Kimberley: On culture, belonging and building for the future
20th anniversary storyCambridge Enterprise will turn twenty at the end of the year – specifically the 1st of December. To celebrate two decades of continued impact and innovation, we spoke with eight members of staff representing different areas of the organisation – from business development, to investment management, event organisation or senior leadership.
Our aim: How Cambridge Enterprise, throughout the years, has helped them evolve and grow in their careers and also learn about their views of its impact on innovation in Cambridge and beyond.
In this piece, we spoke with Kimberley Mensah, our People Lead, whose work focuses on people, culture and learning and development. Kimberley shared her perspective on how Cambridge Enterprise’s culture continues to evolve, how inclusion and belonging are actively practised across the organisation and what habits will help teams work even more effectively in the future.
We began by asking Kimberley what cultural strengths define Cambridge Enterprise today.
“One of our cultural strengths is a genuine sense of purpose. People feel connected to the work they are doing and the impact that it is making.”
Looking ahead, Kimberley explained how Cambridge Enterprise is building on this foundation by strengthening how people work together.
“We are actively looking to build on our transparency and cross‑collaboration. We have excellent individuals at Cambridge Enterprise and want to develop our collective excellence at the same level. This includes sharing and making leadership behaviours more visible and accessible through our multi‑layered learning and development programmes.”
“When inclusion and belonging are designed in from the start, people feel seen, safe and valued.”
We then asked what practices most improve inclusion and collaboration across technical and commercial roles.
“Our monthly in‑person company meeting includes a town hall. This provides an open forum where teams can explain not only what they are doing, but why it matters. It often leads to discussion and input from across the organisation in real time.”
She also reflected on the importance of psychological safety, particularly within academic environments.
“Working in academic teams can potentially be intimidating. By practising psychological safety as a shared language across the organisation, we normalise all questions, encourage people to ask for further explanations and reinforce that we are all on the same team. Everyone’s contribution matters.”
For Kimberley, designing for inclusion and belonging is essential.
“When a culture and environment is thoughtfully designed with inclusion and belonging at the forefront, it creates conditions where people feel seen, safe and valued. This makes practices that improve inclusion feel natural to implement, rather than forced.”
Looking ahead to 2026, we asked Kimberley to share one habit she would like every team to adopt.
“Respect that time is a shared resource.”
She explained what this could look like in practice.
“One of our values is that ‘We focus on what matters’.
“As a habit, this may involve asking clarifying questions as standard, such as ‘What problem are we solving?’ or ‘What is the deadline?’. This helps reduce unnecessary meetings, or allows teams to end them early once objectives have been met.”
Kimberley Mensah (left) and Michelle Zappala-Wood, Head of People and Culture (right)
When asked about the biggest change she has seen at Cambridge Enterprise over the last twenty years.
“I’ve been with Cambridge Enterprise for less than a year, so I can’t comment on the last twenty. What I can say is that since joining, I haven’t heard ‘We’ve done this for the past twenty years’ or ‘This is how it’s always been done’.
“That speaks volumes about how Cambridge Enterprise embraces progressive change.”
She also pointed to the organisation’s approach to emerging technologies.
“I’m sure twenty years ago AI wasn’t as prominent as it is now. We have accelerated our adoption of AI, promoting its use across the business and reinforcing our reputation as an innovative organisation.”
We asked Kimberley to finish these sentences:
- The impact of Cambridge Enterprise’s support on University research is… “fundamental.”
- In the next decade, Cambridge Enterprise should double down on… “AI.”
- At 20, Cambridge Enterprise is… “inspiring.”
Reflecting on our people and our progress
Kimberley’s reflections highlight how culture, inclusion and thoughtful ways of working sit at the heart of Cambridge Enterprise. Her perspective shows an organisation that is intentional about how it evolves, creating the conditions for people to feel connected, supported and empowered to do meaningful work.
Her insights form part of a wider set of anniversary pieces that highlight different voices from across the organisation. Each one will share personal perspectives on how Cambridge Enterprise has evolved and what continues to drive our mission. Together, they will show how we are still learning, still growing and still committed to supporting innovation from the University of Cambridge.
