Monday 4 April 2016

TrackerSense's Wayne Soutter @ Royal Holloway campus talking Entrepreneurship

TrackerSense's founding entrepreneur Wayne Soutter


Wayne Soutter returned for a second time to give another highly successful guest lecture to the MSc Entrepreneurs at Royal Holloway.  


His TrackerSense product is an innovative high value package geolocation service that is just coming to market.  Students got to learn first hand about some of the real world business development issues that caused Wayne a few extra sleepless nights, including a faulty batch of chips and a software glitch that failed to allow for crossing the Greenwich longitude 'the wrong way'.   


The backless housing was designed as a single cast to keep weight and costs as low as possible. Thin, white plastic offers the lowest signal masking.

The circuit board core is essentially a mobile telephone without a screen and speaker.  


Students were invited to consider questions that currently vex Wayne and his colleagues at TrackerSense, including the challenge of 'what next ?'.  




Wayne was able to share detailed insights into the global mobile telecoms sector, several students whose families are involved in global distribution of manufactured goods were keen to sign up for the product as they saw a number of benefits, most notably the lower costs afforded by its environmentally friendly reusability. 
  



Justin O'Brien, MBA Director@RoyalHolloway who leads the entrepreneurial marketing module, said "I think it is very important to offer students opportunities like this to engage and interact with real world businesses.  Wayne is a very engaging speaker who is incredibly knowledgeable and open about his exciting new business."

MBA Director Campus Update

We are at the end of term 2 and the sun has been shining brightly on our beautiful campus this week, my teaching programmes are complete and the fabulous MBA group are tying up the loose ends on their final assignments before taking a well earned rest over the Easter break. 


MBAs are thinking about real business topics for their individual dissertation projects, the live group business consultancy and making sure their passport and visas are in order for the upcoming international study visit that will see them spend a business focused week, starting in Berlin and finishing in Prague. How exciting !!  


Campus is particularly frenetic (some might say bananas ! see below) with all the teaching rooms busy and several major buildings going up in what looks like time-lapse video pace. My office over looks the new library, which was just a very big, deep hole just two weeks ago – it is now two stories high, with two more to go. 


MBAs have been busy on and off campus with a range of experiential learning visits to the Royal Court theatre, DHL’s catering facility and English Premiership Rugby game (below). Remember: “all work and no play makes Jac a dull person”. 




I have been re-connecting with MBA alumna Kelliann McDonald (below) on a busy weeks vacation from her management consulting role in Washington DC. I enjoy hearing reflections from graduated MBA students




PHOTO: MBAs celebrate term end with an Italian restaurant luncheon.

PHOTO: Royal Holloway MBAs offered an insiders facilities tour at DHLs Heathrow airport catering facility as part of the supply chain class. Global logistics partner DHL assemble the inflight catering trolleys for British Airways. 


I am delighted to be seeing numerous high quality MBA applicants formally accepting their places already, keen to join what is already looking like a fantastic cohort. Confirming early can help secure optimal campus accommodation and offer the chance to apply for one of the various scholarships offered. 



Justin O'Brien 

MBA Director
Founders East 111, School of Management,
Royal Holloway University of London