Sam Michem - Participant 2021-2022
“PAF has enhanced my confidence in navigating in volatile and ambiguous professional environments.”
Role
As a business operations manager at Cubigo, Sam was responsible for setting up operations, building the team and further developing business activities and partnerships in the North American market. In this cross-functional role, he had to collaborate with the product team in Belgium and the implementation/sales team in North America.
Responsibilities
Although Sam lived and worked in Canada, his work mainly focused on the American market. He was responsible for assisting and implementing several projects, in addition to interacting directly with clients. As an international operations manager, his tasks included strategic planning, prioritization, resource and stakeholder management, etc.
How he benefited
During this Prince Albert Fund year, Sam was able to experience working for a scaleup, which is quite different from an established company in terms of structure, processes and interpersonal relations. Less rules also mean more room for creative and entrepreneurial spirit. He learned to adapt and take ownership of various projects. “Working in a volatile environment boosted my confidence. Ultimately, this gave me more credibility and legitimacy to help scale other Belgian startups in the future”, he says.
The company – Cubigo
Cubigo, established in 2011, is the first integrated platform for senior living, empowering senior citizens to live an independent and healthy life by promoting and supporting self-care. The platform, an all-in-one hospitality suite, connects senior citizens, community staff, family members and businesses with a user-friendly, modular user interface, offering a comprehensive set of functions. The company has offices in Belgium, Spain and the United States.
“Sam quickly played a critical role, acting as a liaison between the clients and the R&D team in Belgium. This is one of the most strategic roles within the company as the product roadmap defines our go-to-market approach and sets business priorities.”