Executive Mini MBA Accelerator
As validated by the University of Chester, the Executive Mini MBA Accelerator is underpinned by cutting edge academic research, fusing key strategic and contemporary management ideas and techniques with exemplary practice from the private and public sectors. The programme provides the essential theory, practice and techniques of an MBA condensed into an engaging and insightful five days of delivery.
Bolstered by strategy, participants will cover leadership, project management, marketing and finance; all of which are delivered by subject matter specialists. The programme blends theory, models and case studies with real-world examples, encouraging those in attendance to apply the very best in management thinking to their current practice.
Our Mini MBA will enhance future career prospects, develop management awareness, and provide an integrated knowledge of key business concepts, along with the core disciplines of management, leadership, organisation and communication.
Course Summary
Post Graduate Certificate in Business Administration
Duration:
5 Day
Location:
Virtual Central Manchester Central London
Delivery Method and Price:
Virtual Classroom:
£2,950
Face to Face Classroom:
£3,950
About the Programme
This programme has been designed for managers and senior stakeholders with a minimum of three years senior management experience.
This course is for you if you want to:
- Develop your understanding of key business concepts
- Make better strategic business decisions
- Develop your critical thinking
- Learn how to act strategically
- Learn how to communicate effectively
- Further your career after leaving the Armed Forces
On completion of this programme, participants will:
- Gain a comprehensive understanding of key business concepts
- Gain a framework for making better strategic business decisions and developing plans
- Have developed an increased ability to think critically and act strategically
- Hold an increased confidence in their ability to communicate effectively
- Possess a solid platform on which to make strategic, technical, financial and management decisions that are well-grounded and commercially viable
Session 1
Leadership in Action
Key themes include:
- Leading organisational culture
- Leading organisational change and knowledge
- Becoming a strategic leader and decision-maker
- Leading a change process
- Critical decision-making processes at a strategic level
- Developing soft skills for performance (coaching and mentoring)
- 21st century leadership practice
Session 2
Managing Excellence in Processes & Projects
Key themes include:
- Leading the development of a continuous improvement strategy
- Strategic process improvement and system-thinking principles
- Designing and implementing change programmes and project management
- Core processes and end-to-end delivery
- Delivering excellence in project management tools
Session 3
Strategic Management
Key themes include:
- Understanding the overall role of strategic management and leadership
- Developing and executing a strategic business plan
- Shaping organisational cultures and values
- Leading the development of a quality strategy
- Strategy development and change knowledge management
Session 4
Finance for Managers
Key themes include:
- Financial accounting – financial reporting/statements of the balance sheet, the profit and loss account and a cash flow statement/corporate financing/financial control techniques/cash flow management
- Management and cost accounting – operational/implementation/strategic financial decision making/performance measurement/budget analysis
- Investment decisions – appraisal/risk/financing/capital rationing/strategy/acquisitions/rationalisation/strategy/acquisitions and mergers using appropriate tools
- Value-based management – shareholder value/valuation/contemporary and ethical issues in financial decision-making.
Session 5
Marketing Across Boundaries
Key themes include:
- Developing a marketing plan and strategy
- Examining value and market share from research data
- Critiquing the market research process
- Customer relationship management and brand loyalty
- Developing a brand personality and the universal truth
- The analysis of consumer and industrial buyer behaviour and the purchasing decision-making process
- Public affairs and stakeholder communications
- The evaluation of the world of digital and social media marketing
- Working within data protection legislation and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
- Understanding corporate social responsibility when making strategic marketing decisions
- The examination of global marketing principles
- Developing strategies for international marketing
You can attend the Executive Mini MBA Programme on an accredited and non-accredited basis. On completion of all modules, participants can work towards achieving the PGCert in Business Administration (60 credits).
The Postgraduate Certificate
This PG Certificate in Business Administration is accredited by the University of Chester and is a postgraduate qualification which sits between a degree and a masters. This is also an excellent route into a full masters, contributing 60 credits towards the 120 necessary for a masters. Students can pursue the full MBA with the University of Chester, following the PG Cert, should they so wish.
Support and guidance
Students are provided with:
- Guidance from an experienced academic assessor
- Literature available through the University of Chester e-library
- A partner specific Moodle page which is populated with course information, video content and useful resources
- Regular group workshops pertaining to various study skills
The assignments
Students will complete three assignments. Each is assessed through a work-based critically reflective essay or report. As it is work-based learning and the assessments can all be applied to the business situation/workplace, this then gives both the student and the wider organisation a chance to learn and adapt business practice.

Tom Robinson
Tutor
A versatile business leader having held 5 divisional MD roles and been Chief Sustainability Officer within a FTSE 250 plc, followed by 6 years as Chief Executive within a private, family-owned business. Now operating as a consultant and business advisor assisting organisations improve their performance.
Tom has been responsible for delivering projects and services to customers in both private and public sectors including communications, defence, retail, health and logistics. Businesses Tom has led include construction, facilities management, property development, architecture, vehicle and plant asset management, recruitment and training.
He has a track record of driving transformation and improvement and is driven by an enthusiasm for customer service and responsible business.
Tom is a member of the Advisory Board to the Lincoln International Business School.

David Abbott
Tutor
David is an award winning international marketing speaker and author. He read Engineering Science and Economics at University College, Oxford University and then went on to complete the Chartered Institute of Marketing’s Diploma at Manchester Business School. He is a Chartered Marketer.
David has held a number of senior marketing and MD roles in a wide variety and sizes of businesses. His background covers multiple industries, includes public sector and private sector, and both B2B and B2C. David works as an interim marketing director for a number of businesses, helping them to develop and execute a marketing strategy to help them achieve their goals, and helping them to develop their marketing skills, processes and teams.

Andy Bate
Tutor
Andy is a qualified chartered accountant with in excess of 15 years’ experience working in corporate finance and private equity organisations, where he did multiple Merger and Acquisitions and fund raising transactions and has sat on 15+ Boards.
He made the cross-over in wanting to build his own businesses and in the last 10 years, is a founding partner of a fast-growing and successful e-commerce company, and in 2019, co-founded and launched an education software business around capturing and evidencing health and well being in children. Andy is also a founding partner of the consultancy/operating partners arm of Gunner Cooke Operating Partners.
The vast amount of businesses Andy has appraised and worked with in his corporate finance and private equity career, coupled with his own “at the coalface” learning experiences of starting, building and developing his own businesses, gives an invaluable insight into how businesses and Boards should function.
Andy is incredibly energetic, hungry with a strong desire to succeed in any business he supports.

Stewart McCombe
Tutor
Stewart has a career background in corporate banking, and is a highly experienced commercial individual, who commenced a transition into the not for profit sector at the end of 2009. He now has a portfolio of Chair, Board and consultancy roles across not for profits and SMEs.
Throughout his career, Stewart has developed a proven track record in the North West corporate market. In roles covering both relationship management and business development, his key skills of brokering and relationship building ensured the management of multiple stakeholders, at all times undertaken with outstanding levels of integrity. Core to his roles at Bank of Scotland were the management of key entrepreneur relationships for the bank.
In recent years, he has rapidly developed a profile in the not for profit sector, maintaining key board roles across a range of areas, including leisure and social care
Stewart has a range of financial, operational and strategic experience in the private, public and not for profit sectors, including charities, local authorities, banking and venture capital. This has captured a range of areas, including direct roles in leisure, adult care, the arts, environment and recruitment, coupled with a wide range of sectors including manufacturing, service, retail, building products and housebuilding during his corporate banking career. Stewart is at ease in any environment, from start-up to PLC boardroom.

Matt Eld
Tutor
Matt is an expert in marketing strategy and business transformation. He is a senior leader with over 25 years’ experience of improving and growing businesses, gained from a variety of senior management roles. Matt has held MD and Director posts in a FTSE 250 organisation, Marketing and Communications agency and as a business owner. A CIM Marketer by background, Matt has amassed a wealth of commercial transformation and marketing communications experience. He is an accomplished communicator and is skilled at operating at all levels of the organisation, analyzing and quickly establishing business challenges and developing sustainable solutions. He has strong influencing and negotiation skills and can drive transformation change to success with authority and a clear vision. His broad range of experience covers multiple disciplines including marketing, communications and crisis management, commercial development, change management, organisational development, IT & technology deployment, project management and business improvement.
Matt is a director level project and transformation professional with demonstrated ability to create and translate strategy into measured operational performance improvement. He has extensive experience in marketing, customer acquisition, project management, organisational redesign and commercialization, which he has gained across direct and agency environments in Higher and Further Education, Media & Publishing and Local Government sectors. He is an accomplished leader and influencer from the boardroom to front line teams across multiple location.

Fergal Roche
Tutor
Fergal Roche was a teacher and headteacher. He was also a leading entrepreneur in the business of Education. He grew a digital business from scratch to an EBITDA of £3.5m+ and sold it to a lead investor in 2018. Since then, Fergal trained as an executive coach at Henley Business School. He worked with the CEOs of 8 different organisations to help them through change. He is also a qualified mediator. Fergal has set up three companies over past three years and he has invested in two others. Currently he is a chair of a multi academy trust of 12 schools. He has previously chaired three other organisations, and two of them are private-equity backed.
He has also authored and co-authored 2 books. He likes to partner with leaders to help them gain clarity, confidence and conviction.
Is this course right for you?
- Develop your understanding of key business concepts
- Make better strategic business decisions
- Develop your critical thinking
- Learn how to act strategically
- Learn how to communicate effectively
Testimonials
The tutors were very knowledgeable and were able to contextualise the course to each delegate’s business.
Charlotte Ashdown - Head of HR
Mini MBA
Jan Vandewalle - Managing Director
Mini MBA
Krishna Kumar - Telecoms Manager
Mini MBA
Christopher Burnett - COO
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Andrew Georgeson - Director
Mini MBA
I really enjoyed my time on the Executive Mini MBA. It was a fantastic opportunity to meet new people and learn some valuable skills and knowledge to take back to my role. Thank you for the 5 days learning and overall experience.
Claire Lee - Business Development Director, Council services
Executive Mini MBA Programme
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Frequently Asked Questions
If we have availability on our course, you can book as many places as you need for your organisation. However, if you have a group of 7 people or more, you may find it more cost effective to book an in-house training course. The benefits of in-house delivery go beyond cost savings; the course is tailored to your business and industry sector, making the content highly relevant, plus we’ll deliver the training at a time and date to best suit you.
You can attend the Mini-MBA on an accredited and non-accredited basis.
If you decide to undertake the Mini MBA on an accredited basis, you will receive a PGCert in Business Administration (WBIS) from the University of Chester, upon completion. A PGCert contributes 60 points towards as masters, and there are 180 points required for a full masters.
You can find out more about our accreditations on our Qualifications page.
You do not require a qualification to attend this course, in fact there are no prerequisites for any of our courses. We do however recommend a minimum of 3 years’ experience in a senior management position for our leadership and management courses, such as the Directors Development Programme, Senior Leadership Programme, and Mini MBA.