The Founders Team
University of Salford
Jenny Warburton
Jenny started teaching Enterprise, Entrepreneurship and Employability skills to undergraduate students from various disciplines from Computer Science to Advertising Design and Animation being just a few back in 2005. Jenny passed with Distinction on the Master of Enterprise and Technology degree at Salford and gained her PG Certificate in Higher Education Practice and Research. She is currently looking at doing a Doctor of Education in relevance to the changing education in Physics and how Physics has now become a ‘sexy’ subject. Jenny has been involved in many projects including; Passport to Trade – development of a free online guide to business culture and etiquette; Development of a joint European Master of Enterprise degree programme; Creative Enterprise Futures Boot Camp – The theme of the boot camp was how creative industries impact on urban regeneration.
Justyna Orzechowska
Justyna is a young
entrepreneur, who has been directly involved in various business start –ups, as
well as working with established businesses to strengthen and develop their
marketing techniques, both in England and previously in Canada. She has been
running various creative businesses for the last 10 years and is currently an
Enterprise Champion for the University of Salford, supporting young
entrepreneurs through linking them to resources and support from the
University. In addition Justyna hopes to
inspire students to develop their entrepreneurial mindset and encourage them if
they decide to start-up a business. With a strong social conscience, she
is passionate about social enterprises and is currently involved in a local
project run by a social enterprise- Girls Out Loud, volunteering her time to
mentor young teenage girls to become more aware of their strengths and areas
that need development.
Dominic Martinez
Dominic Martinez is a Business and Enterprise Manager with over 10 years experience of managing large scale enterprise and incubator projects within Higher Education.
Dominic started his career in electronic publishing in the private sector before managing a series of business start-up projects for a number of universities. Dominic has advised over 400 individuals considering starting a business. Businesses he has helped have turned over in excess of £5m. Dominic has also successfully created his own management consultancy.
Lauren Dunn
Lauren graduated from the University of Salford in
2008 with a BA Hons Degree in Graphic Design; she started working at the
University not long after, working closely with students and graduates to
improve their enterprise and employability skills. Lauren is currently working on the Make THE
Difference social enterprise project, helping support and fund social
enterprises. She is also working on enterprise skills development, organising
Enterprise Academy sessions, Business Bootcamps and working closely with the
student enterprise society.
Sophie Coulson
Sophie is part of Salford
University’s Enterprise team, organising events and managing social media
content. A large part of her role
involves liaising with organisations and students to ensure Enterprise at
Salford is providing the best possible service. This is a part time job for Sophie, who is
also studying towards a Psychology degree and plans one day to run her own psychology-related business.
Robin Smith
Robin Smith is currently a Student
Enterprise Officer and mentor for entrepreneurs starting social enterprises
with awards from Unltd under the “Make the Difference” funding project. In addition to this he is developing a new
Student Enterprise Society within the University of Salford that will offer
students real life opportunities and support to start up and grow businesses.
Originally from a broadcast media background which included working for BBC
Television, YLE Finland, PTV Finland, Sky News and Mayfair Studios London. Robin
has since built and managed a number of successful businesses in different
sectors both in the UK and abroad. In
recent years he has turned his attentions to working with social housing
organisations and developing social enterprises that work with vulnerable and
socially excluded people. Last summer
Robin was part of the Command Control & Communication Team for the London
2012 Olympics which he describes as “ four of the most exhilarating weeks of my
life”. Robin is studying Criminology at The University of Salford.
University of Manchester
Jonathan Styles
Jonathan joined Manchester University in 2004, having spent
10 years at Imperial College in various research positions within the Faculty
of Biological Sciences.
As an Enterprise Lecturer
within Manchester Enterprise Centre, he is heavily involved in all aspects of
teaching enterprise across the University of Manchester. Jonathan has developed
numerous innovative enterprise modules as well as delivering many non
accredited workshop session to doctorial students on the university wide Research
to Enterprise Programme.
Jonathan is also the Programme
Director for the Manchester Enterprise Centres flagship programme the Master of Enterprise (MEnt) research
degree programme. This is considered to be one of the most innovative
enterprise postgraduate programmes offered throughout the UK and which give
postgraduate students the opportunity to explore business opportunities
In his role as Programme
Director of the MEnt, Jonathan recognises the need for and has created a
pool of North West Entrepreneurial Businesses from which he sources projects
and mentors for his students. He maintains successful ongoing relationships and
contact with Business Owners and has
organised many external speakers from multiple sectors including enterprise,
marketing, media, public relations and recruitment as well as international
speakers and authors.
Jonathan has
active research interests in: nascent entrepreneurial development, mentoring,
entrepreneurial start-ups and networking as well as enterprise education. He
has been awarded a number of teaching and learning grants and has also
published in a number of international journals, as well as being a regular Conference Presenter at both
international and UK conferences. Jonathan was also a member of International
Editorial Board for the book “Irish
Case Studies in Entrepreneurship”, 2011, Edited by Dr Cecilia Hearty, Oak
Tree Press.
Jonathan has also been instrumental in the creation of a new
Biotechnology company ‘AlerGenetica’, based in Tenerife Spain,
and maintains his role as Strategic
Consultant. In addition he is one of the Co-Founders Enterprise
Futures.
Dr Robert A. Phillips
Robert holds an M.Sc. in Biotechnology from University College London, with a spell at GlaxoSmithKline R&D and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Southampton from an industrial CASE studentship with Actinova. He completed a postdoctoral appointment at the National Institute for Medical Research, London studying fast protein-protein kinetics measured using biophysical methods. Robert runs the EPSRC funded Research to Enterprise program for Ph.D. students and research staff, an integrated university-wide programme of skills workshops, business mentoring, a popular annual event featuring well known entrepreneurs and an annual residential enterprise school. The program has to date involved thousands of participants and was one of the first of its type in the UK. He is involved with several biotech start-up companies including Alergenetica, an allergy vaccine R&D company based in Tenerife, Spain which has raised significant amounts of grant and venture capital finance.
Robert is also a regular writer on technology transfer issues and has written for a number of publications including national newspapers. His research interests include the areas of biotech start-ups and entrepreneurial intentions among scientific researchers. He has presented his work internationally at conferences including in the UK, USA, Korea, Brazil, Netherlands and Poland. He also teaches on several programmes within the University of Manchester from first year to postgraduate level and also mentors Ph.D and M.Sc. students.
Manchester Metropolitan University
Claire Giddens
Claire graduated from MMU with a BA (Hons) in Public
Policy & Management and joined the university as a staff member in 2005. Claire’s background has been focused on start
up business and she spent 3 years working on the very successful New
Entrepreneur Scholarship (NES) programme. The NES programme ran until 2008 and
provided training, funding and business support for aspiring entrepreneurs from
disadvantaged backgrounds. Claire was also a member of Innospace (MMU graduate incubator)
management team from its initial inception until July 2009. She provided
operational, administrative, marketing and recruitment support during her time
working in the unit. Claire has also worked on a number of small HEFCE and ERDF
projects focused on SMEs and Start up business.
Claire currently organises an annual
rolling programme of inspiring workshops and activities on entrepreneurial
learning to deliver the university wide ERDF funded Enterprise Champion
project. The project focuses on developing enterprising and entrepreneurial
students, graduates and alumni at MMU. As part of the project, Claire uses her
knowledge and expertise to support and mentor people during the developmental
pre-start stage of their business journey. In addition to her Enterprise
related roles, Claire has worked as an associate lecturer within MMU’s Business
School.
Louise Kenworthy - Taylor
Louise started work at Manchester Metropolitan
University in 2012 as the Incubation Services Manager after 5 years as
Enterprise Champion at the University of Salford and a three-year
freelance career in television. With
this role, Louise is responsible for MMU’s shared office space, Innospace and
is currently working on a move to better premises.
Louise also encourages students and
graduates to consider entrepreneurship as a new career option and ensures
students and graduates gain enterprise and employability skills to help them
create better futures. She organizes
extracurricular and university wide enterprise activities and mentors many of
the Innospace tenants and students.
In 2010 she won the Students in Free
Enterprise National University Adviser of the Year award, highly commended
Enterprise Champion at the National Enterprise Educators Awards and was one of
100 Salford women to be profiled in an exhibition highlighting, acknowledging
and celebrating the achievements and contributions of the University of
Salford’s female staff.
Louise graduated from University in 2004
with a Masters in Television Production and has more recently achieved her CIM
Professional Diploma in Marketing. She
will be starting her SFEDI Certificate in Business Support shortly.
Laura Rimmer
Laura works as the project administrator within the Centre's Enterprise Champion team. She provides support and encouragement to students and graduates who wish to start their own business. Laura helps organise and deliver the Monthly Business Group, business start-up activities, training courses and network events as well as monitoring and auditing the project. Laura completed her BA(Hons) in Business in 2007 at Manchester Metropolitan University. Before re-joining MMU as a member of staff, she worked on social housing projects and organised tenant liaison events.
