Meet and chat with other aspiring entrepreneurs just like yourself
Your chance to meet some of the UK's leading entrepreneurs and businessmen/women
Learn about the most heated topics in entrepreneurship from industry experts
Held annually at the Saïd Business School, Oxford Inspires is Oxford Entrepreneur’s annual conference. Oxford Inspires offers you the chance to meet entrepreneurs behind amazing companies that are designing some of your favourite products, innovating health care, disrupting the banking industry or planning the next breakthrough in artificial intelligence (to just name a few).
Attracting about 400 students, young professionals and founders, Oxford Inspires is Oxford’s student entrepreneurship event of the year. The event welcomes over 40 successful entrepreneurs, businessmen/women, and investors to share their experiences, advice and visions during talks, debates, panel discussions, workshops, networking and mentoring sessions.
Come to be inspired by innovative and new ideas; to be informed by unique success stories; and to get ahead with helpful advice from some of the most successful entrepreneurs in the country.
Last year Oxford Inspires will be split into eight different conference themes (social impact, venture capital, fintech, product and sales, artificial intelligence and machine learning, women in entrepreneurship, data and optimisation, science innovation and enterprise). To see speakers from specific themes please you the search function below.
CIO: McLaren Applied Technologies
Geoff is Chief Innovation Officer at McLaren Applied Technologies. He trained as a mechanical engineer, initially working in aeronautical, civil, chemical, petroleum and mechanical engineering. Gaining experience in all aspects of the field, from conceptual engineering through to business development for start-up and blue-chip firms, he later switched focus to the world of telecoms, media and entertainment.
He joined McLaren Applied Technologies (MAT) in 2009 and is currently focused on developing and applying MAT’s specialist capabilities to a diverse range of subjects and strategic operations, working with consumer brands and in market sectors such as health and wellness, transport and energy.
Co-Founder: Entrepreneur First
Matt Clifford is co-founder and CEO of Entrepreneur First, Europe's leading pre-seed investment programme for technology startups. Entrepreneur First has helped build over a 100 companies, with a particular focus on frontier technologies such as artificial intelligence and robotics.
Outside Entrepreneur First, Matt is co-founder and non-executive director of Code First Girls and non-executive director of Techfortrade, a charity dedicated to fostering technoology innovation to alleviate poverty in the developing world. Before starting EF, Matt worked at McKinsey & Co. as a strategy consultant, and studied at the University of Cambridge and at MIT. He was awarded an MBE for services to business in 2016
Norton & Sons, Community Clothing, Judge of Great British Sewing Bee
Patrick is Director of Norton & Sons and E. Tautz, he is also judge on BBC 2’s Great British Sewing Bee.
Patrick won the British Fashion Council’s Menswear Designer of the Year award in December 2010 for his work on E. Tautz. In 2012 he won the BFC’s Fashion Forward award, was shortlisted for Designer of the Year at the Scottish Fashion Awards and International Designer of the Year at the WGSN Global Fashion Awards. He was also named Retailer of the Year at the 2008 Scottish Fashion Awards. More recently, again for his work on E.Tautz, he won the 2015 BFC/GQ Designer Menswear Fund Award. With his drive to regenerate UK manufacturing, in February 2015 Patrick purchased Cookson & Clegg, a British clothing factory in Blackburn.
Patrick is an Oxford MBA alumnus and has lived and worked in five countries and worked in a number of different industries before a passion for clothing, craftsmanship and British brands lead him to Savile Row tailors Norton & Sons which he took over in 2005. In 2009 Patrick re-launched the historic British sporting and military tailoring house of E. Tautz. In 2013 he launched Hammond &Co in the UK in partnership with Debenhams.
CTO: BioCarbon Engineering
Susan is CTO at BioCarbon Engineering, a company using drones to battle industrial scale deforestation by aiming to plant 1 billion trees every year
CMO: The Hut Group
Wing joined The Hut Group in 2013 as a Software Engineer after graduating first in his year from Cambridge in Computer Science. Wing founded the Customer Science function in 2015. In August 2016, he was promoted to Chief Marketing Officer, leading both marketing and data science across the group.
Principal: RealWolrdLeadership
Dr. Rob Britton is the principal of RealWorldLeadership, a consultancy focused on helping companies and organizations develop leaders and effective managers. He is a leadership expert who has actually led, and this experience sets him apart.
In 2006, he retired as Managing Director of Advertising at American Airlines. Prior to that, he held a range of leadership positions across the enterprise, in marketing, international affairs, corporate communications, and operations. He was part of the leadership team that rebuilt the American Airlines brand after September 11, and dealt with many other crises and challenges. Rob will speak about leading through turbulence, offering insights and ideas from his many years in a challenging and complex business. No entrepreneur wants hard times, but they need to be prepared for them!
He is an adjunct professor at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business, and an annual guest lecturer at Kellogg, Wharton, London Business School, McGill, Stockholm School of Economics, and 25 others worldwide.
Co-Founder: Accomable
Srin Madipalli is CEO and co-founder of Accomable, a website to help people with mobility difficulties find accessible holiday properties around the world. He founded Accomable after studying for his MBA at the Oxford Said Business School, specialising in entrepreneurship, product design and early stage investment. As a self-taught coder he was Lead Software Developer for Accomable.
LifeTreat
Robert is the founder of Lifetreat.com – a machine learning marketplace dedicated to ending poverty. The Lifetreat app lies at the intersection of the most exciting movements in tech – instant messaging, machine learning, and the sharing economy; and our team is harnessing the power of these movements to build ultra-cool products for people who need us the most.
Robert comes from a background in medicine, financial services, and technology, and he is looking forward to sharing fresh perspectives on building an Artificial Intelligence system that truly represents the best of humanity.
Balderton Capital
James joined Balderton in 2013 and since then has led Balderton's investments in a number of sectors and geographies, covering healthtech, manufacturing, mobile productivity, developer tools and virtual and augmented reality. He sits as a board member and observer for multiple portfolio companies including Sunrise ( acquired by Microsoft ), Cloud9IDE ( acquired by Amazon ), 3DHubs, Sketchfab and Crowdcube.
Prior to joining Balderton, James helped to launch and run one of the UK's first social venture funds, providing support and capital to social enterprises with a special focus on the education, healthcare and financial sectors.
Founder: TimePrep
Marko Srsan is currently working with Techstars.
After graduating with a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science and spending an Erasmus semester abroad at ICHEC in Brussels, Marko obtained a Master's degree in Business at the University of Zagreb.
Even though Marko is a founder of TimePrep, an iOS time management app for CFA candidates, he worked as a Business development manager and a blogger for Netokracija, leading the organisation of a few 400,500 people conferences and as an Organizer at the Zagreb Entrepreneurship Incubator. Eventually, he joined Techstars as an Associate in the London Winter 2014 program.
Kindred Capital
Founding Partner of Kindred Capital VC, an early stage venture capital fund based in London that practices equitable venture.
Taxforward
Connie is an Oxford MBA graduate and founder of taxforward, a start-up disrupting the world of tax in the UK to help creatives, entrepreneurs and the self-employed file their tax return in a way which is straightforward and stress-free. The platform launched in January 2017.
Finimise
Scott spent seven years in equity sales at Barclays Capital before co-founding Finimize, a fintech startup focused on financial news and personal financial guidance.
Finimize recently completed a seed fundraising round led by London-based Passion Capital, has over 60,000 subscribers to its daily financial news email and is preparing to launch Finimize MyLife, a personal financial guidance platform.
Planet Organic
Renée Elliott, entrepreneur and organic pioneer, founded Planet Organic, the UK’s first organic supermarket, in 1995. Her mission is to promote health in the community. As well as being a full-on mother to her 3 young children, Renée works part-time at Planet, lectures to budding entrepreneurs, mentors startups, teaches healthy baking and writes cookbooks.
Brainlabs Digital
Dan Gilbert graduated Oxford in 2009 and joined Google where he spent a couple of years on a grad scheme. Then he left to set up Brainlabs in 2012. With offices in London and New York, Brainlabs is now one of the fastest growing companies in the UK, with 100 people and a triple digit growth trajectory. They were recently awarded top spot on the Deloitte Fast50.
Working Chance
Jocelyn Hillman is founder and chief executive of Working Chance, an award-winning social enterprise in London helping women ex-offenders to find new employment and help them get paid work and become financially autonomous. The charity has revolutionised recruitment of people with convictions.
CEO: GoSquared
James is one of the co-founders of GoSquared – a software platform that transforms the way businesses understand and communicate with their customers online. Started in 2006 with two friends from school, GoSquared now has over a thousand paying customers around the world, and works with companies of all sizes, from dorm-room entrepreneurs, to large brands such as Paperchase, Salesforce, and Amazon.
Health-Tech Innovation Labs and Giant Health Event
Barry is the Founder and CEO of Health-Tech Innovation Labs and Giant Health Event. He is a serial entrepreneur with a successful track record in launching new businesses that solve commercial needs with leading-edge innovations. His latest venture is "The Health-Tech Innovation LABS", an innovative, unique London-based business incubator and Accelerator with an exclusive focus on accelerating innovation in healthcare technology.
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INEN
Christina Mackay will join Oxford Inspires to discuss how to finance your start-up. Christina did her MBA at the Judge Business School, University of Cambridge. Since graduating she started a not-for-profit designed to support entrepreneurs and secure their funding. She spent 8 years as a Management Consultant in New York and London with EY specialising in entrepreneurship.
Christina did a TedX talk last year on the power of day dreaming and she’ll readily share top tips for presenting. You can join her online investment platform now. As an Entrepreneur, you can showcase your business to Investors, seek advice and funding, store and share documents and access our toolkit to support your business growth. You can communicate through live chat & video and manage documents & business progress.
Soon we’ll have a video library for members to learn more about investing.
Startup Manufactory
Matt Kuppers is the Founder and CEO of Startup Manufactory, a London-based startup consultancy. He also acts as an Independent Expert to the European Commission and is consulting the London School of Economics on the development of an innovation structure.
Matt has been working in the startup industry since 2008. Whilst working in a venture capital firm he founded an SEO firm that served the portfolio of the VC firm. After that, Matt co-founded the London-based restaurant search engine eetapp (formerly MenuSpring) which is now valued at 5£m. He believes that entrepreneurs are essential to Europas continuing prosperity and therefore actively encourages entrepreneurship across the European Union through startup consulting, lecturing and startup events.
WorldRemit
Ismail Ahmed is the CEO and Founder of WorldRemit, the international remittance company that's pioneering a mobile approach to sending money around the world. Ismail founded the company in 2010, and since then it has secured almost $200 million in funding, and has been named the fastest growing technology company in the UK.
Ismail has been named one of the top ten most influential black Britons in the UK, and won EY Entrepreneur of the year, London and South. He has an interesting past, having worked for the UN in Nairobi, and gaining a scholarship to the University of London whilst living in Somaliland.
Cashew
Jamie is co-founder of Oxford's very own Cashew, a app that lets you send money from your debit card extremely quickly and without hassle.
RiskSave
Daniel is founder of RiskSave, a low-cost investment platform that uses cutting edge risk management techniques.
Prolific
Ekaterina is co-founder of Prolific, a platform that allows researchers to recruit participants for their studies quickly and stress-free.
Flock
Ed is co-founder of Flock, the world's first big data-driven risk analysis tool for drones. It uses an artificial intelligence platform to quantify risks of drone flight paths.
CTO: Algomi
Usman was named one of the 40 under 40 rising stars of trading and technology by the Wall Street Journal eFinancial news.
Before co-founding Algomi, Usman's background spans managing various e–business solutions at UBS for a number of years, where after Usman spotted a niche in the Fin-Tech space and invested resources to create a Client-to-Client Dark Pool Trading Platform for Fixed Income, which was successfully rolled out globally in partnership with a large Investment Bank.
Usman sits on the board of a number of technology start-ups, including Cognism and Avisua, where he offers management and strategic technology advice. Usman holds a BSc in Computer Science and Mathematics from Queen Mary University.
Flock
Ed is co-founder of Flock, the world's first big data-driven risk analysis tool for drones. It uses an artificial intelligence platform to quantify risks of drone flight paths.
StatusToday
Ankur Modi is the CEO and co-founder of StatusToday, which was recently recognized as amongst UK's hottest Artificial Intelligence start-ups by Business Insider and Techworld. He is an expert in big data with a unique specialization in human behavior and has recently been recognized as Forbes 30 Under 30 in Technology as one of Europe's boldest tech entrepreneurs.
Ankur left India at 17 to pursue Computer Science in Germany and subsequently received training in Psychology from Oxford University. Prior to StatusToday, Ankur worked as a project manager, data-scientist and engineer at Microsoft, where he led international efforts behind Microsoft Office, Office 365 and Enterprise Solutions for projects now used by over 100 million people worldwide. At StatusToday, Ankur and his team have created a unique Intelligence platform helps companies understand behavior to ensure Security, Engagement and Productivity.
Ole had an eye-opening moment at the age of 19, when he stood in front of 300 people without being able to say a word. After this Ole decided that he would never freeze like that again, and while doing his bachelor at Lillehammer University college, he got a job as a public speaker for the Norwegian Confederation of Sports. After this, Ole decided to use his knowledge and expertise to help others struggling with nervousness before and during presentations. As a result of his language and communication skills, he has been holding conferences and workshops in Colombia, Germany and Norway so far.
Marc Koska OBE is the inventor of the K1 and following Auto-Disable syringes, the founder of Safepoint Trust (a UK-registered charity) and a highly regarded advocate around the world for needle safety in both immunisation and therapeutic sectors. Marc’s engineering company StarTek leads the world in syringe manufacturing consultancy.
His mission in life is the mandatory use of auto-disable syringes globally, to reduce cross-infection through dirty needles and needle-stick injuries, the world’s ninth biggest killer annually. If needles cannot be used twice, this tragic man-made cause of death and illness can be prevented completely.
Marc has spent nearly thirty years promoting the use of any Auto-Disable device and persuading the global health community of the enormous benefits of a switch in terms of lives saved – over a million and a half every year – and healthcare costs saved – over half a billion dollars annually.
He has created successful behavioral change / public safety campaigns – for example in India, where in 2008 Safepoint Trust created One Injection One Syringe - one of the largest ever public health campaigns in India, leading to mandatory use of auto-disable syringes in all governmental and subsequently all private hospitals. More recently Marc and the SafePoint Trust have catapulted safe injections to the top of the international health agenda, as on 23 February 2015, Margaret Chan, DG WHO announced a new global policy on injection safety.
Alex has been building mobile and analytics start-ups since 2003. He is currently CEO and founder of Seldon, a start-up with a purpose to help people solve some of the world’s biggest problems with machine intelligence. Seldon provides machine learning infrastructure that serves hundreds of millions of recommendations and predictions per month. Seldon works with a diverse client-base including some of the world’s largest and most innovative companies, and a global community of data scientists and developers uses its open-source technology. Recognised as one of the UK’s top AI start-ups, Seldon is part of Barclays Accelerator powered by Techstars, where its talented team are solving high-value problems in the finance sector.
Erik Abrahamsson is the founder and CEO of Digital Fineprint, a London-based analytics company helping insurers use social media. After winning "Best General Startup in the UK" at the Grad Factor Awards, the company went on to partner with Allianz, Hiscox and in January 2017 it was picked as one of the top 5 InsurTech companies worldwide for Accenture's Innovation Lab. Financially, the company is backed by Eos Venture Partners, a VC-firm focused exclusively on InsurTech.
Before founding Digital Fineprint, Erik worked in strategy for Twitter in Singapore, and before that as a finance manager at Procter & Gamble in Switzerland. Originally from Sweden, Erik graduated valedictorian with a BSc from King's College London and was awarded a full scholarship for graduate studies at The University of Oxford, where he attended St Catherine's College. Erik is also a Global Shaper with the World Economic Forum.
Niamh (“Neev”) is a Venture Capitalist in San Francisco investing in those using DeepTech to solve our most pressing issues. She’s an Advisor to several early stage ventures in the Valley and mentors at numerous accelerators. Previously she was a PM in FinTech, Growth investor at Summit, Strategy Consultant and Banker. Niamh is an Oxford (BNC, Bio/Genetics) and recent Stanford Grad, she grew up in England and has since lived and worked across Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East.
Sylvester Kaczmarek is an award-winning entrepreneur and product leader with over a decade of international, quality-driven IT industry experience.
Joy Foster is the founder of Made with Joy, an Oxford based social enterprise which provide digital solutions to charities, non profits, social enterprise and SMEs while at the same time training and employing workers have been marginalised in the workforce.
Founder: Blueprint Model
JP Dallmann is a Banking Executive, Advisor, NED, Investor, and Performance Consultant & Coach. He is a leadership and transformation specialist in Banking & FinTech with over 20 years experience in flagship businesses at some of the largest banks in the world, as well as in SMEs and start-ups.
JP is the founder of Blueprint Model©, which enables organizations and leaders to learn and create a personalized version. He uses best-in-class practices and execution excellence, with emphasis on Emotional Intelligence (EQ) and effectiveness, to help clients achieve their own definition of success.
He is a Trusted Advisor to various companies and C-suite level individuals, including FinTech and start-ups in multiple sectors driven by tech & innovation, most recently supporting RBS management teams in transforming the bank’s customer service culture and investment banking activities to help them in becoming #1 in the UK.
Terence Mauri is a keynote speaker, Inc. Magazine Columnist, CEO mentor, angel investor and advisor to executives and entrepreneurs around the world. His new book, The Leader's Mindset: How To Win In The Age of Disruption published by Morgan James Publishing (New York) is a global bestseller.
CEO: Spring Accelerator
Ramona has spent the last two decades with corporates such as KPMG, WPP and Nielsen in strategy, marketing or senior client roles. She has worked with a number of start-ups and growth stage companies as advisor and investor, and helps multinationals wrestle with their own innovation, talent, scale and intrapraneurship challenges.
Ramona is an active participant in several angel networks, and contributes significant input to Angel Academe, a pro-women (but not women only) angel investment group, dedicated to supporting more women into early stage investing as well as diverse founder teams. She holds masters' degrees in the social sciences from Yale University and the London School of Economics.
Ramona's current role is as CEO, SPRING Accelerator. SPRING is a DFID, USAID, DFAT and Nike Foundation programme which equips high growth businesses in East Africa and South Asia with the human centred design and other tools to innovate for the needs of adolescent girls, uncovering market opportunities, supporting companies to get investment and profile. We plan to reach 200,000 adolescent girls over five years with products and services that can make a tanglble difference to their lives, and help them earn, learn, save and stay safe.
Aspire Oxford
Paul Roberts is the Chief Operating Officer for the award-winning social enterprise and employment charity, Aspire Oxford. Aspire has established professional services in property maintenance, grounds maintenance and community transport and will launch a new recruitment enterprise in 2017. Despite massive funding cuts locally, Aspire has trebled its income since 2013 through enterprise and established new employment support pathways into local prisons, addiction recovery hubs and homeless projects, with new projects launching in 2017 to support refugees, single parents and young people NEET.
Paul has a Master’s degree in Public Policy and a 1st Class Honours Degree in Business Management and Computer Science. Prior to joining Aspire, Paul was a British Diplomat for seven years including a posting in Syria. Earlier in his career, Paul started up an online business with a UCL university friend (it started as a ‘bedroom business’ and is now called Reward Gateway, employing 200 people with 6 offices in 5 countries). Paul previously volunteered at Asylum Welcome in Oxford and as an Adviser for the Citizens’ Advice Bureaux in the Portsmouth area.
Oxonica plc, Oxford Biosensors Ltd
Peter has had a broad career covering a wide range of disciplines from physics and chemistry to materials science and engineering. He has also worked in industry (Philips) as well as academia (Imperial College and Oxford) and was responsible for creating and building The Begbroke Science Park for Oxford University. He has published over 180 papers and 30 patents. He has founded 3 companies and advised on the formation of 8 more. He was (2009-2013) the Strategic Advisor on Nanotechnology to the Research Councils in the UK and sits on several EPSRC panels and committees.
Peter sits on the EPSRC Strategic Advisory Board on Quantum Technology. He was awarded the OBE in 2013 in recognition of his contributions to science and engineering. He is currently a Principal Fellow at Warwick Manufacturing Group, Visiting Professor at King’s College London and also has part-time positions at UCL and Bristol University. Peter delivers courses at Graduate level in the areas of biosensors, nanotechnology, innovation, entrepreneurship and related topics and advises on innovation.
A highlight of last year’s conference is the one-on-one mentorship. Participants can sign up for an individual session with a mentor to discuss a current project, get feedback on a startup, or get advice on personal development.
Startup investor, Advisor, Oxford Graduate
Founder @Oxford Computer Consultants
Founder & CEO of Digital Fineprint
Banking Executive, Advisor, Investor, Performance Coach
Business Coach, Entrepreneur, Founder
Keynote speaker, Inc., Magazine Columnist, Angel investor
At Oxford Inspires you can join industry experts in our masterclasses in five distinctive areas and harvest invaluable soft skills. Our masterclasses were designed to be small and intimate to ensure that you take real learnings with you home.
Oxford Inspires serves to help more women to break into entrepreneurship. Join our inspiring speakers and other female participants for drinks and networking over Sunday lunch. Come get inspired, get informed, and get ahead.
Definitely! The vast majority of students attending Oxford Inspires are not entrepreneurs. The conference is a great way to gain commerical awareness, learn more about amazing innovations and get a sense of how our society and industry will develop in the coming years. You will have the opportunity to meet some of the most inspirational UK businessmen/women in person to get inspired, get informed and get ahead.
A diverse range of topics, covering specific sectors of entrepreneurship. We have special sections of our conference devoted to artificial intelligence, social entrepreneurship, fintech, medical start-ups, data and optimisation, products and sales, women in entrepreneurship and venture capital.
Not at all, we also offer four masterclasses, which are opportunities for you to learn new skills in an interactive environment. We also have a mentoring event, where you can get personal feedback about your business idea from accomplished entrepreneurs.
We are welcoming over 35 speakers and mentors, including our 4 famous keynote speakers.
For any further questions, please email [email protected]
Saïd Business School
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Contact:
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