I am a manufacturing strategist with an MBA in International Business. I work as a Consultant at Mahout Strategies in Melbourne where I help manufacturing companies prepare their businesses for new ownership. My career includes progressively senior management responsibility for print and packaging, food processing, leather, furniture and security printing companies. That experience ranged from start-ups to turn-arounds in five Asia Pacific economies and I was responsible for companies ranging in size from $10 to $320 million of sales revenue.For four years from 2009 I worked as a business adviser, assisting 50 SME manufacturers in metropolitan Melbourne under the Commonwealth Government’s Enterprise Connect program. I helped business owners clarify their strategic intent, understand their cost structures, and improve the company-wide effectiveness of their operations. Many asked me to remain involved as a mentor and business coach.In July 2013 I joined Mahout Strategies Pty Ltd., a boutique consulting firm that helps SME manufacturers prepare their businesses for new ownership. Mahout focuses on the interests of the clients’ business entity ahead of the ownership. This is based on the principle that the purpose of an entity is to find customers and sell them products at a profit, while the purpose of the ownership is to maximise the return on their investment. These objectives are complementary, but only intersect at the point of cash profit in the entity. It follows that a focus on the interests of the entity is the best way to maximise the value of a business for prospective new owners.