Strategic Advisory Board
Beatrice Hatherley & Stuart Spice
Serial Entrepreneurs and Founders of Mr Site
Stuart Spice began working on computers at the tender age of six. Thus started a life long obsession with machines and soon Stuart began programming on PCs in the early 1990's. Joining some of the UK's very first Internet Service Providers, he cut his professional teeth with these early internet pioneers.
It was when he joined forces with Beatrice Hatherley in 2004 that the brainchild for a groundbreaking Internet product was born. Bea saw design companies over-charging and under-delivering and only in her mid-30's, she is not only the driving force behind a hugely successful enterprise but has assisted and inspired over 75,000 people to start a small business.
Although being the joint director of a thriving company, Bea started her career with little experience of business or technology. A year after enrolling at the University of London to read French and Drama, she decided to follow her ambition as a musician and spent the next 10 years travelling the world. Between tours, This entrepreneur temped in the City and it was during this time that the idea for the product was born. After exploring ways to showcase her music online, she became aware of how inaccessible the web was to the average person so along with a business partner and a £500 budget, she set about developing a solution to that problem.
Lopa Patel MBE FCIM FIDM FRSA
Serial Entrepreneur
Lopa Patel is a digital media entrepreneur and founder of the online South Asian Lifestyle portal Redhotcurry.com and e-commerce website TheRedhotshop.com. She is an experienced marketing consultant who previously set up the direct marketing services company DMS Direct Ltd, where she worked with international companies, charities and not-for-profit organisations, marketing agencies and SMEs in a broad range of industry sectors. She is a Chartered Marketer and Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM), the Institute of Direct Marketing (IDM) and the Royal Society for the Arts (RSA). Lopa is currently a Non-Executive Director of EMBG (Ethnic Minority Business Group); a Board Director & Trustee of Tamasha Theatre Company; a Member of the RSA (Royal Society for the Arts) Fellowship Council and a Trustee of educational charity Raha International. She was previously a Non-Executive Director of Becta (British Education Communications and Technology Agency). She is also a Technology Ambassador for STEMNET, helping to encourage girls to take up Science careers. Her strong record of achievement has been recognised throughout the industry via numerous accolades including the 'Windrush Award' 2003 (Outstanding Champion for the Internet & Technology category). She was voted 'Asian Woman of the Year' in 2005 (Media category) and she was recognised with an MBE for services to the creative industries in 2009.
Gabrielle Rose
Executive for Government & Infrastructure Advisory Division
Grant Thornton LLP
Gaby joined Grant Thornton after being head hunted from her role as Business Engagement Manager at the British Library where she started in July 2006 and over the four years she built a robust Partner Programme to engage with businesses and to increase awareness of the Business and IP Centre which has helped to provide a comprehensive programme of support to Small & Medium sized Enterprises, entrepreneurs & the inventor community.
Before this, she worked both within the private and public sectors, by rolling out corporate social responsibility programmes within the hotel sector and focusing on sustainable development at Forum for the Future. She also worked at the Carbon Trust specialising in Energy Efficiency and Investment & Innovation.
Gaby has been a Steering Group member for Kings Cross Business Forum, Create KX, Innovation Central, Camden Council's LEGI bid. As well as currently an Advisory Board member for Innovation Support Network & MLA Knowledge Transfer Programme.
Gaby is also a judge for Business of the Year for the British Chamber of Commerce National Awards, as well as the Future 100 Awards.
Michelle Pritchard
Life Coach, Motivational Speaker & Author
Michelle Pritchard was formerly the Business & Enterprise Coordinator of Swanlea School, Whitechapel. Michelle Pritchard joined Swanlea School in September 2007 after having achieved a 2:1 in Psychology from Warwick University with ambitions to help raise the aspirations of children from economically deprived communities.
Since being in her role her school has been awarded Outstanding in Enterprise. Michelle's passions lie in helping people realise & achieve their potential. She has worked within the education sector for four years and is extremely avid about guiding young people to a can do attitude and to motivate them to make their dreams a reality. She is also very passionate about self development and empowering others and has recently started promoting a course entitled The Compassion Course alongside her colleague Phil Reed.
Michelle is a life coach, trained in NLP, a motivational speaker and is currently writing her first book to inspire, encourage & empower others.
Edward Fendt
Senior Safety, Quality and Environmental Manager
Mitie
Ed has many years experience in the construction industry and has worked full time in Health & Safety for the last 10 years. He is also involved in maintaining the ISO 9001 Quality / ISO 14001 Environmental and 18001 Safety Accreditations for Mitie. Ed is responsible for the continued high standard of health and safety, quality and environment throughout the South east region of the country. He undertakes many aspects of Mitie's training programme including Nebosh Construction Certificate, SMSTS, IOSH managing safely and First Aid training. Ed is a qualified CDM Co-Ordinator and assists in the preparation of safety plans, tenders, risk assessments and work place audits. Ed is a Graduate Member of Institute of Occupational Safety & Health (IOSH), a member of International Institute of Risk & Safety Management (IIRSM), a registered Member (CDM Co-ordinator) of the Association for Project Safety. Ed is also the Chairman for HVCA London Engineering Services Contractors Safety Group, he is qualified in NEBOSH National Diploma Level 6 in Occupational Health & Safety as well as NEBOSH National Certificate in Construction Safety & Health. Ed holds a CITB Construction Site Managers Safety Certificate and is also an instructor and further to this Ed holds a City & Guilds Preparing to Teach in the Lifelong Learning Sector Level 4 and is currently undertaking an MSc in Occupational Safety and Health at Loughborough University. Ed is The Small Business Consultancy's Health, Safety and Quality champion.
Brayley Pearce
Entrepreneur and Star of Channel 4's Make me a Million
Brayley's first foray into business was when he was just 13 years old, when he took over the local paper round. As well as keeping him fit, it introduced him to the realities of having to work come rain or shine... Fast forward 10 years and he was worked as a waiter for a busy American restaurant - TGI Friday's, where the focus was on customer service and earning tips! It taught him a lesson in the importance of giving great service (better tips!) and there learnt how to work as part of a team and how to deal with all types of people. With several jobs in between, nine years later Brayley helped friends set up their restaurant and realised his entrepreneurial abilities and that it was time for his own business and so in 2004 he started an online health business the start up process of which was featured on Channel 4'sMake Me a Million hit TV show. Brayley is a trained TSBC Champion and Volunteer Entrepreneur Business Advisor for The Small Business Consultancy's programme participants.
Judith Curran
Employment Lawyer at Loch AssociatesJudith is a specialist employment lawyer and started her own employment law practice CC Legal in May 2009 which was merged with leading Employment and Human Resources legal firm Loch Associates in 2011. Loch Associates provides commercial employment law advice and HR support to employers and executive employees. Before that, Judith worked with law firms based in Kent and London. With a broad range of experience, Judith works alongside HR departments and employers advising on employment issues and disputes. Judith also advises Senior Executives and other employees who are facing dismissal, disciplinary action and discrimination or having other difficulties in their employment. Judith is adviser to The Small Business Consultancy and it's participants on contractual, general legal and employment law matters.
Rajeeb Dey
CEO & Founder, Enternships.com | Co-Founder StartUP Britain
Rajeeb is the founder of Enternships.com, a service providing "entrepreneurial work placements" by connecting talented students and graduates to start-ups, SMEs and "intrapreneurial" firms worldwide. The site launched in public beta in May 2009 and has already been recognised as a promising new start-up by becoming a Top 3 Finalist in the Esquire Magazine / Philips New Business Challenge; Finalist in the Microsoft Internet Explorer 8 "Life Academy" Awards and for which Rajeeb has been named the 02 X Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2009. Enternships has already secured global media coverage in The Sunday Times, CNN, The Daily Telegraph, ABC News, Business Week, Wall Street Journal amongst others. Rajeeb was profiled by the Institute of Directors as the Director of the Month in March 2010 and as one of the UK's Top 30 Entrepreneurs aged Under 30 in Real Business Magazine (April 2010).
Rajeeb has also been named as one of the UK's "rising stars of the business world" by Spectator Business Magazine and "among the most high profile" young entrepreneurs by the Financial Times. Rajeeb graduated with First Class Honours in June 2008 in Economics and Management from the University of Oxford. Whilst at University he was the longest serving President of Oxford Entrepreneurs, one of the largest networks of student entrepreneurs in Europe. He was also President of the Oxford Majlis Asian Society, founded in 1896 as a political forum for Indian independence and the second oldest society at Oxford University. Former presidents include Mrs. Indira Gandhi and K.P.S. Menon, who went on to serve the subcontinent with distinction.
Sandford Loudon
Corporate Finance Associate, Watersheds Capital & Young Entrepreneur
Sandford's entrepreneurial journey began aged 22 when he co-founded a company called G and L Deco, importing the Indian board game "Carrom" and selling them to high end department stores across the UK. At the end of 2009, the company was sold to an anonymous buyer for an undisclosed sum. Sandford is currently in the process of launching a revolutionary business which will change the way we travel to events. After finishing studies at the prestigious Eton College in Windsor, Sandford went onto The University of Edinburgh to complete a degree in Economics and Geography during which he secured internships at investment bank Merrill Lynch and investment managers Dalton Strategic Partnership LLP. Today, Sandford works as a Corporate Finance Associate at Watersheds Capital, helping clients to buy and sell shares in private companies and raise finance to grow their businesses. Sandford is also a trained TSBC Champion and Volunteer Entrepreneur Business Advisor for The Small Business Consultancy's programme participants.
Vincent-Wayne Mitchell
Sir John E Cohen Professor of Consumer Marketing & Head of Marketing, Cass Business School, City University London
Vince is Professor of Consumer Marketing at Cass Business School, City University London. He has done extensive research into marketing and consumer behaviour, with particular focus on consumer decision making, complaining behaviour and risk taking. He has won 8 Best Paper Awards and has published over 250 academic and practitioner papers in journals such as Harvard Business Review, Journal of Consumer Psychology, Journal of Business Research, British Journal of Management, Journal of Economic Psychology, Journal of Consumer Affairs, Journal of Business Ethics, as well as numerous conference papers. His recent book, 'Real People, Real Decisions' won the Financial Times/Pearson Higher Education Book of the Year 2009. He has worked with companies such as Coca Cola, Safeway, Tesco and the Co-operative Bank as well as completing a major study on consumer usage of quantity indicators for the UK Government's Department of Trade and Industry. He sits on the Editorial Boards of six international journals, is an Expert Adviser for the Office of Fair Trading and is Head of Marketing at Cass.
Julia Fea
Account Director, Grayling (Public Affairs & Corporate PR Agency)
Julia Fea is an Account Director at international communications specialist Grayling, where she works on both the public affairs and corporate PR teams. Her clients range from charities to multi-nationals and her areas of expertise include energy, ICT and construction. Prior to joining Grayling in September 2009, Julia worked as a political journalist for the BBC for eight years. She reported, produced and edited across a range of TV and radio programmes, including The Today Programme, The World At One and PM. She also worked as Radio Four's political producer and produced the BBC's team of political correspondents. Julia heads up Grayling's media training arm and provides a range of training at all levels, from beginner to CEO and including crisis communications.
Roselyn Xavier
Young Advocate
Roselyn is an undergraduate student at Durham University, studying Economics. Roselyn was fourteen, the first time she entered an enterprise competition and she has been involved in different enterprise projects since. At the age of eighteen, she co-founded the social enterprise Footprint. Footprint's aim is to educate children about issues surrounding climate change in an innovative and creative way. The team have already gained recognition after being selected as finalists for the Mini Mogul Awards 2010 and coming second in the overall competition. Roselyn was successful, through a meticulous selection process, in being chosen as the Changemaker's Young Advocate as part of the Future Leaders Programme as result of which she works closely with the Entrepreneur and the Managing Director of TSBC to increase youth participation and to help the company develop through her own project setting up the E=MC2 Young Entrepreneurs Network.
Rachelle Angeline
Youth Board Member & Champion
Rachelle is an undergraduate student studying Economics at Nottingham University.
During her time at St Angela's & St Bonaventure's Sixth Form Centre, Rachelle played an active role in the school including being a Young Speaker for the global movement, We Are What We Do.
She is one of the founding members of Footprint, a social enterprise aiming to educate children about issues surrounding climate change in an innovative and creative way. Her enthusiasm and passion for enterprise helped take the team to the Mini Mogul Finals 2010, finishing in 2nd place.
