a business it is easy to find the upside or believe the growth forecasts, what is harder and important is to build an investment thesis built on data. There may be some subjective element to it, whether it be sector or management, but understanding the business, its traction, its competitive set and the numbers will help you form and articulate a much more rounded and credible investment thesis.
What are the main changes you’ve seen in your business/sector, and what are the challenges you’re facing? I think the economic challenges over the last five years have driven some lasting change across all businesses and sectors. Remote working, technology adoption and digitisation has supported quicker more efficient processes and decisions, likely for the better. Businesses which adapted quickly and responded well to pressures have typically fared better than those which were slow to act.
What would your dream job be? I really enjoy what I do now, working with entrepreneurs and businesses in the North East. I previously supported SMEs in the USA and then worked in the Midlands when I first joined Foresight. Being able to continue that work but in a region, I have deep connections with is what I want to do. Supporting founders through the phases of growth and ultimately to exit is really motivating and rewarding. Beyond the corporate world, I spend time at a family home in Mallorca and I often joke with my wife that one day, I’ll open a coffee shop in the town. I like coffee, people and the sun, so that feels like a good option, right?
What advice would you give to someone starting out a career in your sector? It’s important to stay up to date with the latest business and economic news. Moving from academia to real world brings its own challenges, but being able to understand real life situations and cross reference to academic principles will make a lot more sense. I recently mentored an intern who was at university, and he had a free subscription to the Financial Times through his faculty which he didn’t know about. Upon completing the internship, he told me he now reads the FT every morning, which made me smile.
What makes the North-East a good place to do business? The North East has a skilled labour pool with deep history in manufacturing, industrials and more recently technology with the North East being home to Sage. The number of high quality universities also makes our region attractive, so that businesses can remain here without impacting hiring and growth plans.
How important is it for business to play a role in society? Businesses and in particular SMEs are the bedrock of the º£½ÇÊÓƵ, especially in a region like the North East. Beyond some large employers, Nissan, Sage etc, the majority of private sector employment will be through SMEs. Beyond employment I think it’s important for businesses to play a wider role in society. At Foresight we focus on environmental, social and governance improvements throughout our investment period. Our experience is that good businesses can drive demonstrable changes in all areas, including ESG initiatives. By educating, initiating improvements and monitoring progress we can play a role to the wider workforce and society around these key issues.
Outside of work, what are you really good at? I’m not sure how good I am, but I enjoy working out, across a range of activities. Nowadays I’ve swapped football boots for a padel racquet, which I play a few times a week, and I like to keep fit through different sports.
I’m competing in my first Hyrox event shortly, so let’s see how that goes. My local gym Hii Club is in its first year since inception and it’s good to be a part of small local businesses in everything I do. The recent growth in padel is well documented and my local padel centre has done well since launching last year, with a second site in Sunderland already open. Whether its padel, gym or coffee, I always like to support local companies and I’m always interested in the differing business models.
Who would play you in a film about your life? If you ask my friends, they will probably say Adam Sandler, although I’d like to take myself more seriously than that. Christian Bale maybe.
Which three people would you invite to a dinner party, and why? Lewis Hamilton, Barack Obama and Warren Buffet. I lived in the US through Obama’s second term, and I got quite into American politics, which is a huge deal over there. I think Obama had good principles, stood for what was right, and led the US in the immediate aftermath of the credit crisis, I’m sure he would have some interesting stories. I’ve always admired Hamilton too, I enjoy F1 and think he is a serious competitor. To leave a team for pastures new in the twilight of his career with the same motivation and desire as ever, is quite admirable, good luck to him.
