Alison Brown and Elliotte Jacobs - UCL MBA alumna and student respectively - were invited to Level 50 of One Canada Square for a panel discussion moderated by Professor and UCL MBA Programme Director Harveen Chugh. The event was open to UCL MBA students and alumni, as well as visiting students from both the UCL MBA with Peking University and Singapore Management University.
The panel event was designed to showcase the experiences of London-based entrepreneurs, with Alison and Elliotte joining the panel and diving into their careers, their time on the UCL MBA and the advice they’d give to future business founders.
Originally trained in law, Alison is now the CEO of Private Clients Travel, a members-only consultancy offering tailored travel services. Alison discusses the significance of adaptability in entrepreneurship, highlighting the volatility of the travel industry in particular and suggests that entrepreneurs must be resilient and prepared for the constant evolution of markets.
When asked about her experiences as a female entrepreneur, Alison recalls fundraising meetings with male investors where she was asked to fetch tea and expresses frustration at the frequency with which she has seen less experienced and less qualified male entrepreneurs receive significantly more funding than their female counterparts. While she acknowledges the changing landscape for women in entrepreneurship, for Alison, the glass ceiling remains a barrier to overcome.
A current UCL MBA candidate, Elliotte Jacobs has spent much of his career at large multinational companies in sales leadership before transitioning to entrepreneurship. As the co-founder of a go-to market consultancy, Elliotte has advised startups ranging from AI solution providers to creators of virtual environments for training and safety. He recently joined a startup as Chief Sales Officer at an XR (extended reality) company called Simulation Creation.
He touches on his love of entrepreneurship and the possibilities it presents to build a company that aligns with an individual’s values and goals. He also encourages attendees to understand the commonality of failure in start-ups - and embrace it.
While the UCL MBA is not specifically designed for entrepreneurs, Elliotte identifies two key areas of his leadership that have improved significantly as a result of the programme: his confidence and his ability to use business frameworks to tackle real-world business challenges.
Alison echoes this message: “There are companies that pay thousands to receive the marketing intelligence that I received during my time on the UCL MBA. We developed insights on such a diverse landscape of geopolitical locations and learnt so much about what was happening in different market places.”
Professor Harveen Chugh, Programme Director of the UCL MBA, said: “The panel event highlighted how the MBA enriches the entrepreneurial journey by providing frameworks that apply to both entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs, with some starting their journey during the MBA.”
“Confidence, resilience and agility were key characteristics developed along the way. I would like to thank Alison Brown and Elliotte Jacobs for sharing so candidly - it was a truly inspiring conversation.”
