Aiming to accelerate the UK energy transition and contribute to Net Zero emissions, ZeGen combines its unique blend of vision, knowledge, and expertise to unlock geothermal energy from existing oil and gas wells.
The ZeGen team comprises of three experienced professionals: Founder and Director, Kirsten Pasturel, and Co-Founders Michael Sutcliffe and Kenny Watt.
We caught up with Kenny to find out about his experience on Grey Matters 4 in 2019 and what is next on the horizon for the team.
How did you find out about the Grey Matters programme?
We had all been out of the business environment for various reasons and heard about Grey Matters through Scottish Enterprise, Elevator’s social media posts, and our Alumni contacts.
What were your aims/goals when joining the programme?
The main aim was to enter the programme with an open mind and maintain this throughout the duration. Personally, the goal was to see if Grey Matters would reinvigorate and reenergise business ideas and possibly support a new venture.
Did you have any preconceived ideas of what to expect?
I didn’t have any preconceptions really, only that I had heard the programme often challenged years of business conditioning. It certainly did and I believe the whole Cohort quickly embraced the spirit of the programme which was fantastic to witness.
What was your experience – on a whole, like?
Initially a little daunting, however the group really worked well together. Despite some of the challenges which were faced along the way, the overall experience was an extremely positive one and I think we all looked forward to the weekly sessions.
Do you feel the programme has been a platform for helping develop you/your business further?
The ecosystem of support and expertise was and still remains of tremendous value. Starting a new business can be overwhelming at the best of times and the Covid-19 pandemic has made our journey somewhat interesting. Focussing our efforts on collaborating to move the business forward has been critical, and the ZeGen team has benefitted massively from the support of our own and previous Grey Matters Cohorts in addition to the growing business support ecosystem.
Where is your business now?
We have built up an impressive customer portfolio for such a new business and have already established strong relationships. Expectations are to have a commercial breakthrough within the year of 2020 and the future outlook is very encouraging.
Anything else you’d like to add?
The programme content and the guest speakers were exceptional. John Harris, Karen Clark, and the Elevator team constantly challenged and encouraged. Grey Matters is an opportunity every start up business would benefit from immensely.
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