Tai Schierenberg

I have experience in international blue chip strategy consulting, venture capital, finance and turnaround management, and I work with distressed assets to turn around performance through an interims or turnaround management role and I improve company value for the owners of debt and equity.

9/2004 – now

TechForward - Founder Cape Town

• Advisory business that provides strategic, operational and management support to small  to mid-sized businesses and that manages transactions and investments on behalf of investors

Rescued failing operations:

• Restructuring Officer: turned-around a retail and media company with Revenues £250M, negative EBIDTA of £2.3M and 450 staff. Cut operational costs (overhead, staff, process improvement) and generated new revenues (additional £5.4M contribution)
• Managed operations in an illiquid engineering business (30 employees): managed short term cash flows, stopped inventory build-up, cut overhead costs, outsourced fixed costs, identified and closed down unproductive business units and re-negotiated customer contracts
• Re-focussed the business, stream-lined the organisation, drafted new financial and investment budgets and generated rescue financing package

Improved Company Performance:

• Diagnosed and removed operational bottlenecks within an international medical devices and nutraceutical manufacturing subsidiary
• Grew revenues by 30%, reduced working capital by 50% and improved productivity of 17 employees by mapping and improving processes, creating bills of responsibilities and performance measures
• Reduced operational costs by 12% p.a., cut development costs by R6M p.a., created a deferred tax asset of R6.3M and generated R21M future value for one shareholder by changing the funding structure

Raised Capital:

• Business planned, structured and negotiated venture capital, debt, equity and soft funding for 12 early-stage businesses
• Rescue financed, through debt restructuring and equity funding, companies approaching cash-out
• Reduced investment failures from 30% (industry sector norm) to 20% and improved company performance through clear goal setting, recruiting, monitoring and evaluation of executive management
• Negotiated milestones across relevant functions, drafted strategic and operational 1-5 year plans for early-stage businesses and projects

6/2001 – 9/2004

• London Stock Exchange listed private equity investor, with  EUR250M annual investment budget and a portfolio of 180 Venture Capital investments
• Accountable to the MD of 3i GmbH, Germany

Outcomes

Business development and transactions:

• Developed and implemented 3i's European medical devices strategy: identified expansion and product needs with opinion leaders in multi-national med-tech companies
• Sourced hundreds of business plans, conducted due diligence and managed the entire deal process
• Lead and closed four transactions worth EUR9.5M
• Managed a portfolio of healthcare investments (aggregate value ~EUR100M, investment cost ~EUR 20M) and worked closely with management teams to implement strategy and grow company value
• Held six board seats

Management:

• Clarified investment goals with each management team, negotiated milestones, developed incentives, implemented relevant metrics and reporting procedures
• Worked closely with management on R&D, strategy implementation, operations and finance
• Restructured two businesses and thus preserved EUR6.5M of investment costs

• A global first-tier strategy consultancy with an extensive blue chip client base

• Worked in teams of five, managed groups of up to 12 analysts and accountable to clients (and partners in the London office)

Projects

• Consolidated service contracts to cut a fuel company's costs by 30% ($35M)
• Developed new pricing policy to halt revenue decline in a  chain of 1000+ pubs
• Quantified global market potential required to invest in pharmaceutical manufacturing
• Identified synergies to enable merger of two R&D engineering companies

• Trained in general surgery, worked in orthopaedics, neurosurgery and vascular surgery in teaching hospitals in the United Kingdom and teaching/public hospitals in South Africa
• Developed a special interest in Gastro-Intestinal surgery & gun shot trauma whilst working in the world's largest trauma unit
• Managed emergency care in a private clinic (150 beds) and improved out-patient and in-patient waiting times by systematising doctors' workflow
• Designed and conducted clinical pilot study for the investigative use of the nutraceutical compound, N-Acetylglucosamine