Ghalib Butt reflects on his internship at Puma

The 6 weeks I have spent on Puma Growth Partners' team (formerly Puma Private Equity) have been incredibly rewarding and have offered me a comprehensive insight into the workings of early-stage growth investing.

Puma’s values of respect, value creation, collaboration, and aspiration were clearly on display, with ‘collaboration’ in particular championed by the team. The collegiate environment in which responsibility was shared across the team, regardless of seniority, was particularly encouraging to see and was a system in which I felt comfortably integrated. This was clearly demonstrated when invited to attend an introductory meeting with a prospective company, during which I was encouraged to guide conversation and engage with the co-founders – a key highlight of my internship. 

Outside of this, the tasks with which I was entrusted ranged from preparing offer papers for team meetings and conducting market analysis for potentially interesting industries to determining the investment worthiness of new opportunities. These experiences have contributed well to my professional development and ability to think like an investor, allowing me to establish a strong foundation on which I can look to build.

I would like to extend my gratitude to the team for their support and making me feel so welcome and wish them the best of luck moving forward with their rebranded ‘Growth Partners’ label and presence in Scotland.