Make it Happen: 2015 Global Entrepreneurship Week launch

On the first day of Global Entrepreneurship Week, the world's largest campaign to promote entrepreneurship, come to the national launch event to be inspired, make some smart connections and get face to face expert advice. Global Entrepreneurship Week co-hosts Startup Direct, UnLtd, Virgin StartUp and Youth Business International, in partnership with Barclays, will be launching the campaign from Manchester - the first time it has ever happened outside of London. Come along and ask experts about accessing funding, learn about what a mentor can do for you, and be inspired by other entrepreneurs' and social entrepreneurs' tales of how they turned their ideas into reality. The event will take place at Rise Manchester, a vibrant community to help young businesses connect, collaborate & accelerate. We will also be running one-to-one mentoring clinics through the event, giving you the chance for some personal advice to help you overcome your entrepreneurial challenges. OPENING SESSIONS - 10:00-11:05 Event MC    Vikas Shah Professor Vikas S. Shah is an award winning entrepreneur, strategist and educator who has built businesses in diverse sectors around the world for almost 20 years.  He is also a consultant and advisor to numerous entrepreneurs, business and organisations globally.      Anna Soubry Rt Hon Anna Soubry is Minister of State (Minister of Small Business, Industry and Enterprise) for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.   Keynote entrepreneur speaker    Piers Linney Piers grew up in Lancashire and attended Manchester University.  He is a technology and communications entrepreneur, investor and cloud computing pioneer with a professional background in law and investment banking, but left the City in 2000 to start an internet business. Piers has built and sold several businesses and his current business, Outsourcery, is a leading cloud service provider, based in Manchester, with customers ranging from start-ups to several FTSE-100 companies and public sector organisations, including the NHS.      Michael Hartig Michael leads the Barclays Corporate Banking teams across the North West and North Wales, with teams across the region, including in the principal offices of Liverpool, Chester, Colwyn Bay, Preston, Carlisle, Kendal and Manchester.    Panel discussion: How have they Made it Happen? Four successful entrepreneurs and social entrepreneurs discuss the reality of making it happen as an entrepreneur in 2015. What are the biggest challenges and how can new entrepreneurs overcome them? In this panel, our speakers share their thoughts and wisdom on turning ideas into action. Rosie Ginday, founder, Miss Macaroon and a Michelin star trained pastry chef turned social entrepreneur, whose enterprise uses its profits to provide training and employment opportunities for marginalised young people. Rosie founded Miss Macaroon C.I.C, a social enterprise which helps young care leavers, offenders and ex-offenders to realise their ambitions and train as chefs. Rosie also co-founded Yummy Brummies, a network of food based social enterprises in Birmingham enriching the sector and encouraging collaboration and innovation between local social enterprises. Hazel Merlino, founder Rainbow Factory Kids, an innovative play centre boasting over 5,000 sq ft of colourful spaces and activities. The centre inspires children with a love of stories and books from a young age and the space features well-loved characters from traditional tales.  David Smyth, founder of Solesee, which through innovative products and crucial education helps people with high risk feet to lead a happy, active and healthy lifestyle. Over the past few years David has helped to set up and run a number of start up companies, and has over 25 years sales and marketing experience covering both consumer and business-to-business markets in more than 30 countries around the world. Rachael Turner, co-founder of Manchester Digital Laboratory (MadLab), a not-for-profit, grassroots digital innovation organisation and one of the oldest - and largest - makerspaces in the UK. MadLab has recently launched a £250,000 Arts and Technology accelerator programme and  has been working with the British Council, Nesta and the Arts and Humanities Research Council to investigate the burgeoning maker-movement in China. Moderated by Nathaniel Peat, co-founder of GeNNex a renewable energy company operating in Africa and the Caribbean, CEO of The Safety Box and also Chairman of JamIn UK.    New models for open innovation In a competitive environment, it’s difficult to stay ahead of the game. Open innovation connects corporates and startups in exciting ways to create shared value, encouraging fast, iterive failures, and solutions. Hear about different ways to achieve open innovation. Open innovation is happening more than ever: in intensive hackathons, through strategic partnerships, or using broad co-working to spark innovation. Open innovation brings communities together to support startups to accelerate their growth. Panellists will include: Nickala Torkington, founder and manager at Community Pop Ups, a social venture which is enabling social entrepreneurs to build route markets. She has worked in the social enterprise support sector for 14 years and has directly coached and supported over 600 social entrepreneurs to develop social projects, enterprises and organisations. Mat Eliot, Head of Rise Manchester, part of a global community driving open innovation across startups and corporates.Born and bred in Manchester, Mat has a mandate to drive innovation in Barclays through connecting, co-creating and accelerating startups. He brings a strong understanding of financial services , over 10 years experience leading technology transformation and business change programmes and commercial expertise.  Magdalena Kron, Rise/Geek Girl, Magdalena consults and mentor startups, focussing on connecting individuals to facilitate funding, collaboration and value creation. Magdalena is passionate about startup ecosystems and keenly promotes women in technology. Richard Milnes, founder and CEO of Juliand, a groundbreaking business intelligence company which is passionate about closing the gap in supply chain analytics and disrupting the status quo of the market. Juliand currently manages the supply chains of multibillion$ organisations in 16 countries and is dedicated to saving each of its customers over $1 billion a year through smart actions and empowering people.     Moderated by Richard Heggie, Head of Barclays High Growth & Entrepreneurs Proposition.   BREAK - 11:05-11:20   Why mentoring makes the difference This panel discussion will help entrepreneurs understand why they need a mentor, how they can make the best of a mentoring relationship and how in practice it can help them develop their business, tackle challenges and make it more successful.  Panellists include: Ted Rowlands, Startup Direct Mentor. Ted is an experienced mentor, who has been working with entrepreneurs and making a difference to society for over 30 years. He managed a large branch of NatWest which covered Trafford Park, then the largest business park in Europe. In 1980s he worked on a project in Moss Side Manchester, creating self employment opportunities mainly for young people who were unable to obtain work elsewhere. From 1996 to 2004 he was the Head the Prince's Trust Business Programme in Greater Manchester, where he had overall responsibility for over 250 business mentors.  Matthew Hadley, Founder of ParkWay Cars, a South Staffordshire based taxi service provider. Pina Patane, Founder of Optimum Entrepreneur, a company that offers business mentoring and facilitates mastermind groups and workshops. Pina is a mentor and a business trainer, a passionate entrepreneur who thrives on helping other entrepreneurs and small businesses succeed and grow. During the last 20 years Pina created and grew several successful businesses with the focus on food imports, deli retail, street food and coffee shops.        Philip Briggs,Mentor and Sales and Marketing Consultant at Axcess Ten. Following the mentoring relationship with Chris of SoFab Sports, Philip now sits on Chris' board. Chris Rawlins, Mentee and Founder of SoFab Sports, which supports young adults with physical and learning difficulties to build their skills, confidence and self-esteem and to find supportive employment opportunities.   How to validate your business idea This session will discuss what you can do to decide if your business idea is a good one and worth pursuing. We’ll be encompassing tips and tricks from two entrepreneurs funded by Virgin StartUp who will share their secrets for proving to themselves and to Virgin StartUp that their idea was going to work before they had fully committed all their time and money. Featuring: Helen Walker, co-founder, Twicely. Twicely is a website where you can buy and sell new and hardly worn clothes. Co-founders Helen and Adam Walker began this as a part time selling on Ebay and gradually grew it into a full-time business. Frank Milani, Popcord. Popcord is a handy iPhone charger that’s also a keyring. Founder, Frank Milani proved there was demand for his product by crowdfunding the production costs. Paul Davidson, chairman of BBV, which supports start-up entrepreneurs in the northwest of England and is a delivery partner of Virgin StartUp.   LUNCH & NETWORKING - 13:05-13:45   Mindful selling    Anis Qizilbash Anis Qizilbash, founder of Mindful Sales Training, will give a session on the psychology of selling. Entrepreneurs will learn how to effectively sell, and avoid the biggest mistakes that can scare buyers off. Anis Qizilbash transformed from a shy introvert with zero social skills to a generator of million-pound deals over an 18-year career selling to global corporates, financial institutions, governments and NGOs, in 20 countries. As the founder of Mindful Sales Training, she serves entrepreneurs and freelancers through workshops and consulting, helping them get their sales-game on using mindfulness principles. Anis is a Startup Direct mentor, motivational and keynote speaker on a mission to empower people to overcome self-doubt and start doing what they love. She is author of Grow Your Sales, Do What You Love: Mindful Selling for Entrepreneurs and Freelancers.   END - 14:30