Debbie Klein, chief executive of marketing communications agency Engine, explains that despite needing to take a deep breath before leading a management buy-out, it was her best business decision.

Debbie Klein, chief executive of marketing communications agency Engine, explains that despite needing to take a deep breath before leading a management buy-out, it was her best business decision.

‘I was head of strategic planning at [ad agency] WCRS when I was invited to be part of a management buy-out. WCRS was started by Robin Wight, Peter Scott and two others, and was eventually sold to Havas so we proposed to them that we do an MBO.

‘We all took a deep breath and invested our own money. 30 out of 150 employees took part. We invited them because we felt we would get much broader buy-in and excitement about what we were trying to do in the long term.

‘After that I became CEO of that company and we set about building what is now Engine – a 600-strong company with all of the various disciplines in the marketing and corporate communications space.’