Simon Foxwell

Name: Landell Mills
Price range: $

Director

Tell us about your role at Landell Mills, including your main responsibilities.

I work with my fellow Director on strategy, and support division managers as needed on project implementation. I am particularly involved in business development, training staff and supporting on large tenders.

What does a typical day look like in your role?

Given my role in tenders, especially methodologies, I try and shut myself off emails for part of the day to do research and writing. The rest will be discussing with colleagues on email, Teams and in-person regarding ongoing issues.

Describe some of the projects that you have worked on at Landell Mills.

I have loved the range of projects I have worked on, from producer group development in Poland back in 1999, to a wetland protection project in Northeast China in the 2000s, and more recently an export development project in Bangladesh. My favourite was probably a river basin management project in Northeast Afghanistan in the 2010s – I loved crossing over the Salang Pass from Kabul to Kunduz, and the time spent with the team and farmers in the field where I saw the tangible results of irrigation rehabilitation on their farmland.

What skills do you use most within your role?

A mixture of diplomacy, critical analysis and coordination.

What previous experience or qualifications have proved most useful within your role at Landell Mills?

I worked as a camel marketing assistant in Kenya in the 1990s. This made me aware of development practice in the field, although I am not sure whether the skills I learnt on making ‘camfurters’ are so transferrable.

What do you enjoy about working at Landell Mills?

In the early days, it was probably the smell of the pork pies drifting into the office from across the car park from the nearby pie factory, and the extended lunch break on a Friday for a pint down the local pub. How times have changed! That aside, we have always been privileged to have great staff to work with, while the lack of bureaucracy and push for efficiencies has meant that I’ve been able to concentrate on the work that I enjoy.

What has been your most memorable moment whilst working at Landell Mills?

I have loved spending extended time on projects to be able to get out from the capitals and explore work in the field. This has taken me to dairy farms outside Saint Petersburg; rural villages in the Chinese province of Sichuan, normally accompanied by a Baijiu-infused banquet; and coral reefs in Papua New Guinea. It hasn’t always taken an overseas trip to bring memorable moments though – watching two of our staff capsize their canoe on a recent company day out was most amusing.