On leaving a private boarding school in Wales in 1989, I relocated to Torquay, and on completing market research I took college courses in “astrology” and desktop publishing at South Devon College. I then set-up a printing business, providing brochures, letterheads and ‘astrological profiles’. It became clear entrepreneurship would be a big part of my life.
1994-1996: My formative years
While I had few qualifications, determined to succeed I took another course at South Devon College, this time a GNVQ in Business Foundation. I took easily to learning the impact of the law on the rights of businesses and their obligations to customers.
Within a few months of starting the course I had convinced the other people doing the course to set up a business, which helped us to meet the course objectives and our ambitions. Our business, founded in 1994, was called Auntie Rosie’s Bee Products, and gave me the chance to be company secretary during the start-up, and financial director for the remaining period until the winding up when we completed the course – the two most important positions at each stage.
1996-2004: My foundational years
After completing my GNVQ, I decided I wanted to specialise in printing and desktop publishing, and moved back to Wales to study a National Diploma in Design and Print at Cardiff Metropolitan University. I worked briefly as a construction administrator before taking the course up, which gave me experience of how an estimating department worked, and this gave me good commercial experience beyond my entrepreneurship, including acting under direction and teamwork. After completing my ‘ND’, which four degrees later I call a ‘No degree!’, I enrolled at the University of Glamorgan on a Higher National Diploma in Multimedia or ‘higher non-degree!’, which I sailed through getting mainly distinctions. Towards the course credit I convinced the proprietor of Broadway Studios in Treforest to take me on to help me fund the software for my course, and worked for him until 2004 in various briefs best described by the overall title, Multimedia Analyst.
Highlights during this period included; inventing the”circle of friends” social networking technology, which while not patented or commercial exploited due to bad advice from a tutor, now forms an essential component of modern social networking services. Also the gaining of a 2:1 in a BSc(Hons) in Multimedia Studies degree in 2002, the publishing of my first peer-review research paper for a learned journal in 2003 and the gaining of my MSc in E-Learning in 2004 degree rounded off a successful period of demonstrable experience in programming, project management, research and development, and the ability to prioritise workloads, which has served me well in my eventful and broad life.
2004-2009: My realisation as at IT and Legal Professional
In 2004 I left the demands of programming and project management at Broadway Studios, and returned to construction administration, in a technical and advisory position taking two forms during my time a Four-Sure Construction Ltd, a firm my father founded (i.e. a “construction technologist” between 2004 and 2008, and “information technician” between 2008 and 2009). The low stress and pressure of this job due to working for a family firm meant I had the time and space to take one of the most rigorous courses I ever have – a Master of Laws degree in European Union Law – without giving up employment.
2007-Present: My maturing as a recognised leader and authority
After gaining the legal knowledge I learned on my Masters of Law in European Union Law in July 2007, in the same month my first limited company was incorporated as Glamorgan Blended Learning Ltd, a multi-stakeholder co-operative which had as its mission to bring about social change through e-learning. Within months I had quickly met the criteria to be a Chartered IT Professional recognised by BCS – The Chartered Institute for IT. While I was still working in a professional capacity as an information technician to support myself financially, along with others I convinced to come on board, all of us working unpaid at the time, we embarked on the peoplisation (i.e. not-for-profit commercialisation) of my research into the ‘learn-create-communicate’ (LCC) method I devised and my hypothesised “P4″ approach (People-Private-Public-Partnership) which we implemented as the Emotivate Project‘ with myself as Chairman and Project Manager.
This resulted in the use of public and people funding and private subsidy being combined with multiple stakeholders such as people sector workers and volunteers (i.e. my firm’s management, and a partner environmental firm), private sector workers (i.e. private tutors and a construction firm), public sector workers (i.e. the youth offending service and environmental services department), “involunteers” (i.e. young offenders), and service-users (i.e. young people). This extension to New Labour’s public-private partnership model, which I developed further by becoming a Research Associate at Kingston Business School, meant that when blended with the “LCC” method, this new knowledge resulted in the young people using their e-learning derived education to design two murals about their perceived history of the community and the future direction they wanted to take.
Using the expertise of all three sectors proved the “Big Society” model can work, even before the term was coined, where there is appropriate drive and funding and effective knowledge management, regardless of experience of stakeholders. This project proved that even the most disadvantaged and marginalised groups can be involved in regeneration projects. By the end of 2010 I had been awarded Fellowship of the royal society of arts, manufactures and commerce for this innovative approach to combining community arts with community education and regeneration, and in combination with this and earlier experience I was awarded Fellowship of BCS, which means I have reached the level of authority, eminence and seniority in demonstrating the competencies and experience required at SFIA+ Level 7. This means I can effortlessly set strategy, inspire and mobilise to the level required of a Chief Information Officer, Chief Technology Officer, or Chief Legal Officer.