Clive Zickel is a Social Entrepreneur, Finance Wallah and Fog Pilot.He flies either above or below the radar.He is not featured in any top 100 lists nor has he been knighted by the Queen of England and nor has he won a Nobel prize. If that were not enough, he is not featured on the Forbes list of the richest people in the world. So who is Clive Zickel and what is he doing here? Well, you might say he should not be....and that might very well be true. However, after more than 35 years, 10 of which spent in Public Accounting as a Chartered Accountant in Europe with Hill Vellacott,the oldest firm of Chartered Accountants in the City of London,BDO Stoy Hayward,the firm of choice for emerging and aspirational businesses,KPMG,one of the biggest firms and then 20 years as a Financial and Operations Executive at JPM Chase,he retired and started a business that sourced and distributed artisan made gelato and sorbet.Those years spent figuring margins and developing annuity income streams came in helpful, and segmenting clients and markets in Private Banking too.as he found that these techniques could be applied to ice cream. Competing on quality, unique product and service was far more lucrative than competing on price.
It was a fun and successful business but very difficult to scale up nationally,so he sold it after four years,and having experienced his own start up first-hand,became a founder member and investor in a medical device start up, Magnetecs. The company had invented a catheter guidance system that allows surgeons to remotely guide catheters through the body knowing always exactly where the tip of the catheter is ANDin real time. No one had ever succeeded at this before. Here was an opportunity to do well financially while doing good. Once again,the annuity income model. Like Gillette. Sell the razor once and then sell new blades for ever.Catheters are disposable.The other value component is Intellectual Property. Magnetecs is moving ahead nicely, with animal testing complete and clinical testing proceeding in Europe. There is a sense of enthusiasm and excitement notwithstanding the current economic downturn.
Meanwhile, while all of this was happening, Clive was watching a young teenage entrepreneur develop a fascinating big idea.Brian O'Hanlon was learning the art a aquaculture, and had taken over his parents' basement and was growing fish from eggs. He told me that the world's oceans were being drained of fish and that there was going to be a huge shortage unless something was done. Furthermore,that existing methods of fish farming were not sustainable since they were mostly close to shore and were damaging the ecosystems and environment. His answer was to find a way to raise CLEAN fish in a sustainable way out in the deep waters of the ocean. Brilliant! And this is what he has done over the last 10 years. I am proud to say that I have been involved in this venture with Brian for the last few years and have been able to provide some financial and business management advice.
Amazingly, while conservationists know that there is going to be a huge problem as we run out of fish, and that most fish farming is unsustainable, few people know that there is a solution and that Brian O'Hanlon has proven it. The business has proven concept in Puerto Rico and is now scaling up in Panama.
Clive is a partner at Semper Excelsius, a venture consulting firm providing strategic, marketing, financial, business advice to social entrepreneurs, and quick to market artisan food & Beverage product sales and distribution in USA . He is an Adjunct Professor in Finance at Stony Brook University College of Business.
Clive Zickel commented on Fabien Cousteau Explains How Global Leaders Should Defend the Oceans on April 22, 2009, 8:33 PM
Yes, the oceans are being drained of food through over fishing while at the same time demand for seafood protein is increasing bacause of population growth. Wild catch has remained flat and fish farming has accounted for any growth in seafood supply but there is still a shortfall. Adding to the problem is the fact that most fish farming is done in shallow waters close to shore which is unsustainable if not destuctive to the ecosystem. Fish farming has to move off shore into the open ocean where there is plenty of space and strong currents keep the water clean so that fish are raised in optimal conditions. There are a few companies that are pioneering this. One of them is Open Blue Sea Farms. See my page for details.