LIF Global case study: Francisco Cuellar

Overview

Francisco is the co-founder and CEO of TUMI ROBOTICS, a company based in Peru which offers robotic solutions and Artificial Intelligence to monitor and improve the safety access to confined spaces and extreme environments, such as mining, construction sites and oceans. Francisco previously graduated with a MA from King’s College London. His two years spent in the UK has allowed him to develop and build solid business connections and actively engage with UK contracts to explore both commercial and research opportunities.

Case study details

Country: Peru

Cohort: LIF Global 2022

Sustainable Development Goal 15: Life on Land

Learnings and benefits

Chris Markey, Francisco’s mentor noted that “Francisco was already a competent entrepreneur when he entered the LIF programme. His business was relatively mature, having traded for some four years and attracting US$250k investment from HAX as part of an accelerator programme in 2020,”.

What Chris noticed throughout the programme was Francisco’s change of focus from selling to environment support providers to looking directly into engaging with mining companies, understanding what their real needs were and which solutions TUMI Robotics could offer to solve their problems.

“For me since the beginning, the programme added values to my ideas, even though there were some areas I already had experience in such as the value proposition canvas. The way we worked with the training tools was really new to me from many aspects and it opened various new perspectives. I was able to improve my proposal as a result.”

"The LIF Programme has made me realise how much I want to help other entrepreneurs now. Future mentor? Why not!”

Francisco Cuellar, Founder and CEO of TUMI Robotics

Mentoring and networking

Francisco fully embraced all that the programme had to offer and although he initially wasn’t quite clear on what mentoring would bring, it ended up playing an important role in shifting his mindset. The UK residential event took this relationship to the next level. Chris says: “This change in attitude towards getting the best value out of the mentoring process was remarkable. During the preceding months, I believe he [Francisco] simply saw the LIF programme as a vehicle to access better markets and investment, but during our quality face-time, I think the ‘light went on’ and he saw how mentoring can change him as a person. Having got him to consider things from the perspective of his business team during our online mentoring sessions, I believe the live sessions truly got him to consider things from his customers’, investors’ and partners’ perspectives.”

Building leadership and business management skills

During the LIF programme, Francisco felt he had an opportunity to focus on “the ‘softer’ side of business management, growing staff and partner engagement and adding value to the enterprise through human capital”. Looking at his leadership style, Francisco was able to step back from the product to look more at the business and its team and make subsequent changes to his team management process and attitudes. Chris remembered the moment: “Francisco realised the potential power of his team if they themselves are empowered. The LIF programme uncovered a passion to share his learnings with others and support other entrepreneurs to grow moving forward.” Francisco says, “That feeling made me eager to share things to allow others to grow, something I didn’t do too much in the past and that I wish to pursue in the future.”