The MBA Candidate for Empower Technical Services
An entrepreneurial approach to acquisitions.
Please find below my reasons of interest & resume
My Background
So Why Me?
In a sea of MBA’s I am familiar with the hiring landscape and quite frankly the short comings of many MBA’s. I think many MBA’s are one dimensional and lack the entrepreneurial vigour empower needs at this stage. Sure, when Empower’s a 100m EV company, those very people are perfect to protect what's been built, but are not whats required to help build it in the first place. I like to believe I have a good balance and will outline briefly below.
MBA @ The University Of Birmingham
Mid MBA at the University Of Birmingham (Remote, part time at weekends) — My most recent module was Strategy in which I achieved the highest grade in my year (Image attached). I have delved in accounting, managerial finance, strategy, leadership, economics and much, much more.
I got into a world top 15 (FT) DL-MBA on the case of “Exceptional potential route” as I never pursued an undergrad as I was busy in the family business and building startups.
Private Equity Programme @ The University of Oxford.
I applied and gained acceptance into the Private Equity Programme @ The University of Oxford under Prof Ludovic, one of private equities most illusive and standout academics. I spent 2 months with oxford with nearly an assignment per week. I achieved 100% on 4 of the 6 modules, which ranged from financial modelling, valuation analysis, IM building, capital raising, benchmarking and much, much more.
A breadth of other experience
Ranging from CFI’s FMVA and many other less traditional programmes alongside active serial acquirers, major developers and investors alike. All in the aim of becoming an eventual top mind in the M&A space (a never ending process).
Operational Experience
Family Businesses
From an early age I have been operational within the family businesses ranging from FM, technical services, developments and leisure parks. Due to my parents pending divorce this sent us down the pathway to rebuild.
Many MBA’s have little to no on the ground operational experience. They’ve never had to work their way up the site pecking order or see the realities of the trades services from the inside. I can proudly say I have done each and every job on site, from labouring in my younger days to site managing, new build management and even building my own passive lodge site which we are in the process of exiting ourselves, thus leading us to double down on M&A interest. This means I’m human, someone who can speak the language of sellers and investors alike.
Startups
Where do I start? From the age of 12 I’ve been building companies, from stores, to AI CSA chatbots, to property platforms. I have been through the startup ringer and learnt more than I could have ever imagined, from managing co-founders overseas, to mentorship from the founder of shopify, it's been a Journey!
This is key for Empower as I perceive the startup energy is whats needed, especially at a top co level, as although the acquisitions are mature, the hold co still requires startup energy to scale.
Mini M&A
I have bought and sold different micro companies from being a teenager in which I like to call Mini M&A. Flippa & micro acquire were my home for a long time. This led me down the path of ETA and search funds and the problems that exist in the UK market vs our US counterparts. This had made my eventual career north star goal to bridge the equity gap and provide a UK SBA semi-equivalent. Post-MBA I aim to gain internal operational experience in a looming roll up and push my energy into scaling roll ups in order to advise on them later in my career.
Exit Consulting
I have spent the last year and a half of my MBA searching and exit consulting. Throughout this process I’ve advised with SME’s and building systems and tech enablement in order to exit. This has ranged from using LLM’s to optimise manufacturing and eventually successfully helped them outsource production with suppliers in China at pennies on the pound and also built sales channels and systems for a B2B2C model which currently didn’t exist and optimised for volume orders and modelled them towards an exit. From here I’ve been a sponge around many acquisitions and spoke with most of the searchers in the country, which In my spare time I plan to evangelise the searchfund.co.uk site which we recently acquired as a community.
Contact Me
For Feedback Or Questions:
I would come to London, travel to deals wherever (overseas if required) and get immersed in the machine that is Empower. The salary is not my main focus, live deals and scale are. I noticed the MBA role has now stopped applicants whilst making this but I am interested in any capacity on the front line of M&A. To discuss:
jamesdarnellgraham@outlook.com
+44 7484824241 (Whatsapp at anytime)
Happy to discuss collaborations either way, I wish Empower all the success in the world. Ad Astra- To The Stars.
