Aberdeen entrepreneur Graeme Coutts has come a long way in the business world since he started out in his youth sprucing up old cars to sell on.
Mr Coutts, who describes himself as a lucky person, later found fortune smiling on him as he was in the right place just when North Sea oil activity really began to take off in the Granite City.
He grabbed opportunities in the oil sector with both hands, and rose through the ranks to become executive chairman of energy services group Expro.
My journey gathered pace and the opportunities came thick and fast.”
Graeme Coutts, chairman, FrontRow Energy Technology Group.
In 2011 he decided to retire from Expro after nearly 22 years with the company – and some may have thought he was ready to put his feet up after three decades in the oil and gas industry.
However, they would have been mistaken as he was actually gearing up to start the next chapter in his highly-successful career – FrontRow Energy Technology Group.
Mr Coutts is chairman of the venture, which has a number of complementary upstream oil and gas technology businesses focused on bringing new solutions to market to meet industry challenges.
Early steps
So what were all the early steps in his career?
“I was in my teenage years when I realised I had an overwhelming appetite for risk and an even stronger desire to build capital,” he said.
He added: “This manifested itself in many small ventures – most notably buying old cars, rejuvenating them and turning profit.
“This further developed into buying a share in a restoration garage, which ultimately failed but that did not deter me in any way.
“The North Sea oil and gas industry opportunity arrived perfectly for me, however, I wasn’t particularly well set at the time as I was working for a local bank.
Entrepreneurial spirit
“I guess that’s where the entrepreneurial spirit kicked in, as I dumped all my financial background and sprinted into engineering and technical.
“This was much to the disappointment of my father, who firmly believed the ‘oil boom’ would last only a couple of years.
“Still, without a second thought, my oil and gas career started and that was that. My journey gathered pace and the opportunities came thick and fast.”
He invested in multiple fledgling enterprises – such as Petrowell, Ennovate, Electroflow Controls and CRE and rose through the ranks at Expro after joining the firm in 1990.
After a long and hugely successful time leading Expro, he moved on to Aberdeen-based FrontRow, with interests in and oversight of a string of uniquely-positioned businesses.
These include Aberdeen firms Clearwell Energy and Well-Sense.
Mr Coutts currently has nine directorships listed at Companies House, so where does he find the time to keep all those balls in the air?
He explained: “I have no problem with this level of commitment. If I reflect on Expro, we had literally dozens of moving parts between divisions and geographies.
“I am, therefore, very used to a lot of variety and as a non-executive, I get the luxury of setting a lot of my own schedule.
“It is vitally important that non-executive advisers do not try to run the business.
“The role is one of support and advice, and the relationship with the various leaders must be built on trust and value. I am always on the end of my phone or available for a coffee at short notice.”
It is vitally important non-executive advisers do not try to run the business.”
Away from work, what does the businessman do to relax?
He said: “I watch sport, particularly football. I am fortunate to have a son who has played professionally in England for the past 15 years at a very high level.
“Also, I’m a DIY fanatic. I think I would have loved to have been a tradesman. The pleasure you get from actually seeing the start and end of a job is so different to the continuous challenges of running a business. Over the years I’ve amassed a vast range of tools to cover all aspects of DIY – a situation not lost on many of my friends and family.”
He admits he is the type who has to keep active all the time.
“I’m also very much a morning person,” he said, adding: “Up at any time between 5am and 6am and ready to get after it. Three sons, four grandchildren, at least 12 businesses – never a dull moment.”
Mr Coutts is now 63, so is there a time he will slow down his workload a bit?
He replied: “I’m not sure. I don’t think you can set any hard stops. If you enjoy it, are still able to contribute and are valued, then just keep going.
“One of my long-standing relationships is to assist Stena Drilling as a director, and I can tell you there is no more driven an entrepreneur than Dan Olsson (Stena’s chief executive) who, in his mid-70s now, is an outstanding example of why age is not the measure.”
What makes an entrepreneur?
Graeme Coutts has some words of advice for any budding entrepreneurs.
He said: “Analyse your strengths and skill gaps, and identify what you don’t know.
“Then set about complementing your strengths by building a network of wise heads – which makes you feel you have control and that you aren’t ‘flying blind towards the mountain’.”
Mr Coutts has made business mistakes in his career, but he describes these as simply “bumps in the road” which were there to teach him and make him wiser.
The big lesson
He added: “The big lesson for any would-be entrepreneur is to quickly learn to develop a healthy scepticism. If it’s too good to be true, think long and hard. Remember, you need to know what you don’t know. This is probably more important than all the stuff you know about.”
Is there enough help and guidance for budding entrepreneurs?
Mr Coutts said: “The four cornerstones of entrepreneurial economics – land, labour, capital and enterprise – all need to be supported.
FrontRow helps businesses in all of these areas, from world-class facilities to highly-skilled professional advisors and directors – all aimed at allowing entrepreneurs to focus on their technology and customers, he said.
Meanwhile, the “old heads” take the burden of administration, finance and compliance.
“This model is quite different and, as far as I know, unique in our sector,” Mr Coutts added.
Conditions for would-be north-east entrepreneurs are tough these days, due to the cost-of-living crisis.
But Mr Coutts is confident they will come through this difficult time and continue to thrive in the decades to come.
He continued: “Aberdeen has a long history of hosting many great entrepreneurs over the years.
“Well before oil and gas, there was great business spirit throughout the north-east and that simply accelerated as the North Sea industry developed.
“Throughout the roller-coaster years of an economy driven by the turbulence of the global oil price, we always found a way to make it work and that’s all about the people.”
North-east oil and gas industry entrepreneurs in recent decades were bold and visionary in the way they handled opportunities which came their way, Mr Coutts said.
He added: “I strongly believe the multiple, relatively small hydrocarbon accumulations of the central and northern North Sea forced advanced thinking and great invention.
“This resulted in global technology leadership for our oil and gas industry and an exceptionally-valuable export market for Aberdeen.
“It spawned many notable serial entrepreneurs who continue to operate today.”
Golden opportunity for north-east
Mr Coutts said the obvious long-term opportunity for Aberdeen was in the transition to clean, sustainable energy sources.
He added: “It would be a real shame if the north-east didn’t grab this and build on our long association with conventional hydrocarbons.”
The businessman also said the abandonment and repurposing of offshore infrastructure should provide the Aberdeen area with years of stable employment.
“This area is wide open to innovation,” he said, adding: “There is a strong need to drive meaningful cost reduction for well and infrastructure abandonment, and there are no better-placed people to reinvent and innovate in this area than Aberdonians.”
US top of the league for entrepreneurs
Asked how the UK rates against the US for entrepreneurship, Mr Coutts said America was top of the league.
He added: “I’m not too sure why this is, but there is an entirely different public attitude towards wealth creation in the US versus the UK.
“The tendency in the US is to applaud and celebrate those who create wealth. We, however, tend to look more suspiciously at those who do well and sometimes that’s a shame.”
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