Team profile- meet Business Development Manager Ria Beeson

In January 2022, Miconex welcomed Ria Beeson to the team as our new Business Development Manager. Ria has over 10 years’ experience in business development. We caught up with Ria to find out more about her recent move to Perth, living in New York, and her plans at Miconex:

“For the last 10 years I’ve worked with start-up and scale up businesses predominately in the tech space, like NCTech, a big data business that captures georeferenced 360° imagery. In essence, they have cars driving around with their cameras on top, capturing high resolution 360° data at scale.

“I have worked with several education technology businesses, working for Sumdog, who specialise in the gamification of learning, with maths and English games for children. My role was mainly relationship management, working with decision makers in the US. I also worked with Learning Journals, a means for education professionals to track children’s development and keep parents informed about their progress.

“I actually studied architecture with 5 years in university and a 1 year internship at an architecture practice in New York in 2004/5. It was amazing to be in New York at that time, as a 20 something, experiencing all that New York had to offer!

“The construction industry was hit badly in the 2008/9 crash and I was made redundant from my job in architecture. Like many people, redundancy forced me to take stock and think about what I really wanted to do. I knew I enjoyed the face to face interaction with clients, and translating a client’s wants and needs into a proposal. Soft skills are more important than you realise in architecture, and there are many transferable skills to business development, such as research, understanding the client’s pain points and being able to pitch something that solves these pain points.

“As architecture jobs were thin on the ground, I looked for other opportunities, and started as an Executive Assistant with EAC, a language school. This business was eventually sold to TUI. The founder of EAC then set up Oscars International, a high end language school and it was a similar process of building up the business. Being a part of a start-up was brilliant, being there from the beginning and watching it grow as a company.

“In my past roles, travel was a large part of the job, meeting clients and attending conferences, however, the pandemic has made us all realise that it is possible to build connections virtually. I do miss seeing people face to face but I also appreciate how much more efficient it is to connect with people virtually, it saves so much time.

“A recruiter approached me about the role with Miconex, and one of the appeals was the product itself and the opportunity to be a part of a business driving positive change, helping places to retain spend locally and drive loyalty. When the opportunity came through, I’d just moved from Edinburgh to Perth, so it seemed like fate that the role with Miconex came up when it did. As I looked into what Miconex offer, the proposition was so exciting that it was a no-brainer for me to make the move. Working in business development, believing in your product is extremely important.

“For me, the shop local message is as vital as ever. I made the decision a few years ago to make a conscious effort to shop in local independents. As I’ve just moved to Perth, I was able to head out armed with a Perth Gift Card and start experiencing the city. I’m a keen sewer, with my own small Etsy store, and I know myself how thrilling it is when someone buys an item from me, so I can understand how it must feel for a small business owner to have local support.

“At Miconex, my business development role will focus on the UK and Ireland, I’m looking forward to getting to know new and existing clients, working with them to solve the challenges they are currently facing in their towns and cities, and being a part of the Miconex story as it continues on its growth journey around the world.”