Angus Arnell is a teaching professional, learning enthusiast, and journeyman with a long-standing presence as a drop in the ocean of the NSW education sector. His strengths with his students have been more pastoral than academic and aimed at equipping the young people in his care to take charge of their own journeys. He is currently employed in Department of Education high schools having spent the last 12 years in independent boarding schools, working with international, regional, rural, and local youths.

Scraping through a Bachelor of Science after high school, ingrained an interest in science, mostly around new breakthroughs and developments. After a decade of wandering, his parents’ relocation to Hong Kong gave Angus the opportunity to grab a Graduate Diploma in Education and start working in the classroom. A home to housesit in Port Macquarie and distance education through the University of New England afforded him the time to study, surf, and play rugby for the year.

Teaching work led to boarding schools, boarding schools led to Duty of Care qualifications and exchanging classrooms for dormitories. With school hours now mostly free, Angus added further qualifications in IT and post-graduate IT project management.

In 2021, the University of Technology, Sydney, encouraged Angus to undertake a Graduate Certificate of Technology. The course was developed in response to the findings of the University Research Commercialisation: Action Plan, a study aimed at supporting innovators to successfully commercialise. Angus locked in and studied full-time through Sydney Covid lockdown – Part 2 and emerged armed with valuable foundational knowledge. The right building blocks for Enterprise Information Systems and a niche in the global digital marketplace are the outcomes of Angus’ methodology.

What is the value of this? An analogy can be drawn from Angus’s surfboat rowing days where the sweep would often say, “You can’t win the race with your start, but you can lose it.” To clarify, small considerations from the outset, will help an innovator avoid the causes of failure that have been found to claim most new enterprises. It could prove the difference between needing and wanting to sell as an SME and watching your innovation become a unicorn or riding that unicorn as a master of your own destiny. This is where his energy is channelled outside of school time, into startups and larger operations.

Angus is based in St Leonards on Sydney’s lower north shore with his six-year-old daughter and has seen the Barbie movie several times - he was surprised to find it was better than he anticipated. He still loves surfing, rugby, his parents, sisters, and their families, and most of all his daughter. The opportunity to share his methodology is what he craves and experience doing so is what he is looking for currently. Angus found Meer while using an employment website and subsequent communication with Antonio Vergara Meershon and Christopher Williamson was valuable. Having delved into the content of the publication, Angus has recognised the value and enjoyment on offer, and hopes to make a positive contribution of his own.