ENTREPRENEURSHIP - Case Study: Lex Greensill's Entrepreneurial Journey

This report presents a comprehensive case study of Lex Greensill, the founder of Greensill Capital, examining his entrepreneurial skills, strategies, and impact on the financial industry. The analysis explores his vision to provide working capital solutions for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), his innovative approach to supply chain finance, and his entrepreneurial orientation. The report delves into Greensill's leadership style, his ability to take risks, and his focus on employee engagement and networking. It highlights his major talents, shortcomings, and the factors that contributed to Greensill Capital's success. Furthermore, the report discusses the challenges faced by Greensill and the importance of innovation, creativity, and maintaining a strong network within the industry. The case study provides valuable insights into the entrepreneurial journey of Lex Greensill and offers recommendations for maintaining his position in the industry. The study also highlights the importance of networking and collaboration with other multinational organizations to provide innovative and improved products and services.

2020
Entrepreneurship
Case study of Lex Greensill
Student details

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Executive Summary
The assignment is focused on analysing the skills and competencies of Lex Greensill
as an entrepreneur and how effectively Greensill has contributed towards the growth and
success of the organisation within the industry. The assignment highlights the key aspects
involved in the entrepreneurship and the way the entrepreneur should utilise such aspects in
ensuring the success within the industry.
The analysis helps in analysing Lex Greensill focus towards implementing innovative
and creative change within the organisation so that the organisation goals and objectives can
be achieved. The Entrepreneur has developed a vision to provide the small and medium
enterprises working capital through which they can effectively focus on meeting their needs
and requirements within the industry and can compete within the industry. Greensill has
experienced the need of working capital for the SMEs in his initial phases of life. Therefore,
the entrepreneur was focused on the vision to provide such organisations with financing
needs at an affordable or lower rate. The organisation policies and strategies has resulted in
achieving the position of leading leader within the industry and also Lex Greensill has
achieved the entrepreneur of the year award for his contribution towards the industry.
The organisation is required to focus on maintaining the collaborations with the
industry leaders and retain such networking practices so that the management at Greensill
will be able to effectively retain its position within the industry and be able to provide
innovative and competitive products to the customers. Also, innovation and creativity are the
key aspect of performance improvement therefore, it is required that the management
effectively focuses on retaining its innovative factor within the organisation.

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Lex Greensill as Entrepreneur....................................................................................................3
Entrepreneurial Orientation........................................................................................................4
Employee Engagement...............................................................................................................5
Importance of Networking.........................................................................................................6
Recommendations......................................................................................................................7
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................8
References..................................................................................................................................9

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Introduction
An entrepreneur is referred to the individual who focuses on the introduction of the
innovative products or service within the industry by putting the financial risk at stake. The
entrepreneurs are required to effectively focus on the industry and analyse the requirements
and issues so that an innovative solution for the issue can be provided. An entrepreneur is
required to be focused, innovative, creative and should have an ability to take risk within the
industry. The process of designing and launching a new business is defined as
entrepreneurship. The entrepreneurship is done with a focus on achieving success within the
industry (Jayawarna, Rouse, & Kitching, 2013).
Lex Greensill is the founder of the Greensill Capital based in the UK, the entrepreneur
effectively focused on developing an organisation that provides services to the companies to
manage and utilise the working capital within the industry. The entrepreneur has its focus on
the managing of the organisation and providing its clients with innovative products and
services to improve organisational effectiveness. Greensill has focused on developing
products and policies to support the small and medium enterprises operating within the
industry so that their working capital needs and requirements can be fulfilled and their
productivity can be improved (Greensill, 2020).
The report analyses the Lex Greensill as an entrepreneur and is focused on analysing
the skills and capabilities of Lex Greensill and focusing upon the factors that have resulted in
the success of the organisation developed by the entrepreneur. Also, the report analyses the
challenges faced by the entrepreneurs within the industry and how effectively the
management has utilised the industry tools to achieve success.
Lex Greensill as Entrepreneur
Lex Greensill can be categorised as an entrepreneur as the individual has a focus to
create a platform where trading can take place, along with the focus the creative solution
developed resulted in creating one of the largest bond issuers within the world. Being an
entrepreneur, Greensill effectively focuses on utilising the available technology and the
capital to achieve the goals and objective and creating wealth for the stakeholders within the
industry. Greensill says that being an entrepreneur it is required that the decisions taken by
him within the organisation should be free from the fear and the market risk (EY Oceania,
2019).

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Lex Greensill can be classified as an innovative entrepreneur as the vison of Greensill
was to design solutions through which the organisations would be able to get greater access
to the working capital. Therefore, the idea on which the Greensill’s organisation was based
was innovative and was focused on the societal development along with the wealth creation
for the individual. Therefore, Lex can effectively be categorised as an innovative
entrepreneur who identified an issue and developed an innovative solution for the problem
which resulted in creating the individual the entrepreneur of the year and an organisation
which is leading within the industry (Bundaberg Now, 2019).
As an entrepreneur, Greensill is highly focused towards the goals and takes steps so
that the strategies can be developed through which the goals can be achieved. The
organisation developed by Greensill also focuses on the industry to identify the opportunities
and new ways through which their aim of providing their clients with addressing the needs of
the working capital. The entrepreneur has established a long-term vision and has effectively
backed up with the strategies through which the vision can be achieved. The entrepreneur is
focusing upon expanding its operations in different segments due to which it may lack focus
on the core business goals and objectives (Butler, 2019).
Lex Greensill is an individual that focuses on bringing the change in the way the
business activities works. As being grown up in a poor-conditions where he was not able to
get proper education, he understands that there is need for change within the society through
which the society can get a chance to develop itself and focuses on identifying such
opportunities and effectively implement it within the society. Therefore, the temperament of
the Lex Greensill can be defined as change-oriented with a view of societal development.
Also, the billionaire always focuses on the needs and requirements of the small and medium
enterprises and prefers to work with such clients rather than working with multinational
organisations (Credit Suisse, 2017).
Entrepreneurial Orientation
Entrepreneurial Orientation is a concept which effectively defines the strategic
competencies of an organisation or an individual based on certain factors. Autonomy; Lex
Greensill effectively ensures that the employee within the organisation takes part in the
operations and contribute towards the innovative ideas within the organisation. Such
autonomy within the organisation results in developing entrepreneur capabilities and
achievement of strategic goals. Competitive Aggressiveness; the entrepreneur effectively

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develops strategies within the organisation and implement them so that the organisation can
compete effectively within the industry, and the effectiveness of the Greensill has resulted in
leading the organisation towards being the world’s largest bond issuers (Scott, 2017).
Innovativeness; Lex is an innovative entrepreneur focused towards identifying
innovative measures through which the activities can be done and a positive impact can be
created. Proactiveness; The effectiveness of the entrepreneur to analyse the situation and
identify opportunities is the key that has led towards the achievement of the entrepreneur of
the year. Risk-Taking; Greensill focuses on taking risk while taking decisions within the
organisation, as the entrepreneur believes that the risk is a part of the decision-making
process and effectively analyses the risk before taking the decisions (Koehn, 2019).
The background of the entrepreneur through which he has raised himself and the
experience of the Greensill has motivated the entrepreneur to pursue the entrepreneurial
opportunities and to contribute towards the societal development and identifying
opportunities through which the small and medium organisations can effectively focus on the
working capital requirements and its utilisation. The organisation is the world’s leading
organisation still has its major focus towards the small and medium enterprises within the
industry. As the organisations that get promoted to such levels starts focusing on the leaders
and the MNCs for further growth and development, but Greensill is still focused towards the
SMEs within the industry (BundaBurg Now, 2019).
The entrepreneurship is concerned about developing an innovative practice within the
industry which would result in benefiting the organisation as well as towards the society.
Also, a successful entrepreneur results in changing the way activities are being conducted
within the industry. Throughout the research on Lex Greensill, the concept of
entrepreneurship was confirmed, as the idea developed by Greensill was for societal
development and has changed the way supply chain functions in the industry. Also, Greensill
effectively focuses on the developed vision and mission and is stick to it regardless of the
position of the organisation within the industry and identifies new ways through which the
small businessmen can be benefitted (Hitt, Ireland, Sirmon, & Trahms, 2011).
Employee Engagement
The research effectively analyses the competencies of Lex Greensill, the founder of
Greensill, also he has received the entrepreneur of the year award, achieving such a position
within the industry requires consistent efforts and a focused vision through which the

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employees within the organisation can be guided and accordingly the organisational goals
and objectives can be achieved. The entrepreneurship requires that the individual develops
and retain a vision at the beginning and accordingly the activities are required to be
conducted.
Employee engagement and team performance is the key factor in Greensill
management. As the organisation focuses on hiring and retaining the best and efficient
workforce within the industry, therefore to ensure the effectiveness of the workforce within
the organisation and the utilisation of their skills and competencies the management
effectively focuses on the employee engagement within the organisation so that the strategic
goals and objectives can be achieved, also employee engagement within the organisation
results in the improved organisational effectiveness and efficiency. Greensill promotes
teamwork within the organisation by ensuring effective communication within the
organisation and assigning responsibilities to the employees within the organisation
(Hinchliffe, 2020).
Greensill faced a challenge in executing the idea of providing the working capital to
the small firms within the industry at a cheaper rate and with more flexibility, as there were
banks present within the industry offering same products to the customers or the small
business owners, therefore offering the product within the industry become controversial for
the organisation. Greensill explained that they aim to democratise the capital and made it
available for the millions of the small organisations that are battling for the working capital
for their business development and operations. Greensill introduced a technology through
which the organisation’s goals and objectives were achieved and has achieved the position of
the leading organisation within the industry (Wiggins & Poljak, 2019).
Importance of Networking
The organisation developed by Lex Greensill is effectively focused on the
organisational goal and develops innovative strategies through which the goals and vision can
be achieved. The founder has the vision to support the small and medium enterprises and
accordingly analyses the opportunities within the industry and develops policies through
which the needs and requirements of the working capital by the small business owners can be
fulfilled and their growth within the industry can be ensured. Greensill dominates the industry
and provides the SMEs with innovative solutions and products within the industry and has
also collaborated with other institutions to provide the services (Greensill, 2019).

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Networking is an important aspect within the business operations, as through
networking the organisations are able to effectively able to compete within the industry and
analyse the industry opportunities through which the organisational growth can be ensured.
As through networking the organisations are able to utilise each other expertise within the
industry, to understand the industry situations and accordingly develops policies and
strategies within the organisation. The networking is an important aspect at Greensill, the
organisation has effectively collaborated with the multinational organisation to provide its
customers with innovative and improved products and service. Greensill has effectively
collaborated with GAM Holding AG, Credit Suisse Group AG and is also focusing on
collaborating with SoftBank (Bryant, 2019).
The tools of the trade are required to be analysed within the industry so that the
organisation can effectively utilise such tools and techniques for the development of the
organisation and to compete within the industry the nature of the tools of trade depends upon
the business factors within the industry, and accordingly, the management is required to
identify the tools that would result in achieving efficiency within the business organisation.
Greensill effectively utilises means of providing low-cost capital to the companies
irrespective of their size or nature, along with providing global investors with an opportunity
to invest globally in such organisations. The organisation makes use of technology to get
access to the capital requirements and towards the financial markets (PYMNTS, 2019).
Greensill effectively utilises technology within the organisation to accelerate the
growth of the organisation and to ensure that the goals and objectives of the organisation are
achieved effectively and efficiently, the utilisation of the technology has resulted in creating
Greensill a strong market leader in providing working capital at low rates and bringing a
technological innovation within the industry. The study on the Lex Greensill effectively
explained the entrepreneur roles within the industry and the effect enhances the knowledge of
entrepreneurship. Greensill possesses the skills requires by an entrepreneur within the
industry and has effectively utilised such skills in the business operations and has led the
organisation towards the leading position within the industry (Orton-Jones, et al., 2019).
Recommendations
Greensill is required to focus on the organisation aim and goals and accordingly,
Greensill is required to the continued focus on developing policies through which the small
enterprises can be provided with the financing needs at low rates. The major challenge in

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front of Greensill is to ensure that the supply chain finance is effectively providing within the
industry, therefore it is required that Greensill collaborates with large MNCs and retain the
collaboration so that the industry competition can be managed effectively and accordingly the
management can focus upon achieving the goals and objectives (Greensill, 2019).
Innovation and creativity are the key concepts of the entrepreneurship; therefore, it is
recommended that Greensill effectively focuses on the innovation in the long run and ensure
that the new options are being provided within the industry as per the needs and requirements
and the changing phases of the industry. Also, depending upon the organisation size and
nature Greensill is required to focus on developing the policies and products so that the firm’s
product development can be done accordingly, and such practices will also help the
organisation in competing within the industry.
Conclusion
Entrepreneurs effectively focus on providing innovating and creative products and
service to cater to the needs and requirements of the society and focus on achieving the
position within the industry. The organisation developed by the entrepreneurs are defined as
entrepreneurship and operates with the same goals and objectives as that of an entrepreneur.
Lex Greensill is an entrepreneur based in the UK, the organisation established by Lex is
effectively focused on providing the supply chain financing options to the SMEs so that their
effectiveness within the industry can be improved and they would be able to compete within
the industry.
Greensill focus towards the small and medium enterprises is due to the background of
the entrepreneur and the challenges faced by him in his initial days. Therefore, the
entrepreneur focuses o developing products and services within the industry through which
he can effectively provide financing options at the low or cheaper rates within the industry.
The entrepreneur has effectively collaborated with the industry leaders to promote the
concept of supply chain financing and has resulted in developing a world-leading
organisation in financing. Also, the entrepreneur has received the award for the entrepreneur
of the year. The study reflects the skills and capabilities that an entrepreneur possesses while
working within the industry and explains how effectively such skills and capabilities can be
utilised to achieve success within the industry.

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References
Bryant, C. (2019, December 23). An Obscure Finance Firm Is SoftBank's Next Big Hope.
Retrieved from Bloomberg: https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-12-
23/is-billionaire-lex-greensill-building-an-airline
Bundaberg Now. (2019, November 01). Lex Greensill named Entrepreneur of the Year.
Retrieved from Bundaberg Now: https://www.bundabergnow.com/2019/11/01/ey-
entrepreneur-year-lex-greensill/
BundaBurg Now. (2019, August 25). Lex Greensill receives top university award. Retrieved
from Bundaberg Now: https://www.bundabergnow.com/2019/08/25/lex-greensill-
university-award/
Butler, B. (2019, November 30). Wages upfront: the financier who wants to change how
Australians are paid. Retrieved from The Guardian:
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/dec/01/payday-comes-early-
controversial-model-change-the-way-australians-paid
Credit Suisse. (2017). Scope. Switzerland: Credit Suisse.
EY Oceania. (2019, October 31). Lex Greensill wins EY Entrepreneur of the Year 2019.
Retrieved from EY: https://www.ey.com/en_au/entrepreneur-of-the-year/australia/lex-
greensill-wins-entrepreneur-of-the-year-2019
Greensill. (2019, May 13). Greensill Announces $800 Million Investment by the SoftBank
Vision Fund. Retrieved from Greensill: https://www.greensill.com/news/greensill-
announces-800-million-investment-by-the-softbank-vision-fund/
Greensill. (2019, March 25). Greensill back to knock on local doors to fund Asia expansion.
Retrieved from Greensill: https://www.greensill.com/news/greensill-back-to-knock-
on-local-doors-to-fund-asia-expansion/
Greensill. (2020). From humble beginnings to revolutionary thinking. Retrieved from
Greensill: https://www.greensill.com/about/
Hinchliffe, R. (2020, March 10). Greensill buys Aussie payday advance app Earnd. Retrieved
from Fintech Futures: https://www.fintechfutures.com/2020/03/greensill-buys-aussie-
payday-advance-app-earnd/

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Hitt, M. A., Ireland, R. D., Sirmon, D. G., & Trahms, C. A. (2011). Strategic
Entrepreneurship: Creating Value for Individuals, Organizations, and Society.
Academy of Management Perspectives, 57-75.
Jayawarna, D., Rouse, J., & Kitching, J. (2013). Entrepreneur motivations and life course.
International Small Business Journal, 34-56.
Koehn, E. (2019, October 31). Billion-dollar disruptor Lex Greensill wins Entrepreneur of
the Year. Retrieved from The Sydney Morning Herald:
https://www.smh.com.au/business/small-business/billion-dollar-disruptor-lex-
greensill-wins-entrepreneur-of-the-year-20191031-p5362b.html
Orton-Jones, C., McClelland, J., Hillsdon, M., Perry, M., Easen, N., & McEachran, R.
(2019). Supply Chain Innovation. CIPS.
PYMNTS. (2019, November 01). SoftBank’s Greensill Backing Leads B2B FinTech Funding.
Retrieved from PYMNTS:
https://www.pymnts.com/news/b2b-payments/2019/greensill-capital-fintech-venture-
capital/
Scott, K. (2017, September 21). Greensill Capital launches new benefits package for UK
staff. Retrieved from Employee benefits:
https://employeebenefits.co.uk/issues/september-online-2017/greensill-capital-
launches-online-flexible-benefits-platform-for-uk-staff/
Wiggins, J., & Poljak, V. (2019, October 10). Lex Greensill says supplier payment schemes
aren't 'evil'. Retrieved from Financial Review:
https://www.afr.com/companies/financial-services/lex-greensill-says-supplier-
payment-schemes-aren-t-evil-20191009-p52z1y