GETTING TO KNOW YOU
Getting to Know Amantha Imber
What inspired you to start your business ? What are your goals and values ? I ’ ve always been very passionate about innovation and creativity , and a not-so-closet science geek . When I started Inventium nine years ago , Australia ’ s leading innovation consultancy , I saw a gap in the market . There were a few innovation consultancies around at the time but the industry was full of fluff – people basing their advice about how to grow through innovation simply on their own personal experience . There was no evidence that what they were saying worked . So I started Inventium to counter the fluff and bring a scientifically proven approach to help companies thrive through innovation .
What was the driving force behind your decision to specialise in this area of business ? It was my passion for the subject matter that initially drove me to specialise in innovation . I also felt that with my psychology background ( I have a Doctorate in Organisational Psychology ), I could bring a unique and valuable perspective to the field .
What types of customers do you help ? What experience do you have helping small business customers ? Our customers range from medium sized businesses through to some of the biggest companies in the world , such as Google , Nestle and LEGO .
The commonality between our customers is that they value innovation and want help becoming even more effective at it .
Do you service other sectors as well ? We work across every single industry that exists except for Tobacco and Gambling . For ethical reasons we have opted out of helping companies in these areas .
What are the main reasons that someone would choose you to help grow / develop / improve their business ? Businesses that want a scientifically proven approach to growing their company through innovation come to us . Our science-based approach gives people confidence that our methodology actually works – and it certainly does .
What process , services and support do your clients receive ? We help our clients in a number of ways . We do a lot of training and capability building work with our clients , and educate them with practical science-based tools through one of our specialised training programs or keynotes .
We often get brought in to help our clients solve their toughest business challenges by adopting a customer-centric approach using Lean Startup methodologies .
Finally , and most commonly , we help transform our client ’ s organisations into highly innovative , customer-centric companies by adopting world-class , best practice methodologies .
What challenges did you face in setting up your business ? Setting up Inventium was a Plan B at the time . I didn ’ t want to start my own business , but at the time , I couldn ’ t find an organisation that I wanted to work for in the innovation space where I respected the company ’ s IP and also felt there was a good cultural fit . So I decided to take matters into my own hands and do it myself .
Given I had never aspired to start a business , and I hadn ’ t been exposed to many entrepreneurs
46 ModernBusiness May 2016