Chesterfield-based Thermotex, which designs high-performance insulation jackets and heat-tracing systems for a wide range of customers, has a new engineer on board — thanks to its boss taking the time to mentor students.

Managing director Chloe Watmore (www.thermotex.com) was asked by the University of Sheffield to set a real-time challenge for its Management School to tackle.

She jumped at the chance to help out and — as a result — has brought fresh new ideas into her own business.

Students on the international module of their MBA gained invaluable experience, and Ms Watmore gained a new strategy for developing overseas markets; she also ended up recruiting Paige Niehues, a mechanical engineer from Texas with many years of experience in the oil and gas sector, which is a core specialism for Thermotex.

Ms Watmore said: “The Management School invited me to bring a live business issue to students. We have exported for many years, but we want to establish new overseas markets, so we asked four groups of students to research this and come up with strategies.

“I was really impressed and developed a company strategy that merged all four. Paige was in one of the groups, and she reached out to me while working on her dissertation on the digitalisation of manufacturing, which Thermotex is heavily invested in.

"I worked with her, and she so impressed me I offered her a job. She is now implementing the new overseas growth strategy that she helped to create.”

Ms Whatmore joined the company that her parents founded in 1995 as a 20-year-old Economics graduate. She has since
revolutionised its factory processes and led the company to record growth.

She added: “Working with the University of Sheffield was extremely rewarding. We have pledged to continue this partnership, and I would urge other businesses to get involved.

“It’s an opportunity to provide students with real-world case studies and to bring creative new ideas into your business.”