Breaking finance and business news, tax information, jobs and more for finance directors and senior finance professionals.

Iain Whiteside picked up his award and a prize of £1,000 at the Shell Step National Final in London. A panel of expert judges chose him as the scheme’s overall winner for his exceptional achievement during the short placement period.

Iain, who studies Computer Science and Mathematics at Edinburgh University, took part in the Shell Step summer placement scheme, which matches talented students with small and medium sized firms seeking specialist skills for a specific project. He spent the summer working for Edinburgh-based Martin Energy Limited working on the company’s core service, Flexitricity, which provides balancing and reserve services to the National Grid.

Iain created a valuable new service, the “Demand Buyback System” and successfully installed it at its first site. The new addition is estimated to generate revenue of £4.3 million in the next 24 months.

Iain said: “I was really pleased to get the placement with Martin Energy Limited because it matched my skills so well. The project really captured my imagination – and that undoubtedly helped me to achieve so much. Thinking beyond university, my career path seems much clearer now than it was before I took part in the Shell Step programme.”

James Smith, Chairman of Shell UK, said: “Shell Step can bring benefits both to students and businesses, and Iain’s achievements are a testament to this. Like Iain, students get access to knowledge beyond that found in textbooks, while 97 per cent of the businesses that took part this year fed back that the placement will have a positive impact on their firm’s future.”

Mark Batho, Director of Lifelong Learning for the Scottish Government, said: “We are very supportive of the Shell Step Programme as it is aligned with our Government policies in skill strategy. It reflects well on Scottish universities and businesses and it is important that it is carried across to university students across the country.”

Shell Step is an eight week summer placement scheme for undergraduates in their second or penultimate year of study. It is a placement scheme that not only matches students and businesses, but ensures students receive high quality advice and coaching before and during their placements to improve their skills.

Shell Step is a direct response to the challenge that faces tens of thousands of UK graduates when they move from the world of study into employment. Shell Step places undergraduates into small and medium sized businesses to undertake a specific business or technical project, driven by the needs of the host business.

The programme has the dual aim of communicating to small business managers the huge impact an undergraduate can have on their business whilst encouraging undergraduates to consider starting a career within the vibrant small business sector.

Over the past 20 years, Shell Step has delivered over 22,000 projects within small businesses throughout the UK.  

Related links

• Shell Step