Martin Flick is a highly experienced and award-winning CEO and business leader with a demonstrable history of working across the tech and telco sectors and leading high performing teams in fast-growing environments.
Featured in The Daily Telegraph ‘LDC UK Top 50 Most Ambitious Business Leaders’ in 2020 and awarded ‘Entrepreneur of the Year’ in both the industry leading Comms National Awards, and prestigious sector generic ‘Growing Business Awards’ for 2022, Martin is now a much-valued Ambassador for The Big Goal and Street Soccer Foundation.
In the past he was been actively involved in supporting XLP, a charity helping young people from disadvantaged backgrounds in London, and Young Minds – a national charity supporting the mental health and wellbeing of young people.
Thereby, it’s no surprise The Big Goal seamlessly fits into Martin’s charitable mindset. As an ambassador, he has enormous enthusiasm for the cause and a desire to see young people from disadvantaged backgrounds thrive.
Personal Agenda
“When I first heard about The Big Goal it was an absolute no-brainer for me to get involved as helping young people has aways been high on my personal agenda,” he said.
“What Keith Mabbutt and his team have achieved in such a short space of time is truly inspirational. Homelessness is unacceptable in a civilised country. Bringing together corporate business and football with a single aim to end youth homelessness is not just insightful, it’s a mission every company in this country should get behind,” he said.
Few will know that Martin comes from humble beginnings, hence his empathy with young people starting out from the bottom rung of the ladder, without qualifications. Brought up solely by his mother, he attended a tough school in south London and left when he was just 15 years of age.
He always dreamed about being successful and had the drive and motivation to get started. He got a job in a sweet shop, then worked in a shoe shop, and then landed his first job in sales. Fuelled by an innate desire to improve his life, Martin saw the developing opportunities in comms and started his first tech business, Axxent Voice & Data, alongside his long-term partner and friend Paul Butler in 1999, at the aged of 32.
“I wasn’t enjoying working from someone else and wanted to have more control over my destiny. Paul had a mobile phone shop, and it was all retail then. I suggested we should pivot into serving the B2B sector and within four years we had grown the business to a £6m turnover and sold. They were heady days then!”
165m Revenues
In 2012, he bought a stake in mobile channel business Olive and as CEO grew the business from £10m to £30m revenue within three years and, having secured private equity investment, led the evolution of Olive from a 100% solus mobile business into a fully-fledged full-service comms provider. He then successfully integrated Olive into LDC backed Onecom and become Group CEO, leading the combined group to more than £165m revenues in its first full year with over 600 people on the payroll.
Now a business consultant, Martin is offering his wise council to would-be entrepreneurs and was first in the queue to meet and inspire youngsters attending the Street Soccer Foundation Academy at Pompey in the Community, the Portsmouth FC Charity Foundation.
“That was a great day and really brought home to me that young people who have lost their way in life, just need some hope and inspiration. I told those young lads that I know what it’s like to be at the bottom and that working your way up seems too big a challenge.
“It was a tough session at the start but by the end, once they got talking and opened up, they were incredibly engaging and positive. By the end I think they went away with the feeling that nothing’s impossible, which was a win-win for me.”
Super Recruiter
Aside from offering his mentoring talents, Martin has been something of a super recruiter for The Big Goal having secured memberships with digital and technical apprenticeship provider Apprentify, software communications business RingCentral and wealth management specialist One Financial Solution.
“They all love the football tournament and The Big Goal’s mission to end youth homelessness and they’re keen to bring in other companies from their respective industries. This initiative is becoming contagious which is terrific,” continued Martin.
Key to Success
So, what advice and tips on does Martin offer aspiring young people he meets in his role as an Ambassador for The Big Goal and the Street Soccer Foundation?
“My primary key to success has been to always surround myself with good people. That’s a given. No business can develop without enthusiastic people that buy into your vision.
“Secondly, it’s vital to adjust your mind to risk and opportunity. Take the plunge when an opportunity presents itself. Don’t be afraid to fail. Keep going, because another opportunity will come along soon.”
Keep Calm
What about leadership, on the field and in business?
“The key is empathy with others and a desire to share success. It’s a cliché, but there’s no ‘i’ in team, “advises Martin.
“Don’t dictate, remember to ask questions of others and listen. And when things go wrong, keep calm, take a breath and think clearly about positive solutions because negativity kills progress. These attributes have brought me success, and they can work for anyone, in all walks of life.”
