National Apprenticeship Week at LINIAN

 It’s National Apprenticeship Week from 7th to 13th February. At LINIAN, we’re celebrating our partnerships and mentors from around the world. Lynne Jhangeer, LINIAN Global Commercial Director, discusses how LINIAN is developing a framework to support apprentices. Plus, the positive impact of mentorship on the LINIAN business and the team's personal development to date. 

You may have seen recently on our social media channels that we have a new apprentice. We are proudly mentoring Carys Roebuck through her yearlong Digital Applications apprenticeship here at LINIAN HQ. Carys is an exceptional student with a very bright future. We’re thrilled to have her as part of the team here. Carys has applied herself and is excelling at applying her apprenticeship modules to everyday life at LINIAN. We’ve mapped out an internal framework for Carys to be supported. We're making sure she frequently practices the software and skills that she needs in real-time well in advance of any assessments.

It's our mission to ensure that Carys can thrive and be prepared for when the time comes to sit down and be assessed. This is a framework that will support many more apprentices yet to come. 

Our background
Ian and I sometimes struggled as young students with an entrepreneurial mindset in an academic school. We weren’t always lucky enough to receive support to pass exams. Occasionally, we did get a teacher who “got us”. One who expressed an interest or applied a new way of learning by thinking outside the box. When this happened, we always excelled with high pass marks. We vowed that if we were ever fortunate enough to play the part of shaping another young person’s future, then we’d step us as mentors too. We would make sure that we would do all we could to help them succeed, way beyond their expectations. 

Both of us took different paths. Ian completed an electrical apprenticeship and I worked in the family M&E Wholesalers in Glasgow for over 10 years. It’s funny that we both arrived at the same destination, here at LINIAN. We're working together to build a business, developing the best products and developing the best talent too. 

Our mentors
During our earlier careers and at LINIAN, we’ve had the most wonderful mentors. Some who we can’t name, but who have taken time to coach, develop, model and mirror to shape our lives and ultimately our business. At times, we’ve had to make difficult decisions, but their support has helped us to navigate the process and see only the facts without emotion to an onward destination. Each time with the best interests of our personal development and the business at heart. 

Recently, Ian and I have received support to study with Unlocking Ambition and Entrepreneurial Scotland to prepare for business growth and leadership. I attended Babson College to study 'Equipping Leaders for Growth and Change' just before the pandemic. Ian joined a cohort of nine Scottish business leaders to visit world-leading companies in Silicon Valley and participate in group learning (read about it here). On the trip, he made lifetime connections as each business leader brought real value, advice or assistance to each other. It was priceless. 

During both our experiences studying abroad, we were fortunate enough to meet incredible people. Each person had a hand in shaping our lives and our journey with entrepreneurship. 

Support is key!
Throughout our LINIAN journey, we’ve been mentored by people from Scottish Enterprise, Scottish Development International, Scottish Chamber of Commerce, Glasgow Chamber of Commerce. We've also learned and been supported by many suppliers, colleagues, and customers too.   

In our previous careers, we’ve had mentors that we’ve looked up to. To be honest, we've also had some of whom we weren’t too sure of... However, each shaped our path to becoming the best that WE can be. For that, we thank you!  

Paying it forward
We compete with no one, we’re hard enough on ourselves, and now it’s our time and privilege to start repaying those valuable lessons and start shaping the future of others within our team and beyond now and in the future. 

Carys may be our first apprentice at LINIAN, but she won't be the last!

Lynne Jhangeer

Global Commercial Director, LINIAN

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