The Mentors

Kerrie DormanKerrie is an entrepreneur who has grown and successfully sold a number of SME businesses in a variety of Industries; recruitment, bar and restaurant, beauty, retail and gift products.

She started the first of her six businesses at the age of 20, and has a wealth of real-world experience, both in Australia and the UK employing up to 25 at any one time. She has experienced success and failure. She can recognise core business flaws and can implement strategies to rectify them and stimulate success.

David Ashton-Howorth

With a degree in Business Studies, experience in many industries and having started and grown his own successful business, David is the ideal business coach and mentor.

David will help you to focus on working on your business rather than in it, providing direction and impetus to get your business to a point where it fulfils your goals and dreams.

Gbadebo Ogunlami

Gbadebo has been in business from the age of 24. Gbadebo’s expertise is in the experience he has gained starting and running his own implementation and coaching businesses.

He is enthusiastic about putting into operational reality the plans and strategies that many businesses find challenging to put in place simultaneously doing business as usual. His story has notable successes and some losses. He loves business because of its unpredictability and the continued challenge of generating revenues. He holds an Executive MBA and Phd.

Mark Dale

Mark is a chartered engineer with a background in manufacturing and technology. He has an excellent track record in helping SMEs grow and develop their businesses, providing them with practical expert advice and guidance.

Mark is excellent at identifying and focussing on the key issues that really make a difference. He has wide cross sector experience and has worked in a number of industries including manufacturing, printing, construction, petrochemical, food & pharmaceutical processing and the creative industries. He has in depth knowledge on funding and grants procedures and also the patent process!

Paul Endacott

Within four years of establishing his Advertising Business in 1985 at the age of 29, turnover had reached £1.3m and Endacotts soon became the agency of choice for many global brands such as Honeywell, Pioneer and Swatch Group.

Today, Paul’s focus is on assisting SMEs through the labyrinth of marketing tools now available by taking the holistic approach to business’ communications to provide an integrated, customised and cost effective marketing solution to facilitate sales growth and ROI.

Carole Ann Rice

Carole Ann Rice is one of the UK’s leading life and executive coaches who has literally turned around the lives of scores of people of all ages and all over the world whilst running her coaching practice over the past 8 years.

Previously she was an award-winning journalist who was the Fashion and Lifestyle Editor of the Birmingham Post and she has written for The Sun, The Mirror, The Express, The Independent on Sunday and She and Red magazines. She has devised and presented several network television programs. A high profile coach who has appeared in many of the nationals. She is also co-author of ‘Find Your Dream Job’ (Marshall Cavendish). Her corporate clients include Visa, London School of Economics and Marks and Spencer among many others.

Peter Russell

Peter has over 20 years of experience in business management and economic development working with small and early stage companies. He specialises in innovation, knowledge transfer and enterprise development.

For many years he has worked at the interface between the knowledge base (universities, research and technology organisations) and micro and small and medium sized enterprises. He has extensive experience in the manufacturing, technology and productive industries sectors, working directly with manufacturers and also on behalf of a variety of public sector organisations and universities. His recent mentoring experience has concentrated on working with early stage technology based businesses in Oxfordshire.

Azfar Haider

Azfar has been in business for over 10 years after a 12 year corporate career with Accenture and Deutsche Bank working in the UK, Germany, Switzerland and the US. He was a co-founder and director of a successful VC backed technology services company based in New York which grew to 100 strong and was sold in 2006 to a public company.

He was then a partner in a fashion design and manufacturing company that grew quickly and was endorsed by leading celebrities selling through major retailers and specialty stores internationally. His expertise is in high growth strategic and operational planning. He has a degree in Chemical Engineering from UCL and an MBA from Imperial College London.

Peter Hay

Peter is a solicitor and mediator, with over 35 years experience advising clients in the private sector. He specialises in the personal, financial and commercial affairs for individuals, families and businesses.

He is currently founder and Senior Partner of Perry Hay & Co. Prior to that, he was a partner for 20 years with Ward Bowie and subsequently Penningtons. In 1986, he initiated the two firms merger and subsequent expansion from 40 to 70 partners. He is an accredited Mediator with the Centre for Dispute Resolution. He is married with three children.