Home >> Our People >> Mentors
Our mentors form a strong community of entrepreneurs, investors and business professionals and are all passionate about working with young entrepreneurs to build social ventures.

Mentors

  • Mark Cheng - Executive Director, Chelwood Capital and Senior Financial Advisor, Ashoka
  • Matt Scott - Entrepreneur-in-Residence, Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship
  • Ezequiel Vidra - Strategic Partnerships Development Manager, Google London
  • Charlotte Mason, Founder WhoHowNow, CrackingBoards, Siliconiom
  • Rob Fitzpatrick, Serial Entrepreneur and Founder, thestartuptoolkit.com
  • Robyn Scott - Co-Founder & Managing Director, OneLeap; Co-Founder, Mothers for All
  • Kelly Michel - Founder and CEO, Potencia Ventures
  • Jay Barrymore - Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Impact Investment Partners
  • Frank Krikhaar - Head of Corporate Responsibility, Aegis Group plc.
  • Salim Virani - Founder, Leancamp
  • Raj Burman - Business Development Leader, Telecoms and Entrepreneur
  • Chris Gorman - Founder, Alaro Capital
  • Tyler Knight - Co-Founder, MDiagnostica
  • Kristian Barker - Digital Product Development Strategist  
  • Warris Bokhari - Clinical Executive Director, Loxbridge Research
  • Paul Cheng - Senior Investment Manager, CAF Venturesome
  • Tim Hartley - Co-Founder, impactready.org
  • Simon Horton - Founder, World Class Performance Ltd
  • Mark Liparoto - Business Development Leader, Telecoms
  • Catriona Maclay - Founding Director, Hackney Pirates
  • Candice Motran - Innovation and Growth Consultant, The Foundation 
  • Stephen Parkes - Founder, The Concept Box
  • Daniel James Paterson - Founder, ManufacturingChange.org
  • Charles Roberts - CEO & Project-management Principal, Loxbridge Research
  • Ann Rogan - Bottom of the Pyramid Entrepreneur
  • Lauren Ryder - Investment Manager, Ariya Capital
  • Sameer Segal - Founder & CEO, Artoo
  • Carlo Palmieri - CEO of CP Consulting and Angel Investor
  • Mary Roach - Founder, Lionne; Business Development Manager, GSMA Development Fund
  • Tom Rippin - Founder & CEO, On Purpose
  • Richard Tyrie - Founder & CEO, GoodPeople
  • Gina Badenoch - Founder & CEO, Ojos Que Sienten
  • Kelvin Cheung - Founder & CEO, FoodCycle
  • Nigel Tunnacliffe - Serial Entrepreneur
  • Jonathan Lewis - Founder, iOnPoverty
  • Elena Pantazi - Investment Manager, Impetus Trust
  • Dr Rashid Shahidi - Co-Founder & CEO, Medopad
  • Stephen King - Founder, Socialbusiness.org
  • Rakhi Rajani - Founder, Human Editions
  • Pradeep Pursnani - Business Director, Shell Foundation
  • Simon Desjardins - Business Director, Shell Foudation
  • Ginger Turner - Entrepreneur
  • David Kelly - Founder, Leadership and Innovation Ltd
  • James Wise - Portfolio Director, Social Business Trust
  • Judy Piatkus - Serial Entrepreneur
  • Paul Dowling - Founder & CEO, DreamStake
  • Joysy John - Head of Global Partnerships, Startup Leadership Program

See below for more detail:

Mark Cheng
Executive Director, Chelwood Capital; Senior Advisor, Ashoka

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Mark Cheng is founder and Executive Director of social Investment firm Chelwood Capital, which advises social enterprises seeking to access the capital markets. He is also a Senior Advisor to Ashoka, the network of leading social entrepreneurs, where he is working with Ashoka Fellows on a number of projects raising investment funds for social causes. Examples include Fair Finance, a renowned micro-finance lender serving low income communities in London, and ‘Solar for All’, a worldwide initiative led by a coalition of foundations using social investment to accelerate the uptake of affordable solar energy in developing countries. Mark is a former project finance executive of Deutsche Bank and has 14 years experience in corporate and development finance. During that time he has helped raise more than $8bn to finance energy, water, sanitation and infrastructure projects around the world. Mark graduated from Exeter College, Oxford University with a first class BA Hons degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics in 1996. He has since lived and worked in Beijing, Hong Kong, Tokyo and London, where he is now based.

Matt Scott
Entrepreneur-in-Residence, Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship

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Matt is Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the Skoll Centre.  On graduating from Stanford Business School, Matt co-founded a solar energy venture and supported the growth of Cosmos Ignite to reach 100,000 ‘BoP’ customers and achieve global recognition (Time, Economist). Matt has also worked in Impact Investing and Venture Philanthropy. He is a Schwab Social Entrepreneur of the Year finalist (2007) and Founding Chair of GlobalGiving (UK).

Ezequiel Vidra
Strategic Partnerships Development Manager, Google London

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Ezequiel (Eze) Vidra is an experienced product and business development Internet professional. Eze is a Strategic Partnerships Development Manager at Google London, responsible for commerce partnerships in Spain and establishing business relationships in the commerce space across EMEA. Prior to Google, Eze was the Principal Product Manager of AOL Search in Europe, leading a team responsible for the user experience, monetization and distribution of AOL’s search across 18 European markets and 30 online properties. Before moving to London, Eze was a senior product manager at Ask.com in San Francisco, a Product Manager at Gerson Lehrman Group in New York and a team leader at Shopping.com in Israel. In 2003, he also co-founded a startup in Israel developing text input solutions for touch screens. Eze's passion for Internet startups and venture capital are evident on his blog, VC Cafe (http://www.vccafe.com) where he has obsessively profiled hundreds of Israeli startups since starting VC Cafe in 2005. Eze is the recipient of the Coller Institute award for best venture capital management report in 2010 at London Business School and serves as a mentor in several online incubators in Europe including Seedcamp, Springboard, Launch48 and Oxygen.

Charlotte Mason
Founder, WhoHowNow, CrackingBoards, Siliconiom

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Charlotte advises high growth businesses. She has a wide range of experience; from the Director of an angel investment network to mentoring at Astia, Atlantic Accelerator, Rockstar Mentoring Group, Springboard, Seedcamp and the Cherie Blair Foundation. An INSEAD Executive MBA, Charlotte holds a Masters in Manufacturing Engineering & Management with 12-yrs IT professional services global experience. She headed a board-level turnaround programme for a failing £46m IT consultancy employing 450 people in 6 offices. Under Charlotte's leadership the company moved EBITDA from 0.7% (£300k) to 6% (£2.4m) within 12-months. Within 18-months the firm was on track to achieve 10% (£4m) EBITDA. Charlotte has lectured Entrepreneurship at Cambridge University, is a mentor to London Business School, and a judge at the Business Venture Competition at INSEAD. She is the Co-Chair of INSEAD UK Alumni Entrepreneur Group. Currently, she is growing her businesses that play to her passion - connecting people: www.whohownow.com, www.crackingboards.com, www.siliconiom.com.

Rob Fitzpatrick
Entrepreneur, www.thestartuptoolkit.com

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Rob is a tech entrepreneur who moved his first company to London from the valley. He has built products used globally by brands like MTV and Sony and by top universities like UCL and has raised funding in both the US & UK. He blogs about learning (and doing) entrepreneurship at http://thestartuptoolkit.com and is working with NYC’s General Assembly to bring their highly effective startup co-working space and educational programs to the UK.

Robyn Scott
Co-founder & Managing Director, OneLeap; Co-founder, Mothers for All

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Robyn is a social entrepreneur and author. She is co-founder of OneLeap - an online platform that enables focused young people, whatever their background, to get in touch with decision-makers, whilst raising money for charity. She is also co-founder of Mothers for All, a non-profit social enterprise which teaches income-generation and entrepreneurship skills to AIDS orphan caregivers in Southern Africa, and is an ambassador for the Access to Medicine Index. Her first book, Twenty Chickens for a Saddle, is a memoir about growing up in Botswana against the AIDS epidemic. Her second book, Big Like Coca-Cola, is the true story of a group of maximum security prisoners who adopted AIDS orphans and created enterprise projects within maximum to support the children. She has worked for BP, the FT and Investec. A Gates Cambridge Scholar, she has a BSc Bioinformatics and an MPhil Bioscience Enterprise Distinction. She is a fellow of the RSA. 

Kelly Michel
Founder and CEO, Potencia Ventures

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In 2002, Kelly launched Potencia Ventures, which helps catalyze the growth of emerging market clusters for business that serves the base of the pyramid. She also co-designed and -developed Artemisia Negócios Sociais, a Brazilian organization that develops high-performance management teams and accelerates new ventures. In 2009, Kelly and two partners established Vox Capital, a Brazilian venture capital fund which invests in early-stage companies that improve life for their low income clients. Kelly holds a Masters in Entrepreneurship from HEC Paris and has spent the past 14 years outside her native United States, living, working and studying in Latin America, Europe and West Africa.

Jay Barrymore
Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Impact Investment Partners

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Jay Barrymore is a co-founder and Managing Partner of Impact Investment Partners ("IIP"), a principal investment firm that seeks to deliver above average risk-adjusted returns alongside demonstrable social impact. Prior to IIP, Jay worked for Acumen Fund, the leading social venture fund, in India and at RWC Partners, an award-winning hedge fund in London. Jay has been invited to speak globally, including on Base of the Pyramid healthcare at Yale University and on Frugal Innovation at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He currently serves as an Advisor for RISE Youth, an evidence-based social enterprise that pairs adult coaches with young people in custody. Jay holds a BA(Hons) from University College London (UCL) and is a CFA® Charterholder.

Frank Krikhaar
Head of Corporate Responsibility, Aegis Group plc.

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Frank Krikhaar is the Head of Corporate Responsibility for Aegis Group plc. Working for one of the world’s largest marketing communications companies, Frank has 15,000 colleagues in 80 countries worldwide, delivering a worldwide turnover of around £10bn a year. His main focus is to deliver Future Proof, the Group’s sustainability programme, which aims to reduce Aegis’s carbon footprint by 20% and increase its community investment sixfold to 1% of all employees’ time annually. With a background in corporate finance, Frank’s strength lies in combining business needs and sustainability imperatives. His weakness lies in chocolate.

Salim Virani
Founder, Leancamp

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Salim co-founded Leancamp, an international set of events that combines Lean Startup, Agile, Business Model Innovation, Design, and other disciplines – to find market traction faster.  He has founded a number of businesses, ranging from technical services to consumer e-commerce sites and a digital media department for a major advertising agency. Salim now works with a few startups, thought leaders and universities, sharing the new methods sparked at Leancamp.

Raj Burman
Entrepreneur

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Raj is an international commercial and social entrepreneur with over 25 years commercial success in establishing transformational business growth and value generation, operating in the convergence spaces between telecommunications digital online, technology, media, international development and social enterprise. As a seasoned hands-on leader, he has held several senior commercial positions driving top line growth, corporate development, strategic alliances, and operational management with leading global Blue-Chip firms, turnarounds and entrepreneurial start-ups. In parallel to his commercial activities, Raj leads on several international development initiatives that leverage innovation and cross-sector collaboration to foster social and digital inclusion, particularly for marginalised communities. He is Ambassador for the UN Global Poverty Project where he inspires local communities to take action on extreme poverty issues in context to the Millennium Development Goals. Raj is also Co-founder for The Sustain Organisation in partnership with Forward Publishing/WPP, the world’s largest media firm that enables venture philanthropy and ICT for development to support efforts focused on delivering socioeconomic returns via development through enterprise, innovation and thought leadership.

Chris Gorman
Founder, Alaro Capital

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Chris Gorman is the founder of Alaro Capital, based in Mallorca Spain.  He manages a private real estate portfolio of residential real estate in the US, Caribbean and Europe.  Chris was an energy commodity trader in the US for 11 years from 1997-2008. He was hired in 2006 by one of the world's most successful hedge funds, S.A.C. Capital, a $16 billion dollar fund in Stamford Connecticut, to start their energy commodity trading efforts.  Prior to S.A.C. Chris set up the trade desk for WPS Energy in Washington DC.  He was Director of Trading at PG&E Energy Trading in Bethesda, Maryland and began his career at AIG Trading in Greenwich, Connecticut in 1997.  Throughout Chris's career he was consistently one of the top performing traders.  Chris is an active Board member of the charity Haiti Lumiere de Demain, who distribute textbooks to children in impoverished areas in Haiti .  He was a panel judge in the University of Richmond, Business Pitch Competition held in April 2011 in Richmond, Virginia.  He maintains a full ownership interest in a children's book publishing company and has been an angel financier in a number of successful bar/restaurant investments in New York City and Brooklyn.

Tyler Knight
Co-Founder, mDiagnostica

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Tyler is co-founder of mDiagnostica, a healthcare startup utilizing mobile technology for improving access to quality healthcare for underserved populations. He holds an MBA from the University of Oxford, and has spent several years  opening and operating paperless general practice clinics and working as a healthcare strategist for CB Richard Ellis. Tyler believes that adequate health can empower people to live more fulfilling lives and to reach their maximum potential. He is committed to finding innovative solutions that will bring better health to marginalised communities, thus unlocking previously untapped talent.

Kristian Barker
Digital Product Development Strategist 

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Kristian is an independent digital consultant with over 15 years of experience spearheading strategic alliances, marketing and product development strategies for renowned organisations such as The Post Office, Virgin Media, Yahoo! The BBC, The Mirror Group and various innovative start-ups. Working within the intersections of digital strategy, social business and mobility, Kristian is passionate about affecting positive behavioural change through the combination of digital technologies, social media and social enterprise to support ‘conscious consumerism’ as individuals, communities and brands transition towards a more ethical and self-sustaining societal model. Kristian is currently supporting the Post Office Ltd with the development of their digital partnership and mobile strategy. He is also co-founding a commercial venture on ethical fashion and advising technology start–ups.

Warris Bokhari
Clinical Executive Director, Loxbridge Research

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Warris provides clinical and regulatory support to projects in his role as Clinical Executive Director. Warris holds a degree in Chemistry with Management and also is a qualified medical doctor. His medical training focussed on anaesthetics and critical care. He has conducted research into facial reconstruction with the University of California, San Francisco and has published and presented internationally. Warris actively maintains an interest in medical education, and was awarded an Honorary Lectureship at the Royal College of Surgeons, where he teaches regularly. He has also written online lecture content for the Department of Health. Warris is also an accomplished photographer and has exhibited work as part of an exhibition for Goldin and Sennesby in Paris, Stockholm and London as well as taking portraits, and production stills for several London theatre productions.

Paul Cheng
Senior Investment Manager, CAF Venturesome

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Paul Cheng is Senior Investment Manager at CAF Venturesome, the social investment arm of the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF). He lead manages the CAF Social Impact Fund and Innovation Fund, in addition to managing CAF Venturesome’s investor relations. He previously worked as a corporate finance lawyer with international law firm Slaughter and May, and as a business strategist with Microsoft. He is a regular speaker on social investment matters at both UK and international events, and chairs the European Social Investment Taskforce.

Tim Hartley
Co-Founder, www.impactready.org

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Tim is a freelance strategy consultant and founding partner with Joseph Barnes of www.impactready.org – a community of people who think, train and work with social impact organisations around the world.  Tim’s particular passion revolves around building partnerships, identifying win-win opportunities for different stakeholder groups, focusing in particular on the crossover between the public, private and voluntary (or ‘third’) sectors.   Tim also works with individuals seeking to “make the change”, responding to the growing number of people exploring how to live in harmony with their social conscience.   Tim’s existence in the world of social enterprise is the result of an on-going journey that so far has taken him through studying microbiology at University, becoming a specialist risk-based consultant for the public sector, and latterly a trustee for an arts-based community organisation in Scotland. 

Simon Horton
Founder, World Class Performance Ltd

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Simon is a serial entrepreneur, founder of, amongst others, World Class Performance Ltd and Negotiation Mastery Ltd. He has been a mentor and business coach for many start-up companies, specialising in the creative and technology sectors. He is an expert in negotiation skills and related subjects such as influencing, communication, sales, strategy and management. Simon started his career in management consultancy and has run his own consultancy for over 20 years with many Blue Chip clients. He is a Visiting Lecturer at Imperial College and the Royal College of Art and has just written his first book, Negotiation Mastery. He runs a charity AID2 , that provides coaching and consultancy to other charities, and in his spare time he is a trapeze artist.

Mark Liparoto
Business Development Leader, Telecoms

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Mark Liparoto is a Business Development and Sales leader with global experience in mobile telecommunications systems and solutions.  Mark has focused on the planning and launch of numerous innovative wireless technologies to help expand the scope of a connected world.  He has held senior positions at AT&T, Lucent Technologies and IPWireless – spanning both large corporate and VC funded start-up environments.  Mark blends a passion for technology with strong analytical and commercial skills to drive business success.  And brings a wide perspective, having lead global organizations in Business Development, Marketing and Product Management, and proven experience in strategy, due diligence, pipeline development, product requirements and investment recommendations.  Mark holds a B.S. in Industrial and Operations Engineering and M.S. in Operations Research from the University of Michigan and completed the Berkeley Executive Program at the Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley.  In his free time, Mark enjoys furniture restoration, reading (social-economic history), investing, indoor rowing and walking in the Surrey hills. 

Catriona Maclay
Founding Director, Hackney Pirates

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Catriona is the Founding Director of The Hackney Pirates, an educational social enterprise developing young people's literacy and creativity by giving the one-to-one attention in an unconventional learning environment. Before taking to the high seas, she was the Venture Manager for Ashoka, an association of the world's leading social entrepreneurs, and a Citizenship teacher as a north-London secondary school.



Candice Motran
Innovation and Growth Consultant, The Foundation

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Candice is currently working as an innovation and growth consultant at The Foundation Growth Consulting. While there, she has worked on advising clients in a number of different sectors, from the third sector to financial services to retail.  Prior to this, Candice participated in the pilot year of the social enterprise leadership progamme On Purpose, working on fostering innovation in the NHS, as well as designing social impact measurement systems at HCT Group.  She has also previously worked on developing Corporate Responsibility strategy at United Airlines. She has an MBA with Distinction from Oxford University’s Saïd Business School, and a Bachelors degree in Aerospace Engineering from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada.

Stephen Parkes
Founder, The Concept Box

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Stephen Parkes founded The Concept Box, an education focused start-up, which is currently developing its first service. Previously based in Shanghai as General Manager at BE Ltd, he was a key member of the team which grew a one office eight employee company to four offices, with over fifty staff in China and multi-million dollar revenues. He has worked in private equity as an Investment Manager for MG Maple, primarily in Beijing with time spent in London and Hong Kong. His focus was on investments in companies capitalising on the China growth story. Stephen studied History at King's College London.

Daniel James Paterson
Founder, ManufacturingChange.org

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Daniel James Paterson is the founder of ManufacturingChange.org, an innovative online NGO which supports social enterprises in developing countries that use manufacturing to create social change. Winner of a ‘Manufacturing Leadership 100’ award, he is passionate about using manufacturing to achieve social goals and has travelled extensively in developing countries to work with pioneering social enterprises. His professional background is in business process improvement, new product development, culture transformation, engineering, strategy, manufacturing management and management consultancy. He holds a Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering and is an expert in the Lean Manufacturing and Lean Enterprise methodologies, through which he has managed and improved several manufacturing and service organisations across Europe. As a Manufacturing Manager, he had hire-and-fire and profit-and-loss accountability for 50 staff and $15M of annual production, and is skilled in man-management, purchasing, operations, engineering, logistics and human resourcing. Passionate about internet technologies, micro-volunteering, crowd-sourcing and crowd-funding, he uses his spare time to provide pro-bono business strategy support and mentoring to a number of social ventures. He is the author of the successful Journal of Modern Wisdom article “How I leaned my life”, and he also cycles. Lots.

Charles Roberts
CEO & Project-management Principal, Loxbridge Research

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Charles began his career as a doctor practising reconstructive surgery in the UK. He left clinical medicine to pursue his principal passion: bringing global-need innovative health technologies through R&D to reality where they can benefit hundreds of thousands of patients. He specialises in experimental and clinical trial design and has co-founded several innovative bio-tech and med-tech enterprises, now successfully in clinical trials. He is the author of a number of peer-reviewed scientific articles, and an inventor named on several patent applications. In the environmental space, Charles is the founding CEO of GreeenStar Trust, an innovative not-for-profit creating a consumer-driven market force to incentivize carbon reductions at large corporates. The GreeenStar model has won widespread acclaim within the space and support from leading organisations, academics and prominent Hollywood environmentalists alike.

Ann Rogan
Entrepreneur

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Ann Rogan co-founded Loop, an Indian supply chain company focused on consumer solar products. There, she oversaw business strategy and operations - including the negotiation of contracts with solar suppliers. Ann has also worked at Drishtee, AIF, and consulted to McKinsey and the Acara Institute. She is well versed in rural distribution strategies within India.  She was profiled in 2011 by TheNextWomen.com, and in 2008, her team’s work at Drishtee was recognized by IIM-Ahmedabad for its contribution to innovations that democratize access to health care. She holds a degree in International Development and English Literature from McGill University. She loves taco salad, hiking and finding new music. Ann is currently working on an idea that will radically alter the way users interact with their service providers. She is a 2012 Fellow in the Startup Leadership Program in Silicon Valley. She blogs, ever so frequently, at http://enterpriseineveryday.blogspot.com/.

Ann looks forward to helping the Lab's ventures in these respects: figuring out last mile distribution channels, bottom of the pyramid business models, partnership development, asking tough questions, advice on early-stage capital raising, and small-scale renewable energy solutions.

Lauren Ryder
Investment Manager, Ariya Capital

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Lauren has significant experience advising large and small businesses on opportunities for financial and sustainable growth.  Prior to joining Ariya Capital, Lauren worked for the Roberts Enterprise Development Fund (REDF), which invests in small-to-medium social enterprises in low-income communities.  Before REDF, Lauren was a management consultant with Marakon Associates where she advised several international companies on their options for increasing shareholder value in sectors such as healthcare, FMCGs, and electronic components manufacturing.  While at Oxford, she was a business advisor to the development-focused venture fund Dev Equity, which focuses on investments in West Africa and Latin America.  She holds a BEng in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Duke University and a MBA from Oxford University’s Said Business School, where she graduated with distinction.

Sameer Segal
Founder & CEO, Artoo

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Sameer has been recognized as one of Asia-Pacific's most promising young social entrepreneurs by the Paragon100 Fellowship. He holds a BTech from the National Institute of Technology, Karnataka and is a StartingBloc Fellow (MIT Sloan). His passion is inclusive technology, something he discovered during his internship with Ujjivan, one of the fastest growing microfinance institutions in the world.

Carlo Palmieri
CEO of CP Consulting and Angel Investor

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Carlo Palmieri is the CEO of CP Consulting, an independent management consultancy firm. Before setting up CP Consulting, Carlo was a Senior Job Manager with  Oliver Wyman in London and  previously a Vice President in the Corporate Strategy and New Business Development team at Lehman Brothers in London. Prior to Lehman Carlo was a Manager with Bain & Company in Milan. In that role, he developed extensive experience in strategy and business plan development, due diligence, distribution and incentive plans, pricing and product development and operational improvement. Carlo is also an Angel Investor and advisor to entrepreneurs. In recent years he was an Angel investor in Gelato Mio, a chain of Italian Ice Cream Parlours in the UK and has helped incubate several business initiatives. Carlo has an undergraduate degree in Business Administration from Bocconi University (Milan, Italy) and a Master in Business Administration from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, US)

Mary Roach
Founder, Lionne; Business Development Manager, GSMA Development Fund

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Mary wears many hats. By day she works at the GSMA Development Fund harnessing the potential the mobile industry presents in providing access to energy to the 1.4Billion people who currently lack electricity. By night (and weekends) she works on Lionne, an early stage enterprise that works with African fashion designers and artisans to market their products. Prior to joining the GSMA Mary spent over two years working on rural energy solutions in sub-Saharan Africa with start-ups and NGOs.  She has 5 years’ experience working  with GE Power Generation as a project manager supporting large scale wind and hydro development and in a business turn around role.  She holds a MBA from Oxford University and a Bachelors in Chemical Engineering from McGill University.

Tom Rippin
Founder & CEO, On Purpose

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After some years of working in cancer research, Tom went into management consulting with McKinsey & Company. After five years, he transitioned into the social sector, first as an advisor on private sector matters to the CEO of Comic Relief and then at (RED), the business founded by Bono and Bobby Shriver to help eliminate AIDS in Africa, where he was the Managing Director for Europe and the Director of Business Development for (RED) International. In 2009, Tom started On Purpose, www.onpurpose.uk.com, the leadership programme for professionals who want to kick-start a career in social enterprise. As well as running On Purpose, Tom is the Chairman of Spice, www.justaddspice.org and a Non-Executive Director of the Shaftesbury Parntership, www.shaftesburypartnership.org.

Richard Tyrie
Founder & CEO, GoodPeople and Trustee, UnLtd

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Richard began his career working for James Caan as a headhunter during the mid 1990's.  In 1998 he set up www.Jobsgopublic.com, the first online careers network to focus on the Public and Third Sector, a business that retains its position as a market leader. Richard's company went on to develop technologies that now power the Talent Management process for hundreds of organisations, including Channel 4, Pearson Plc, The Olympic Delivery Authority, Central Government departments and over 50% of UK Local Authorities. Their proprietary technology platforms now help over 1.1 million people in the UK to further their career each month. He was invited to join the Unltd board as a Trustee in 2008 and is currently working on the launch of 'GoodPeople' -  a Talent/Technology-focussed social enterprise.

Gina Badenoch
Founder & CEO, Ojos Que Sienten

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Gina is a dynamic leader, photographer and social entrepreneur. Gina had a vision six years ago: to create photography workshops for blind and visually impaired people around the world as a tool through which they could be heard and seen in a world dominated by visual imagery. She is transforming expectations about what people with disabilities can achieve personally and professionally. She is achieving this by focusing attention on what value they have as actors in society, their strengths, rather than for what they do not have. Gina’s organization uses photography and sensory experiences to change both blind and sighted people’s understanding of human potential; regardless of physical or mental differences. In 2008, she became the youngest Ashoka Fellow from Latin America.

Kelvin Cheung
Founder & CEO, FoodCycle

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Kelvin is the CEO of FoodCycle, an award winning charity that builds communities by combining surplus food, volunteers and a spare kitchen space to create nutritious meals for people at risk from food poverty.  Kelvin was born in Hong Kong and grew up in Canada, and his passions lie in community empowerment, food, and cycling in all its manifestations - hence FoodCycle.  Before FoodCycle, Kelvin worked at MyBnk, a social enterprise dedicated to improving the financial literacy of young people.  Kelvin currently is on the advisory board of the London Food Board and is one of the World Economic Forum's Young Global Shapers in London.  In his spare time, Kelvin enjoys whiskey, bicycles and Xbox 360.

Nigel Tunnacliffe
Serial Entrepreneur

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Nigel Tunnacliffe is a passionate and relentlessly optimistic serial social entrepreneur. As an enterprising generalist, Nigel has created social ventures ranging from food certification to alternative energy to social housing. In addition to launching five startups, Nigel chaired the largest biodiesel cooperative in Canada, and turned a small non-profit sailing school into one of the largest in Western Canada. Nigel was recently an MBA student and Skoll Scholar at the Said Business School at the University of Oxford.  

Jonathan Lewis
Founder, iOnPoverty

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Jonathan is a successful social entrepreneur and microfinance expert. He's the founder of iOnPoverty, the Opportunity Collaboration and MicroCredit Enterprises. When not kicking off new anti-poverty projects and challenging the status quo, Jonathan lectures at UC Berkeley's Blum Center for Developing Economies, and blogs for the Huffington Post and the Skoll Social Edge. He is a frequent public speaker on economic development issues, social entrepreneurship and social change, and has a passion for all things hot dog.

Elena Pantazi
Investment Manager, Impetus Trust

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Elena joined Impetus, the pioneer UK venture philanthropy fund, as an Investment Manager in 2011. She was previously Vice President of CognoLink, an international primary research firm.  She was CognoLink's first employee and was integral to the firm's growth to 70 staff, 15,000 specialists and its expansion into Asia. Prior to CognoLink, Elena was an Analyst in the Emerging Markets Team at UBS Investment Bank in London, where she was involved in deal sourcing and due diligence. She holds an MBA from INSEAD, an MPhil in International Relations from the University of Cambridge and a BSc with First Class Honours in Economics from University College London.

Dr Rashid Shahidi
Co-Founder & CEO, Medopad

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Rashid Shahidi is the co-founder of Medopad, a mobile health startup providing hospital doctors with secure real-time access to patient data, images and lab results via iPads. He drives company strategy, operations and finance. His appointments in EMEA and the US include a leading regional Investment Bank and CEO of an impact investment NGO in Sub Saharan Africa. Previously he had kick-started Mondus, a £500 million UK e-business, as its first team member. His professional career began as an officer of the German Air Force. He holds an undergraduate degree in Business and Economic Sciences from Germany and a DPhil, majoring in Economics and International Relations, from the University of Oxford.

Stephen King
Founder, Socialbusiness.org  

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A new Dad, living in London with my partner of 13 years. We moved to London from Toronto 4 years ago with my work, after having first moved to Toronto when I was three. My first career was in consumer finance, leaving as an executive after 10 years with the company. During that time I led many of their business units and also had posts in strategy, innovation, partnerships and business development. My university degree is in electrical engineering, and more recently I completed the executive MBA program at Columbia and London Business schools. My next career is just starting, and will be in social business; the intersection of social innovation and business revolution. Early days of venturing have started with an on-line publication called socialbusiness.org, a magazine aimed at the mass market to raise awareness and to educate them on the exciting world of social businesses. Future plans include a business accelerator/incubator, Good Adventures, giving seed investment alongside investment readinesses support to growing social businesses.

Rakhi Rajani
Founder, Human Editions

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Rakhi is a Psychologist working in Design and Innovation. She started her career at HP Labs in Silicon Valley and was tasked with making technology more human and experiential. She works in a variety of market sectors; from automotive to healthcare and education to hospitality, but the common thread that runs through every project is a focussed attention on people and global cultures. Rakhi uses design to engage people, to tell a story that people can understand & identify with, and to bring people together (or to move them apart if necessary). She explores how the nuances of culture, behavior, beliefs, personal value systems and basic human needs affect engagement - be that with other people, product & service or even place. Rakhi thrives on bringing diverse disciplines, thinking and perspectives together to generate solutions to human problems - which involves challenging existing social and business norms, and ultimately changing behaviour. She is a Chartered Psychologist, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a full member of the Market Research Society, an Associate Lecturer at Central St Martins College of Art and Design, a Mentor at the School of Communication Arts 2.0 and an advisor to NGO's in India and Africa.

Pradeep Pursnani
Business Director, Shell Foundation

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Pradeep Pursnani is responsible for running the Breathing Space Programme.  He joined the Foundation in January 2010 after spending three years in Strategy and Portfolio for Shell Group.  He is a Chartered Management Accountant and has a degree in International Business Management.  He has a passion for entrepreneurialism and social development.

Simon Desjardins
Business Director, Shell Foundation

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Simon is responsible for the Excelerate Programme, which has the goal of helping to provide access to modern energy services for the poor. Before joining the Shell Group in 2006 as a business analyst for Shell Chemicals, Simon has worked globally in a broad range of business and development roles, with experience in start-ups, multinationals and NGOs. Simon joined the Foundation in March 2008.

Ginger Turner
Entrepreneur

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Ginger is an economist and social entrepreneur.  She has helped start three successful social ventures:  a solar lighting manufacturer in India, a publishing house, and a conflict-free diamonds retailer.  As an economist, Ginger worked in The World Bank on African private sector development, also helping organize the Global Development Marketplace competitions.  She has also worked in London and Johannesburg, with Goldman Sachs, Actis Capital, and Pan-African Private Equity.  In the US, she is co-founder of SMART Family Literacy, a non-profit organization dedicated to improving teacher resources.  A Rhodes Scholar, she is now completing her DPhil in Economics at the University of Oxford. 

David Kelly
Founder, Leadership and Innovation Ltd

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David is a qualified executive coach and experienced leadership development facilitator, having worked for eight years at the National College for School Leadership, designing leadership development programmes focused on building effective partnerships and collaboration in the education and children services system. He started his career as a director of a specialist international manufacturing company before leading innovative business education partnership projects with the CB1, the Dept. for Education, the DT1 and corporate business. David is currently delivering programmes for school partnerships converting to Community Interest Companies and launched his own business Leadership + Innovation Ltd in 2011.

James Wise
Portfolio Director, Social Business Trust

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James is the Portfolio Director for the Social Business Trust, responsible for building world-class social enterprises, with special expertise in education and healthcare sector. Prior to joining the Social Business Trust, James worked with entrepreneurs and businesses in the UK through a venture capital fund, and as a consultant with McKinsey & Company in London. As well as the professional experiences above, James has worked as an adviser to a variety of social enterprises, as well as with the Guardian Social Enterprise Network, and in 2011 as a Special Adviser to Parliament. He was educated at the University of Oxford where he read Politics, Philosophy and Economics

Judy Piatkus
Serial Entreprenuer

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Judy Piatkus is an entrepreneur who successfully founded and sold two publishing companies. Her second company, Piatkus Books, became known worldwide as a leading global brand and was a pioneer in the area of personal development titles as well as the UK and Commonwealth publisher of some of the world’s most popular commercial novelists.  Judy successfully sold Piatkus Books in the Spring of 2007 and now works as a management adviser and keynote speaker specialising in all aspects of entrepreneurship and future trends. www.judypiatkus.com


Paul Dowling
Founder & CEO, www.dreamstake.net

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Paul is an entrepreneur and advisor.  He is CEO and founder of www.dreamstake.net which is a digital accelerator for high growth startups.  Paul spent 20 years doing business development for large technology firms such as CapGemini,  Oracle and Wipro. During this period he helped create a joint venture between CapGemini and Vodafone. Paul later dropped out of corporate life and started a couple of ventures.  The first was a consultancy helping major tech companies to redefine their offers and take to market.  This was followed by MindStream a startup bringing technical resources from central and eastern Europe to work in the UK.  Paul is now involved in an R&D consultancy and the Dreamstake platform which has over 6000 members.  Paul mentors on Strategy, Business Models, Business Development, Sales and Marketing.  He has an MBA from Kingston University and mentors for Launch 48 and Springboard.

Joysy John
Head of Global Partnerships, Startup Leadership Program

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Joysy John is the Head of Global Partnerships and Founding Fellow of the London chapter of Startup Leadership Program. She has over a decade of experience in technology, business management, strategy and sales roles with JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley in Singapore, US and UK. She was the youngest person selected into the Future Leader Development Programme at JP Morgan Chase. Joysy is passionate about education and women’s empowerment. She is in the founding team of STIR Education, an international non-profit devoted to scaling up innovations in education that deliver results. She holds a Computer Engineering (Honours) degree from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore and an MBA with Distinction from London Business School where she was the President of the Women in Business Club and a Forte Scholar.

Rob Wilson
Serial Social Entrepreneur

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Rob is a serial social entrepreneur. He founded READ International (www.readinternational.org.uk) in 2004 to send used books to schools in East Africa. Books not relevant are sold online or recycled to generate funding. They’ve sent over 1 million books and have won awards including Best International Aid and Development Charity. Rob moved on from READ in early 2011 to co-write a book about social entrepreneurs in Africa called On the Up (www.ontheup.org.uk). Rob is also a founding director at an IT social enterprise called NoPC (www.nopc.org.uk) and has started a publishing social business called Wripped. Rob joined Ashoka UK (www.uk.ashoka.org) in October 2011 as Entrepreneur in Residence.

Amy Birchall
Director of Client Services, Volans

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Amy Birchall is the Director of Client Services at Volans, a future-focused business working at the intersection of the sustainability, innovation and entrepreneurship movements. Her role involves working with global businesses, key influencers and government leaders, helping them build cutting-edge social innovation strategies into their business agenda, while applying thought leadership and global networks to the development of their solutions.  Recent projects include future-focused leadership development programmes and social innovation strategies with global businesses, ‘Base of the Pyramid’ integration projects in developing markets, and social innovation study tours for China, Thailand and Japan. Prior to Volans, Amy worked with a number of social enterprise start-ups and consulted for global businesses in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific for 12+ years.

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