J Malcolm Dean Professional biography.
Malcolm is a thorough bred entrepreneur, being involved in many business successes. Importantly though he has also experienced a couple of business failures, learning the hard way!
Initially Malcolm qualified as an Accountant. However, it was not long before he became bored with just being employed in that capacity and he quickly became much more involved in the management of the businesses in which he was employed.
In addition to being involved in the management, he has been the Managing Director of several small and medium size businesses. Malcolm has also assisted others with a number of business start-ups and many small and medium size businesses to improve their profitability and efficiency. Malcolm has entrepreneurship in his genetics, starting up his own businesses. The latest is an online retail pottery business that he set up when he retired from full time employment in 2006. (Note – Malcolm will never retire!) . This latest business required that he learn many new skills – such as search engine optimisation (SEO), content marketing, along with other IT jargon!
All of this experience has given Malcolm a great understanding of the needs of businesses to improve their profitability and efficiency, and in many cases simply how to survive, particularly in the Small and Medium Size Enterprise (SME) sector. Those that own or manage these businesses need to acquire knowledge and understanding of business if they are to succeed and not end up failing like the majority of start-ups.
Malcolm’s knowledge and understanding of business was further strengthened when he became the Chief Executive of the Institute of Financial Accountants (IFA) and the International Association of Book-keepers (IAB). This enabled Malcolm to influence the content of education, training and qualifications and align it closer to the needs of businesses, working on many Government and academic working parties and groups. Importantly, it also gave Malcolm a much better understanding of international business, and the many cultural differences. His job as Chief Executive required him to travel around the world where the IFA and IAB qualifications were being studied. He was able to have face to face meetings with senior academics, Government officials and senior business leaders, getting to know them personally. This is particularly important in a global economy.
All of this had given him a dream. To set up an international organisation concentrating on the training and knowledge requirements of the individuals working in the largest sector in the world. The SME sector. Generally, they do not have time to attend full time courses. Very often they are fighting to survive.
The objective of APME, working in close partnership with the International Alliance of Entrepreneurs (IAE) and other partners, is to offer courses, seminars and webinars tailored to the particular requirements of the SME sector, supporting those businesses to secure and ensure their ongoing success.