Ann is Head of Practice at the Entrepreneurship Centre, working across the Accelerate, Ignite, Venture Creation and Envision Programmes. Prior to joining the Centre, she was Enterprise Programme Director at the Scottish Institute for Enterprise, working across all Scottish Universities and Colleges to kickstart and support entrepreneurship and innovation.
Her areas of interest include helping new founders develop a purpose-led venture, identifying and working with company values and prototyping and iterating into your value proposition. She is also a certified Design Futurist and Foresight Practitioner with expertise in helping ventures design and operate resilient, sustainable, and innovative business models.
Monique’s research interests include entrepreneurship, lean startup and pivoting, gender, application of sociological approaches to broaden understanding of entrepreneurial activity, and entrepreneurial strategy. She is passionate about understanding how research can improve the delivery and impact of entrepreneurship education to educate the next generation of entrepreneurs.
Simon’s research interests include entrepreneurship education, technology ventures, and entrepreneurial behaviour. He previously spent 10 years at Imperial College Business School as director of the full-time MBA Programme and a principal teaching fellow. Simon’s MBA course in entrepreneurship was ranked 3rd in the world by the Financial Times.
Outside work, he is a social entrepreneur and holds several non- executive directorships and has advised over 100 technology startups.
An advocate of Lean and Agile practices with a passion for delivering great customer experiences, Michael helps businesses become value-driven and customer-centric by applying a focused and disciplined approach to their work. Michael coaches start-up and scale-up businesses in the UK and US, and has recently established his own business, Parker Veese, helping others through the simplification of technology and business process leadership. Michael is a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute (FCMI).
Michael is a technologist experienced in retail, ecommerce, supply chain and logistics, healthcare and pharmaceuticals. Most recently he has been advising organisations on their AI strategy from the top down.
Michael’s career has seen him developing technology products for global markets, managing business transformation and directing the digitisation of businesses, from start-ups to FTSE 100 blue chips, leading teams across the UK, EMEA, US and India. He is a Coach on the Centre’s Accelerator Programme
Dr Hamid Hashemi has 20 years experience providing career advice, guidance with university choices and professional qualifications. He is the Founder of a leading educational consultancy, helping many students each year fulfil their ambitions with offices in London, the Middle East and Asia.
Having trained as a Neuroscientist, Lawyer and Careers Advisor in the UK, Hamid is currently the founder of school.how - a global online school aimed at providing school children ages 5-19 with everything they need for their schooling via an accessible and personalised online platform.
Daniil has over a decade of experience in launching tech start-ups internationally from scratch. Among his notable ventures was Fibrum, where he spearheaded the global distribution of Fibrum Pro VR headsets, making them available on platforms such as Amazon, BestBuy, and HMV. He also played a pivotal role in the launch of the Radario Marketing Platform in the US and UK, securing a partnership with Eventbrite and making the company's product accessible to over 10,000 event organisers. This company was later acquired by a strategic investor. Currently, he is developing the tech-enabled luxury skincare brand, Libi & Daughters.
In the ventures Daniil has been involved with, he has reached out to VCs, delivered pitches, prepared all necessary materials, and raised over £3.5 million.
Additionally, as a mentor, Daniil advises start-ups and conducts workshops on launching new tech ventures from scratch, finding product-market fit, closing first sales, and managing early-stage fundraising.
He holds an MBA from Cambridge Judge Business School.
Andrew is a seasoned entrepreneur, investor, and advisor with a proven track record in driving innovation and growth across diverse sectors.
With a foundation built during his tenure at Reuters, Andrew honed his skills within the corporate venturing division, spearheading the development of an innovation management system. His journey culminated in the role of CEO for an Asian- based Internet trading spin-out in Singapore, where he successfully navigated initial VC funding and orchestrated a trade sale.
Since then, Andrew has played a pivotal role in founding, nurturing, and scaling numerous companies. As a non-executive director in various mid-stage technology firms, he brings strategic insight and guidance across industries including financial services, education, Oil and Gas, marketing services, AI, and medical technology.
Beyond the boardroom, Andrew is deeply committed to fostering innovation and sharing his expertise. As a mentor and teacher at both the Cambridge Judge Business School and the London Business School, he imparts practical knowledge in areas such as strategy development, proposition refinement, communication, implementation, and strategic marketing.
Andrew's specialities lie in crafting actionable strategies, refining propositions, and driving effective communication and implementation. His governance expertise ensures sustainable growth and success for the ventures he advises.
