Reflections on my keynote address to the Chartered Association of Business Schools' 2026 annual conference - 10th November 2026.
When a business in your town wins its first overseas customer, where does the benefit land?
Certainly in the company's accounts. But potentially also in a new job for a local graduate, an order for a nearby supplier, an apprenticeship or investment in the community.
That's why local economic growth and international export ambition belong in the same conversation. The wider world can be a market for our businesses, but our local communities should share in the rewards.
And there is one institution particularly well placed to connect those ambitions: the business school.
At the Chartered Association of Business Schools' annual conference, my message was simple. Business schools should recognise just how important they already are to our economy - and have the confidence to be even more ambitious.
Not simply as educators or research institutions, but as connectors between business, academia and government. As anchors in their communities. And as catalysts for prosperity.
Three hats, one shared ambition
I approached my keynote wearing three metaphorical hats.
As an entrepreneur who founded Ella's Kitchen and experienced the challenges of international expansion. As Chancellor of the University of Reading, home to Henley Business School. And as an adviser to the Government's Board of Trade, where I conceived and am leading a initiative being developed called Exporting Ambition.
I briefly considered wearing all three hats at once, and asked colleagues what they thought. My entrepreneur friend thought it was a brilliant idea, and I should buy real hats to make the point. My academic colleague wanted to see the evidence before committing. And my government colleague suggested launching a consultation!
But underneath the joke is a serious point.
Business, academia and government too often operate in separate worlds, even though the people within them share many interests and ambitions.
We can create more prosperity when we put our different strengths to work together.
Exporting is one very practical place to start.
The global success that begins locally
When I started Ella's Kitchen at my home in Reading, I knew what I wanted to achieve, but not everything about how to get there.
On my first day, I searched for "baby food regulation". The expertise I needed turned out to be just two miles away, at the University of Reading.
A connection with Dr David Jukes opened the door to food scientists, nutrition expertise and the University's pilot plant. That relationship helped shape Ella's Kitchen, which eventually reached families in more than 50 countries.
The knowledge was local. The perspective was global.
But international expansion wasn't straightforward.
When we entered our first international markets, Norway and Sweden, we discovered that children's routines, eating occasions and regulations differed from Britain, and from each other. We had to rethink our assumptions and adapt, and this had a cost.
We therefore learned that exporting comes with what I call an entry fee.
Before winning your first overseas customer, you need to understand the market, navigate regulations, find partners and invest time and money without knowing whether you'll succeed.
We paid that fee, and it was worth it. Ella's Kitchen became the number one baby food brand in Norway and Sweden.
But for smaller businesses, that entry fee can be disproportionately high.
And that's where business schools can make an enormous difference.
Why Britain's export ambition needs local support
Only around 12% of registered UK SMEs exported goods or services in 2024.
Exporting won't be right for every business, but there is significant untapped potential.
International growth can build resilience, create scale and diversify risk. And when businesses succeed overseas, the benefits can flow into their communities through jobs, skills, suppliers and investment.
But those benefits don't happen automatically.
Businesses need the capability and confidence to grow, while communities need institutions that can help turn commercial success into wider opportunity.
We often ask whether a business is export-ready.
Perhaps we should also ask whether the place around it is ready to support that ambition.
Can an entrepreneur find trusted advice, appropriate finance and specialist expertise? Are the organisations offering support working together?
Too often, what feels like an individual entrepreneur's problem is really a gap in the local support system.
Business schools can help close those gaps.
Exporting Ambition: turning confidence into action
Through my work with the Board of Trade, I'm developing Exporting Ambition, an initiative designed to help more SMEs start exporting, or export more, by changing the behaviour of their leaders.
There is already considerable export support available. The challenge is understanding what prevents businesses from using it, where they get stuck and how to help them move forward.
We've identified five interconnected barriers - the five Cs:
Confidence: Do I believe we can succeed?
Capability: Do we know how?
Capacity: Can we make the time?
Connections: Who can help?
Cash: Can we afford it?
Complexity runs through all five.
Our approach is to understand those barriers, test practical interventions and learn what genuinely changes decisions and behaviour.
It's not simply about providing more information. It's about helping entrepreneurs believe they can succeed, equipping them to make informed decisions and giving them the confidence to act.
Business schools are uniquely placed to help.
Business schools: connecting local strengths to global opportunities
Business schools are rooted in their local economies AND connected to the wider world.
They develop leaders, generate research, attract international talent and bring together businesses, students, academics and public institutions.
Many already do excellent work through the Small Business Charter and Help to Grow: Management.
The opportunity now is to connect that work more closely with international ambition.
Imagine a local business owner considering their first overseas market.
A business school could help research the opportunity. An international alumnus could share market knowledge. An experienced exporter could offer practical advice. A trade adviser could navigate requirements and a bank could help with finance.
None of this necessarily requires a new programme.
What matters is bringing the right people together around a real business challenge, making introductions and following through.
Business schools can make these connections happen - not occasionally, but systematically.
Reading: a century of local and global ambition
The University of Reading's centenary reminds us that the relationship between international business and local prosperity is nothing new.
Over a century ago, Reading was famous for its three Bs: biscuits, beer and bulbs.
Huntley & Palmers became the world's largest biscuit manufacturer, exporting around the globe. Its success supported local jobs, suppliers and families.
The Palmer family also reinvested some of its wealth in the community, helping establish the collage that became the University of Reading exactly 100 years ago.
International commercial success helped create an educational institution whose benefits would last for generations.
Today, we have the opportunity to complete that circle.
A century ago, exporting helped build a university. Today, that university can help build the next generation of exporters.
It's a wonderful illustration of what happens when commercial and civic ambition reinforce each other.
A challenge to business schools
My message to business school leaders is not that they need to reinvent themselves.
It's that they should recognise the extraordinary assets they already possess, have confidence in their importance and use those assets even more ambitiously.
I encouraged three commitments.
First, develop leaders, not just businesses. Help entrepreneurs recognise opportunities, build confidence and make decisions under uncertainty. Changing how a founder thinks can transform what their small company believes is possible.
Second, connect the people behind the institutions. Bring businesses together with academics, students, experienced exporters, finance providers and government support. Make collaboration practical and purposeful.
Third, set a shared ambition and measure what happens. What if every business school committed to helping ten local businesses win their first overseas customer? And then measured the jobs, skills, investment and opportunities created locally?
That would be a powerful demonstration of their contribution to national and local prosperity.
Bringing the rewards home
Britain's economic future depends in part on building more confident, capable and internationally ambitious businesses.
But national growth isn't simply a number on a spreadsheet.
It's experienced locally - through jobs, opportunities, investment and the confidence that communities have in their future.
Business schools have a vital role in making that happen.
They can connect entrepreneurs with academics, local businesses with international markets and government ambition with the realities of building a business.
They can help lower the entry fee to exporting, and ensure that international success translates into local prosperity.
That is an important economic mission, and one in which business schools should take enormous confidence and pride.
Because local growth and global ambition aren't competing priorities. At their best, they reinforce each other.
Whatever hat we're wearing, let's put our heads together.
And let's help more local businesses reach the world - and bring the rewards home.