Passionate about potential

Mr Austin has moved form washing up to helping businesses clean up

Francois Austin founded Corven five years ago - after 12 years of experience in the consultancy business.

His previous stints living in Paris, Rotterdam, and the US have given him an understanding of the challenges facing global groups.

Mr Austin has even entered the world of books, writing and contributing to a number of management books such as The Discipline of Market Leaders and Surfing On The Edge Of Chaos.

What was your first car?

The first car I ever bought was a Golf in my second year at college, out of money earned working as a waiter in the summer holidays.

What I really wanted was a Peugeot 205 GTI but it was far too racy and I couldn't afford the insurance.

What was your first job?

My first ever job, at the age of 16, was washing lab equipment for a pharmaceutical company in Welwyn Garden City in school holidays. I was paid £1.70 an hour.

My first proper job after leaving university was as a graduate trainee at Ocean Group.

I was based in Rotterdam and it involved selling storage space to oil companies in Rotterdam and Antwerp harbours.

What's the best bit of business advice you've had?

There are two that I try and adhere to with my client work and within my own business.

The first was from my father, a very practical man, who always delivered what he promised. It was to communicate with simplicity and passion.

The second piece of advice was from Mark Milleman who I worked with at CSC Index. He told me never to assume the way I see the world is the way other people see it.

At the time I was in a place where I thought that data and logic could explain most things. It taught me to be much more aware of the human and personal dimensions of business and change.

What's the biggest challenge facing business now?

For consulting and 'mind-intensive' businesses like ours, recruiting people who have the necessary skills for the job can be a challenge.

What is even harder is finding revenue generators - people who can do their work, manage the clients and, most importantly, win new ones. Yet they should still be balanced human beings with whom we can enjoy a drink.

For Corven, the challenge is to continue to remain commercially focused as we were in the early days, yet manage our day to day business and current clients now that we have a brand, a reputation and a strong balance sheet. It's all about discipline.

Also, one needs to manage our growth, in terms of number of staff and geographical reach, whilst not losing touch with one's core values.

The culture and atmosphere within Corven has been very strong and unique from the start and much time and money is invested in terms of regular community and away days.

As we grow and numbers increase it's going to be a big challenge to keep this alive especially across continents.

What can the government do to boost business?

I think the government could allow for tax breaks for young businesses to encourage them to invest more on new technologies and on training and development for their staff.

I also think they could make it easier for smaller firms to work with the government.

The very companies who live and breathe the values that this government aspires to - lean, responsive and entrepreneurial - are the ones who find it hard to gain access to government contracts.

The government could also do more to encourage people, especially those leaving school or university, to set up new businesses.

What's the big business story grabbing your interest at the moment?

The impact of the increase in oil prices on the UK and global economy.

I very much doubt there will a 1972 type situation, as risks tend to be better managed by government around the world, however it could definitely put a slowdown on growth.

Another topical area that ties in well with the Corven philosophy is the importance of performance management, and the real value in measuring the contribution of human capital driving business growth.

What's the proudest moment of your career?

My proudest moment was having the courage to leave what was a large and very successful corporation to set up my own business with two former colleagues.

Now looking back five years on, it's a great feeling to see that we have delivered on our aspirations and that our clients and staff can see the original vision and ambitions becoming real.

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Management Consultancy has grown rapidly in the five years since its foundation, seeing 40% year-on-year growth in its sales.

The group offers a number of services including helping companies to devise integration strategies after mergers and also helping firms to boost performance through growth and innovation plans.

Corven has a number of FTSE 100 clients such as BP and helped to guide Royal Bank of Scotland and NatWest through their merger.