Sim's in the swim at Inward Investment

For a chap with a degree in marine biology, Simeon Lee has ended up working a long way from the sea.

Within England, you couldn't get much further away from the coast than land-locked Warwickshire - but Sim is very happy with the challenge on his horizon as he settles into his role as Inward Investment Officer in Warwickshire County Council's Economy & Skills department.

Sim, 27, has arrived at Barrack Street with abundant energy, plenty of relevant experience and a sense that, amid a career which has so far been interesting and diverse, he has now a role into which he will settle and grow.

"I'm really looking forward to getting to grips with the job," he said. "I have a lot to learn but there are some great people around me to learn from. And I think I have a lot to ideas to bring to the team.

"I love the idea of making a real difference; of doing a job which helps bring into the county investment that will provide jobs and help support communities. It is a really varied, stimulating role. What we do in the Economy & Skills directly impacts on communities. We can really help."

That is certainly true. Many businesses have been attracted to, and helped become established in, Warwickshire by the support and advice from the county council's Inward Investment team.

Sim's task is to help keep up that momentum. It is one he is relishing, though it is a far cry from the career which beckoned when Sim was studying for his marine biology degree at the University of Plymouth. A future in science or ecology was the plan but, after browsing his options post-degree, he decided instead to travel abroad, encouraged by the fact that he has family in Taiwan and China.

Those travels took in Australia - and led to the first job which tapped into his passion for dealing with and helping communities. In Melbourne, the big city at the heart of Victoria, he became manager of the Catholic Leadership Centre.

Based in bustling east Melbourne, the centre is a major enterprise - a conference centre and learning facility promoting and supporting all sections of the community from businesses to adult education.

"I thoroughly enjoyed it there," he said. "It was a real community-based role, very people-facing, dealing with businesses and schools and promoting events. My role involved attending events, dealing with delegates and also selling the centre as a base both nationally and internationally - much as I now do Warwickshire.

"The Australian people were great. Really laid-back and sports-mad. It was a very interesting job but then my girlfriend Rachel and I were getting to the end of our visas and had to decide whether to renew or return to England and settle down."

They chose the latter. And as Rachel is from Leamington Spa, and keen to set up her business as an educator and hairdresser, Warwickshire was their choice. For a couple of years Sim, a keen mountain-biker and rock-climber, worked as an administrator at Premier Ink in Sydenham but, though a pleasant job within a great team, it did not stretch him.

Now he is prepared to be stretched.

"At first I will be shadowing senior investment officer Stacy O'Connor, which is great because she had a lot of experience and knowledge to pass on," he said. "It is a really interesting challenge because Warwickshire is such a diverse county with an appeal which applies to such a wide spectrum of potential investors. Of course there is a huge automotive history to the county but it's not just the automotive sector, it's digital, retail, service, agriculture.

"Warwickshire's business community has so much going on for us, as an Inward Investment team, to work with and I am really happy to be involved."