KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
Georgia Stewart
Georgia is CEO of Tumelo. Georgia studied Natural Sciences at Cambridge and has experience from across the sustainable investment sector including equity investment analysis at Jupiter, cleantech venture capital at IP Group and conservation projects at Fauna and Flora International. She now runs financial technology scale-up, Tumelo. Tumelo’s platform gives investors and pension members visibility of the companies they are invested in and a shareholder voice on the environmental and social issues those companies are facing. Through partnerships with the largest investment and pension platforms around the world, Tumelo is driving mass engagement with sustainable finance and a grass-roots movement towards true shareholder democracy. Georgia is also a member of the Investment Governance Committee (IGC) at Aviva.
Levi Roots
Mr Levi Roots – aka dragon slayer, sauce man, entrepreneur and chef first shot to fame on BBC2’s Dragon’s Den in 2007. Levi Roots has been a pioneer for Caribbean food and as a result of his continued hard work Caribbean food now has a place in the hearts of the Great British public.
His “Reggae Reggae Sauce” song he charmed Dragons Peter Jones and Richard Farleigh into investing in his spicy homemade Sauce, a secret recipe handed down to him from his grandmother. A speedy launch at Sainsbury’s just a few weeks later resulted in the sauce flying off the shelves and even outselling Heinz Tomato Ketchup!
Levi has managed to find time to write several cookbooks and alongside these, Levi has penned his business manual “You Can Get It If You Really Want”. He is a great advocate for small to medium size businesses and is often found mentoring young entrepreneurs.
“Reggae Reggae Sauce” was where the journey started but Levi now has several products under licence but most excitingly he is having a multi-million pound movie made about the story of his life!
Phil Harrison
Phil Harrison has been at the forefront of the games industry as a creator, developer, investor and executive for more than 35 years. From the 8-bit home computer revolution in the 1980’s, launching PlayStation in the 1990’s and as President of Worldwide Studios at Sony, investing in leading mobile games company Supercell in the 2010’s, as an executive at Microsoft and – since 2018 – at Google, Phil has enjoyed a unique perspective on the explosive growth of the global games industry and the pivotal role that entrepreneurs and risk-takers play in building the future.
EXPERT INSIGHTS
Alison Ettridge
CEO,
Stratigens
Alison is Stratigens CEO and Chief Believer – living the entrepreneur’s dream! Alison knows that you can’t make good decisions without good data, and yet business leaders are forced to make decisions with little, or no, data at all. Alison loves helping HR Directors take data and insight to the Board so they can make smarter decisions about where to grow, where to invest and the diversity of their business; helping them to convince their leaders (turning them into Believers!). Alison has spent twenty plus years in the world of people and talent – from her first job in executive recruitment, to sales at monster.com and then into the world of talent research and intelligence, which was where she spotted the opportunity for Stratigens – to bridge the gap between strategy and execution with data.
Claire Ladkin
Founder,
All About the Cooks
Claire founded Bristol Start-Up, All About The Cooks, because she believes that one day it will be possible to buy home-cooked food from local people wherever you are in the world. And, of course, Bristol is the best City in the world to make this happen.
With a leadership position in the buzzing, globally renowned, food culture of Bristol, Claire has extensive experience of creating communities through food as Chair of Bristol Food Connections.
The Bristol pilot proved the concept and Claire and her team have since raised investment of over £300,000 by equity crowdfunding through Crowdcube, to enable All About the Cooks to launch in 6 more Cities in the coming year.
Claire has been driven to leverage the tax incentives of the Enterprise Investment Scheme to enable a massive social impact as, at scale, All About the Cooks will enable large amounts of money to change hands within communities.
Claudia May
Marketing manager,
Storm Consultancy
Claudia is the marketing manager at Storm Consultancy, an award-winning digital agency based in the heart of Bath.
Previously, she had a B2B sales background in the entrepreneurial and scale up space and set up her own ecommerce business a few years ago. As a serial networker you’ll find Claudia at various events in the area so please always say “Hey” if you bump into her.
Dimo Dimov
Professor of entrepreneurship and innovation and co-founder of Kinetic Thinking,
University of Bath School of Management
Dimo Dimov is Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at University of Bath. Before Bath, he was on the faculty at Newcastle University, University of Connecticut (USA), and IE Business School (Spain). Prior to entering academia, he was finance director with Marriott International, overseeing two hospitality businesses in Budapest, Hungary.
Dimo’s research focuses on entrepreneurial thinking, process, and practice. He is co-founder of Kinetic Thinking, a validated framework for personal and organisational development. It helps individuals, teams and entire organizations capitalize on the changing world of work by deploying new ways of thinking, managing and leading.
Dominic Davis
Partner,
Burges Salmon
Dominic has been a partner in the corporate finance team since 2011.
He works in all areas of corporate finance, including acting for a range of private and public companies on both UK and international mergers, sales and acquisitions as well as dealing with general corporate advisory and governance issues.
Dom regularly advises entrepreneurs and business owners securing successful investments and exits as well as representing family businesses and family offices.
Duncan MacIntyre
CEO Lombard Odier UK,
Lombard Odier Group
Duncan MacIntyre joined Lombard Odier in January 2016 as Chief Executive Officer of its private client business in the UK. He was appointed Global UK Region Head in 2019, leading teams across London, Geneva and Zurich. Duncan has over 25 years of experience in private wealth management. Prior to his time at Lombard Odier, he founded and was a global head of Coutts Private Office, managing Ultra High Net Worth (UHNW) clients across the world, including the UK, Switzerland, Monaco, Russia, Middle East and Asia. He began his career working at James Capel as an investment manager. Flemings then recruited him to establish an UHNW private bank, and his experience with UHNW clients led him to take a senior banker role at JP Morgan. Duncan holds a BA in Latin American studies and a Master’s degree in Anthropology. He is a Chartered Fellow of the Securities and Investment Institute (CISI) and participated in the Harvard Business School Executive Education programme.
Elly Rowley
Regional ecosystem manager,
NatWest
NatWest is the leading UK bank for entrepreneurs, providing support to around one in four businesses throughout the country.. Being purpose-led NatWest champion the potential of people, families and businesses across the UK, focussing on the areas where it can have the biggest positive impact across society.
As longstanding supporters of Women in Business NatWest understand the various challenges that women might face when setting up or running their business, which is why is has its Business Builder and Accelerator programmes and over 1000 Women in Business Specialists across the UK who provide tailored support to help them achieve their ambitions for their business.
Elly Rowley is Regional Ecosystem Manager for NatWest in the South West, leading Enterprise and signposting support to entrepreneurs through her extensive network to increase connectivity and accessibility across communities.
Florence Kiss
Senior vice president, sustainable investment offering,
Lombard Odier Group
Florence Kiss has been a sustainable investment expert for Lombard Odier Private Banking since September 2018 and co-manager of the Lombard Odier Development Finance Impact Fund (invested in impact private debt). She is specialised in the integration of sustainability cross-assets and in supporting client meetings on the matter.
Florence focuses on adapting Lombard Odier’s sustainability philosophy to private clients’ needs by supporting bankers and investment specialists in their daily dialog with private clients. She offers group or personalized training courses on sustainability offering and tools for investment specialists, bankers as well as clients. She supports also the engagement effort within the private bank in cooperation with the analyst as well as the open architecture team on the sustainable side of the due diligence & dialog with external asset managers.
Formerly 30 years of experience in Fixed Income trading, sales & advisory, working for international banks – Deutsche Bank, Natwest Capital markets and HSBC Private banking in Paris, London and Geneva, its experience served institutional and private clients.
Jane Ellis-Brush
Senior lecturer in supply chain management,
University of Bath’s School of Management
Jane is a Senior Lecturer in Supply Chain Management at University of Bath’s School of Management. She is also a Commercial Assessor for the Cabinet Office as well as being an Executive Coach to many. In addition, she has recently set up a Community Interest Company in Bath (1stimpressions.org.uk) which aims to help underprivileged women back into work through support with clothes and interview techniques.
Previously she had a 30-year career as a senior executive in a number of blue-chip companies, with her most recent experience as Managing Director of Shared Services and Procurement across Europe, Middle East and Africa for a large financial institution.
She is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply (CIPS) and holds a PhD from the University of Bath in Commercial Relationships and been a past president of CIPS.
Julie Book
Director,
Burges Salmon
Julie is a director in the corporate finance team. Her work covers all areas of corporate finance but she specialises in complex M&A transactions, joint ventures and corporate reorganisations. Julie advises clients active in a range of sectors and has a particular focus on private wealth, regularly acting for entrepreneurs and family offices on securing successful exits and investment.
Leanne Olivier
Co-founder,
The Female Edge UK
Health & well-being are at the centre of improving individual, business and global economic growth. Leanne has a PhD in nutrition biochemistry & over 20 years in the Food, Drink and Medical industry, she specialises in bridging the gap between science & business to create growth opportunities through communications. As an effective leader, Leanne has managed collaborative projects and high performance teams across global territories. Once described as “a serial entreprenuer” Leanne has involvement in the following businesses:
Director and co-founder of The Good Crowd, a female-founded, strategic communications agency based in the South West. The Good Crowd exists to the a force for good in industry, driving change that benefits both people and the planet.
Leanne is also co-founder of The Female Edge has a mission to get more women running their own businesses. The Female Edge is a space for women entrepreneurs to collaborate, support and inspire one another.
Mehrnaz Tajmir
Co-founder and chief science, Greener
Mehrnaz is the Co-Founder and Chief Science at Greener. Mehrnaz comes from an academic background in mechanical engineering and supply chain management with focus on food waste which helped her understand the details and challenges of implementing sustainability in our food systems.
During these years Mehrnaz saw first-hand the discrepancies in tools and resources that were available for businesses across the food industry. Her work with smaller businesses in this sector showed that while there is a significant desire to implement sustainability within their supply chains, they often lack the resources to do so as the available resources were often too resource intensive and costly to use. These experiences led her to begin working on Greener.
Melanie Shufflebotham
Co-founder and COO,
Zap-Map
Melanie is the co-founder of Zap-Map, the electric vehicle (EV) charging map. Zap-Map helps EV drivers search, plan and pay for charging when they are out and about. As Zap-Map scales up, she continues to be focused on making charging simple for EV drivers ready for the mass take-up of electric cars.
Maximilian Martin
Global head of philanthropy,
Lombard Odier Group
Dr Maximilian Martin is Lombard Odier’s Global Head of Philanthropy and led the ICRC’s “Program for Humanitarian Impact Investment” transaction on the side of the co-sponsor Lombard Odier. He is also the founder of Impact Economy, and a visiting lecturer at the University of St. Gallen. In 2003, Dr Martin created Europe’s first university course on social entrepreneurship. From 2004-2009, he created and led the philanthropic services and impact investing offering for a UBS, including creating its philanthropy forum and the Visionaris social entrepreneurship awards. In 2011, he founded the impact investment advisory firm Impact Economy.
In 2013, he wrote the Primer on impact investing “Status of the Social Impact Investing Market” at the invitation of the UK Cabinet Office for the G8 policy makers’ conference. In 2014, he created the Apparel Innovation Consortium, helping to bring financing and world-class manufacturing principles to bear on the world’s #2 polluting industry, where millions of women toil in their first formal sector jobs. Published by Springer in 2016, his book “Building the Impact Economy: Our Future, Yea or Nay” develops a comprehensive framework for creating sustainable new business approaches.
Dr Martin holds an MA in anthropology from Indiana University, a MPA from Harvard University, and a Ph.D. in (economic) anthropology from the University of Hamburg; employers and lecturing appointments have included McKinsey & Company, Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, UBS, Harvard University, the University of Geneva, and the University of St. Gallen. He has also served as Founding Faculty in Residence at Ashoka U, training senior faculty in Asia and the Americas on social entrepreneurship, and serves on the advisory board of the Emmy Award winning series on climate change “Years of Living Dangerously,” executive produced by James Cameron and Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Nick Gompertz
Founder, EarSwitch
EarSwitch Ltd was founded by a doctor, Nick Gompertz, with 30 years NHS experience, who, as a medical student, wanted to help people with motor neurone disease communicate for longer.
EarSwitch technologies change everyone’s ear-buds from simple audio devices to the centre of handsfree control, communication and health and fitness monitoring, whilst helping address accessibility and communication problems.
Nick Hounsfield
Founder,
The Wave
Nick founded The Wave in 2010 with a vision of bringing surfing, nature and ‘blue health’ to people of all ages, backgrounds and abilities. The Wave is an inland-surfing destination where anyone and everyone can surf on perfect waves, all year round, and reap the many physical and mental health benefits it offers.
The Wave”s first destination opened in Bristol, UK, in autumn 2019 and was the first place in the world to use groundbreaking Wavegarden Cove technology. Nick went from £500 and a vision, to raising £30million to make it a reality.
Nick is the Chair of Surfing England, and was also selected to be one of only 15 people to be part of UK Sports International Leadership Programme 2019-20
Richard Spilsbury
Founder,
Link Stone Advisory
Founder of Link Stone Advisory and portfolio NED. Former Finance Director and Corporate Development Director at Future plc and Play Sports Group after PwC.
He supports clients with scale up, fundraising, business development, restructuring, exit and M&A based value creation (both transaction and beyond the deal).
Roger Saul
Mulberry, Kilver Court and Sharpham Park ‘cereal’ entrepreneur
Roger is best known for founding the iconic fashion brand, Mulberry in 1971. In 1996, Roger successfully floated the company. During the 33 years that Roger ran the business, Mulberry became one of the most successful British fashion brands in the world.
In 1996, Roger and Monty opened Charlton House Hotel in Somerset which, within its first year, was awarded a Michelin star. In the same year, Roger acquired Kilver Court in Shepton Mallet as the new Mulberry HQ and in the summer of 2011 Roger launched the Kilver Court Emporium.
In 2003 Roger bought Sharpham Park, which he restored to productivity by creating an organic spelt farm founded upon 20 organic and environmental statements where regenerative agriculture is a way of life. Today, Sharpham Park produce an award winning range of spelt products across flour, cereals, grains and pastas. In April 2022 Roger brought the first organic spelt drinks to the market: grown, milled, and made within 15 miles in the heart of rural Somerset
Shane Xin Carnell-Xu
Co-founder,
Shakeup Cosmetics
Following an initial career in advertising, Shane co-founded READY in 2007, a multi-award winning creative marketing agency specialising in the beauty sectors, working with international brands such as Soap & Glory, Burt’s Bees and Molton Brown. As avid cosmetic users themselves, Shane and co-founder/twin brother Jake realised that when it came to high quality, high performance cosmetic products that were specifically developed for and marketed at men, the choices were very limited. So in 2019 they made a radical pivot from agency life to founding their own beauty brand – Shakeup Cosmetics, and set out to create an innovative range of multi-functional hybrid skincare cosmetics for men. Since its launch, Shakeup has been named one of Top 4 “Next British Beauty Brands” by the British Beauty Council, secured Harvey Nichols and Superdrug national listings, and successfully launched in multiple international markets including South Africa, China and Australia.
Charlotte Randall
COO,
StatsBomb
As one of the founders of StatsBomb, my passion is in building great products – with a background in Customer Research, Usability and business finance and operations. I have worked in organisations ranging from start-up to multi-national which has given me the breadth of experience I’ve needed to set up and scale StatsBomb, including fundraising, hiring, building process and structure.
As COO, I currently lead our UX/UI team as well as Customer Success, Finance, HR and Sales Ops and have led the operational growth from the 3 founders to over 700 employees we employ internationally today.