Meet our enterprising minds
and learn the secrets of their success
![](https://www.cam.ac.uk/sites/www.cam.ac.uk/files/shorthand/235381/fC9MUenbxA/assets/plaZdKHgTs/enterprising-minds-montage-2-1875x1875.jpg)
![](https://www.cam.ac.uk/sites/www.cam.ac.uk/files/shorthand/235381/fC9MUenbxA/assets/VPUf2cC9Tm/enterprising-minds-logo-01-2481x564.jpg)
Enterprising people make things happen, whether it’s starting a business or social venture or doing something new in established organisations.
We have been asking some of Cambridge's most enterprising minds what it takes to turn an idea into a reality. Here's what we learnt.
![Dr Gita Khalili Moghaddam](https://www.cam.ac.uk/sites/www.cam.ac.uk/files/shorthand/235381/fC9MUenbxA/assets/5NL1E4v7hk/gita-1540x1440.jpg)
"It's a shots on goal thing. If you keep trying and do all the right things, in the end you'll score. You can call it luck if you like, but I'm not sure it is."
Professor Steve Jackson, founder of KuDOS, Mission Therapeutics and Adrestia Therapeutics
![Professor Steve Jackson](https://www.cam.ac.uk/sites/www.cam.ac.uk/files/shorthand/235381/fC9MUenbxA/assets/lDQwWFrkSE/steve-1540x1440.jpg)
"Don't listen to the 'maybe not' voice in your head."
Dr Giorgia Longobardi, founder and CEO of Cambridge GaN Devices
![Dr Giorgia Longobardi](https://www.cam.ac.uk/sites/www.cam.ac.uk/files/shorthand/235381/fC9MUenbxA/assets/qiu7OIGHX1/giorgia-1540x1440.jpg)
"You need to talk to people and understand why they think certain things are important.
Otherwise, you fall into the same old ways of thinking."
David Cleevely, CBE, co-founder, among other things, of Abcam, Cambridge Network, Cambridge Wireless and Cambridge Angels
![](https://www.cam.ac.uk/sites/www.cam.ac.uk/files/shorthand/235381/fC9MUenbxA/assets/UXh6BQ0D10/david-cleevely-1540x1440.jpg)
"...it's about having a sense of purpose and having an impact."
Dr Jag Srai, Head of the Centre for International Manufacturing at Cambridge's Institute for Manufacturing
![Jag Srai](https://www.cam.ac.uk/sites/www.cam.ac.uk/files/shorthand/235381/fC9MUenbxA/assets/Wwo6V3VTVr/jag-5-1500x1500.jpg)
"Be a team player - ego quickly becomes an obstacle to progress."
Dr Daniel Ives, co-founder and CEO of Shift Bioscience
![](https://www.cam.ac.uk/sites/www.cam.ac.uk/files/shorthand/235381/fC9MUenbxA/assets/pmL0iZcVmY/daniel-1540x1440.jpg)
![Marcel Gehrung](https://www.cam.ac.uk/sites/www.cam.ac.uk/files/shorthand/235381/fC9MUenbxA/assets/lZMLyTgiyy/marcel-1540x1440.jpg)
![Francesca O'Hanlon](https://www.cam.ac.uk/sites/www.cam.ac.uk/files/shorthand/235381/fC9MUenbxA/assets/xBTgIqs6Ve/francesca-1540x1440.jpg)
"... the resilience to recover from, learn from and grow beyond [failures] is perhaps ... just as important as the good judgement (or good luck) to imagine, invent, discover and create something new."
Bruno Cotta, Executive Director of the Entrepreneurship Centre at the Judge Business School
![](https://www.cam.ac.uk/sites/www.cam.ac.uk/files/shorthand/235381/fC9MUenbxA/assets/BBYObM3wp5/bruno-1540x1440.jpg)
Enterprising Minds has been developed with the help of Bruno Cotta, Executive Director of the Entrepreneurship Centre at the Cambridge Judge Business School.
Published 14 November 2022
Photography
Photograph of Marcel Gehrung provided by Cyted
All other photography by StillVision.
The text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License