Many believe entrepreneurial thinking primarily thrives within an environment built to nurture its very nature. In fact, in the second week of my externship, when introduced to senior management within my unit, one of the managers’ responded with,

‘Why would an entrepreneur want to work for a multinational corporation like us’?

His reaction echoes the general assumption that entrepreneurial thinking is somewhat incompatible within the more ‘meticulous’ nature of the multinational corporation.

A couple of weeks later I had the fortune of meeting a lovely lady who dispelled this view.  While on our lunch break, Amina and I bumped into one of the recruits we met at the employee induction on our first day at Liberty Mutual. We had lunch, and as we chatted away we told her about the Saltire programme and our ambition to drive entrepreneurial - yet global - thinking in Scotland and support Scotland's transformation to a hub for innovation and investment.    

She was very enthusiastic about the opportunity and in return told us a little about herself; turns out in addition to working at Liberty Mutual she is an aspiring writer and an entrepreneur in her own right. While working on her first novel, she also set up her own publishing company through which she aims to launch her book and help other budding writers just like her.

The motivation to set up her own company came from the challenges she faced when she initially sought a publisher for her manuscript. While the feedback was generally positive, agents would not publish her novel; saying it needed a little more ‘depth’. She took their advice on board, however to eliminate some of the roadblocks she faced and publish on her own terms she decided to set up her own company.

While maintaining a full time job she remains passionate about her dream; to her, entrepreneurial thinking is a ‘state of mind’ not a ‘state of place’.

I think this is a little inspirational story which takes things back to basics…

It all begins with you the individual; Your Vision, Your Conviction and Your Commitment to taking the steps necessary to making things happen. A great team comes next; everything else is the icing on the cake.