A graduate who has recently joined Lektronix is being dispatched to set up a new operation in India.

Ben Matthew, aged 25, was recruited from Dubai in the firm’s graduate opportunities programme. He has spent a year working across all areas of the business, spending the past eight months in Aldridge. He is now being placed in charge of the start-up operation in Pune, a city to the south east of Mumbai.

The company specialises in repairing and supplying industrial automation equipment worldwide, with offices and factories in the UK, across Europe and expanding into Asia. Ben will be tasked with setting up the operation, including recruiting local workers, particularly as repair engineers.

“This is the opportunity of a lifetime,” he said. “Travelling to India to set up a new operation from scratch is a big challenge, but I have built up a lot of experience within the company over the past two years so I’ve got a good overview of what we do.

“The job has come about earlier than I probably would have expected, but I’m really excited about it and am looking forward to putting all I have learnt about the company into action.”

Lektronix managing director Tony Jones is pleased with the graduates that have come through the programme, and seen many of them being given responsible jobs straight away.

“I’m very impressed with the young people out there. They are being given responsibility and come back with the confidence to make suggestions about how things can be changed or improved. They are a fresh set of eyes on the company and we do listen to them.”