CEO Today UK Awards 2021

109 CEO TODAY UNITED KINGDOM AWARDS 2021 Engineering “I’d like to think we’ve been successful in achieving this. We have a high staff retention rate, a diverse mix of people from different backgrounds and an agile entrepreneurial culture in which people are encouraged to express their opinions and ideas. This has been a major factor in our success to date. We also try to make staff feel valued by throwing in extra perks, including a free healthy lunch.” Michael himself is a competent problem solver, very experienced in identifying gaps and opportunities in the market and developing tech solutions to address these gaps to make processes and systems more optimal and usable. “Being self-taught has helped in this respect,” he says. “It has enabledme to keep an openmind, to try different ways of doing things to see which method works best. Some people are more resistant to change and settle on a particular solution, method or process. Here at Mo-Sys I encourage the team to strive continually to make improvements and challenge the status quo; this approach has paid huge dividends for us.” Mo-Sys is about to embark on the next stage of its ambitious expansion plan, which includes the launch of three innovative start-ups and a strategy to forge more partnerships, create employment and drive entrepreneur and tech-led economic growth in the borough of Greenwich. Michael says: “Our aim is to generate significant growth in the local economy by learning, experimenting and implementing new filming technology and supporting entrepreneurs who want to develop high-tech businesses in the area. We also want to continue forging strong relationships with education providers to build skills in filmmaking, VP and technology.” Mo-Sys already has a strong bond with the University of Greenwich. Last year the company helped three of the university’s media and film students to complete their course when they couldn’t get on set to finish their filming projects. With social distancing rules in place, they were unable to get everyone together on set but Mo-Sys’ technology meant that most of the people could join the studio remotely. As a result of this assistance, all three students have now gone on to complete their studies and get jobs in the industry. Highly skilled professionals will be needed by Mo-Sys as it pursues its ambitious expansion plans, which include doubling the size of its workforce to 120 within two years. The company has already demonstrated its agility in the COVID-19 pandemic, rethinking its existing products to see how they could be modified for use in the current climate. Michael says: “We had to address how to increase productivity and efficiency even with people working from home. We’ve also made significant changes in our marketing strategy to help us remain visible to existing and prospective customers; this has been important as our main promotional activity – large-scale international trade shows – have been cancelled due to COVID-19. While Mo-Sys’ recent growth has been impressive, it has been a challenging time. “We felt it was vital to keep R&D going because we didn’t want to be overtaken by our competitors. COVID was an opportunity for smaller companies to overtake large companies. While the risk-averse finance directors of large companies furloughed many of their employees, smaller companies pivoted, adapted to new markets and started to increase their market share. Immediately before the first lockdown, I rethought our product strategy and started to develop COVID-friendly product lines. Michael has now opened an outlet in Los Angeles and hired a further 23 staff for Mo- Sys’ London and LA offices. As the workforce grows, he’s building a culture that embraces innovation, collaborative working and a continual desire to improve. He says: “I listen to Jurga, my wife, who is great at spotting ways of improving our marketing and identifying talent who will take our business forward. She is very people-oriented and wants to make Mo-Sys one of the top 100 companies to work for in the UK. We won’t tolerate office politics or any bullying in our organisation; we employ people who enjoy what they do and are free to express their ideas and opinions. “We are very optimistic about the future. Our growth plans are based on our ability to find innovative solutions to real-world problems and I’m confident that we will continue to do this.” BBC One - Strictly Come Dancing 2020 Behind the scenes - Gravity 2013