Telecom leader shares formula for success

Timing in life is just about everything says Sir Terry Matthews, co-founder of Mitel Networks, a world leader in the design and manufacture of enterprise voice systems. At a Feb. 23 campus presentation, Matthews, who has been named the 2009 UVic Business Distinguished Entrepreneur, told business and engineering students that he might have had a much more prosaic career were it not for an accident of timing.

In 1972, two years after arriving in Canada from Wales, he and friend Michael Cowpland launched Mitel Networks with the idea of importing lawnmowers to Canada. However, the transatlantic shipping process conspired against them. “Our shipment of mowers was lost at sea and while we waited, winter descended and covered our green lawns with snow.”

The next coincidence of timing occurred with the deregulation of the American telephone giant AT&T. Matthews quit his job with Microsystems International to respond to the demand for telephone equipment. With the introduction of the touch tone receiver and later the software-driven PBX telephone call routing system, the two used Mitel (Mike and Terry’s Lawnmowers) to revolutionize the telecommunications industry. After initially raising $4,000 as seed capital and then later borrowing $120,000 from friends and family, they worked day and night to get the systems to market faster and cheaper than anyone else. The strategy paid off and 10 years later the company and its investors, were worth millions.

“And that’s the secret,” says Matthews. “Timing, hard work, smarts and partners. Using that formula, I’ve either founded or funded over 80 companies, and none have gone bankrupt. Most have done very well.”

Matthews was on campus to explain a unique internship available through his Ottawa-based Wesley Clover operation. Selected students or recent graduates are given a business idea and work in teams of four or five to bring a product to market in 12 to 18 months or less. Anyone who takes Matthews up on his offer will earn $25,000 a year plus gain an investment of about $45,000 in the nascent company.

While in the Wesley Clover boot camp, they won’t need a lot of money. Matthews puts them up on his estate and doesn’t give them much time for play. He exposes them to his team of engineers, network of customers, potential investors, mentors and a host of others who help groom these young entrepreneurs.

Matthews firmly believes that within 10 years Victoria can become a centre of technology. “You have the university; now you need a cluster of tech companies where one might achieve a billion dollars a year in revenue.” With his formula he’s betting that one might belong to one of his Wesley Clover “graduates.”

An engineer by education, he has been fixing and building things all of his life. Engineering is in his blood. He holds an honours degree in electronics from the University of Wales, Swansea, and is a fellow of the Institute of Electrical Engineers and of the Royal Academy of Engineering. He has been awarded honorary doctorates by several universities, including the University of Wales, Glamorgan and Swansea, and Carleton University in Ottawa. In 1994, he was appointed an officer of the Order of the British Empire, and in the 2001 Queen’s Birthday Honours he was awarded a knighthood.

Matthews will receive the Distinguished Entrepreneur of the Year award at a gala event to be held on May 19 at the Victoria Conference Centre.

He joins an elite circle of distinguished entrepreneurs: Clive Beddoe, a founding shareholder and executive chair of Westjet (2008); David Black, founder of Canada’s largest privately-owned newspaper publishing company (2007); Gwyn Morgan, who established EnCana Corp. as the country’s largest energy company (2006); Dave Ritchie, chairman of Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers (2005); and Jeff Mallett, former president and chief operating officer of Yahoo (2004).

The award, introduced by the UVic Business Board of Advisers in 2004, recognizes an inspirational entrepreneur who has had a significant and positive impact on the global community through their business leadership. Ticket and sponsor information is online at www.business.uvic.ca.