Saltire Foundation looking for Young entrepreneurs - plus how local man Charles Grant benefited from their fellowship programme

If you think this could be for you then click the read more tab to read a press release from the Saltire Foundation and also details of how it went for Charles Grant.

Young entrepreneurs are offered the chance once again to become Saltire Foundation Fellows

Following another successful and profitable year in 2012/13, The Saltire Fellowship, Scotland's world-class entrepreneurial leadership programme, is now inviting applications from potential Fellows for 2013/14.

The programme is designed to offer talented and hard-working young people in Scotland an innovative and exciting way to fast track their careers and join a powerful alumni network of Fellows.

The once-in-a-lifetime opportunity offers Fellows international-standard tuition at Babson College in Boston, the top ranked business school in the world for entrepreneurship. This is followed by two hands-on, high value, three-month placements, first on an international project based in Boston and then with a Scottish high growth SME.
During their eight-month journey, the Fellows will be exposed to some of the best business brains on the planet and given potentially life-changing entrepreneurial chances.

Sandy Kennedy, chief executive of the Saltire Foundation, said: "Applying for a Fellowship is the starting point in the Foundation's aim of creating a pipeline of confident, entrepreneurial and driven young executives who are ready to enhance Scotland's commercial reputation in the global arena."

Typical of the Fellows who have benefited from the 2012/13 programme is Jonny Macneal, a co-founder of The Edinburgh Young Professionals network.

Jonny's qualifications are impressive - he graduated with an LLB (Hons) with Spanish before gaining an Investment Management Certificate and then a Securites Institute Diploma in Investment Management.

The young entrepreneur is currently midway through the 2012/13 program and, following the 14-week course in Boston and one week in China, is now doing a placement with Insignia Technologies, a Scottish start-up firm.
There are two routes to becoming a Fellow - through Open Enrolment and via employer sponsorship. If you would like to learn more about the programme please go to:

http://www.saltirefoundation.com/FellowshipProgramme/FellowshipMain.aspx

Applicants should contact Linda Barclay (linda.barclay@saltirefoundation.com) for more information. It is important to note interest as early as possible. The deadline for applications is March 15, 2013. Bursaries of up to 80% of the cost of fees are available, dependent on financial circumstances.

For further information about the Saltire Foundation, contact Sandy Kennedy, CEO, Saltire Foundation, Level 7, Strathclyde Business School, 199 Cathedral Street, Glasgow, G4 0QU. T: Tel: +44 (0)141 548 4417. M: 07837 758332. E: sandy.kennedy@saltirefoundation.com. W: www.saltirefoundation Twitter: http://twitter.com/TheSaltireF or http://twitter.com/kennedysandy

Issued on behalf of The Saltire Foundation by Michael Crawford at BPM (UK), 0141 353 1515.

Date: 25 February 2013

Why leadership comes naturally to Charles

Charles Grant is a big fan of heavy metal and hovering about the place. And, oddly enough, these qualities have made him an ideal Fellow of the Saltire Foundation, the organisation dedicated to putting Scottish business on the world stage.

For Charles's experience of heavy metal was commanding a troop of Challenger tanks in Iraq, where he was awarded a commendation for bravery, and his hovering was done in a helicopter, during his time as an Army pilot.

Now he is planning to put his leadership skills to good use in the oil and gas industry in Scotland and the Edinburgh University graduate, who originally hails from Nairn in the Highlands, has already secured a placement with the globally-operating but Scottish HQ’d Wood Group PSN.

Charles, who came through the extremely challenging officer course at Sandhurst in 2001, has completed an Open University MBA while working, and is a Chartered Manager with the Chartered Management Institute.

While he was at Babson College in Boston - the world's top business school for entrepreneurship - as part of his Fellowship programme, he authored a strategic recommendations paper for Wood Group Americas growth within the US shale oil market, reporting direct to the President of Wood Group Americas.

He said: "I intend to use the skills and experience gained from 13 years in the military, with those gained from the Fellowship, to contribute to the success and growth of a Scottish Business."