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Accelerating inclusive innovation, entrepreneurship and financing to support minority SME businesses (CIMR debates in Public Policy)

When: —
Venue: Online

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Join the Centre for Innovation Management Research on Wednesday 14 June 1-2pm for an online lunchtime seminar on accelerating inclusive innovation, entrepreneurship and financing to support minority SME businesses.

The online debate is part of the CIMR Debates and Workshops in Public Policy series.

Panel

  • Monder Ram OBE, Director of the Centre for Research in Ethnic Minority Entrepreneurship (CREME)
  • Eugene Nizeyimana, CEO of SSCG Consulting and CEO African Business Chamber (AfBC)
  • Emma Obanye, Managing Director for OneTech
  • Fiona Morrill, British Business Bank
  • Discussant: Professor Colette Henry, Head of the Department of Business Studies at Dundalk Institute of Technology, Ireland, and Adjunct Professor, Department of Business Strategy & Innovation at Griffith University, Queensland, Australia.
  • Chair: Jacqueline Winstanley FRSA Universal Inclusion, The Inclusive Entrepreneur Network, Visiting Fellow of CIMR, Birkbeck University of London. 

Abstract 

This debate in public policy, academia and practice will address the issue of why there are still so many barriers to inclusive innovation, entrepreneurship, and finance for small businesses, especially for entrepreneurs from minority backgrounds.  Amongst others the 2020 report by the British Business Bank, Alone Together shows, these are even more pronounced for women from minority backgrounds.

Our esteemed panel will draw on their professional experience, will debate the nature, causes and solutions to this issue. The panel is drawn from academia, policy, and business. The debate will inform and challenge existing practice in this ecosystem.

Biographies 

Professor Monder Ram OBE is the Director of the Centre for Research in Ethnic Minority Entrepreneurship (CREME). He is a leading authority on small business and ethnic minority entrepreneurship research and has published widely on the subject and has extensive experience of working in and acting as a consultant to small and ethnic minority businesses. Monder is a regular keynote speaker at international conferences and advises the government on the importance and value of ethnic minority businesses through his position on the APPG for BAME Business Owners. He also holds visiting positions at Warwick University and the University of Turku.

Eugene Nizeyimana is the CEO of SSCG Consulting and CEO of African Business Chamber (AfBC). He sits on the boards and is a Business Advisory Panel at Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority (CPCA) and Digital Inclusion Taskforce at Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA). An entrepreneurial engineer, leader and International management consultant with +20yrs experience and a track record in delivering multi-channelled capabilities and solutions across a broad range of clients in +15 global markets and industries ranging from Financial Services, Professional and Management Consulting, Oil and Gas (E&P), Agribusiness/foods and drinks, Healthcare systems, Manufacturing and Automotive Sectors.

Eugene has served in various capacities and has held a wide range of responsibilities from both the private and public sectors including many International Oil Companies (IOC), Innovate UK, Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE), Caterpillar, GTC Energy, NHS Institute of Innovation and automotive OEMs such as Jaguar Land Rover, BMW, Alexander Dennis etc.

Emma Joy Obanye is an entrepreneur, advisor, mentor and tech geek from Hackney and has spent the last 18 years building products and leading teams in tech for both corporates and startups. On a mission to increase diversity, equity and inclusion within the UK tech startup ecosystem, Emma’s current role is Managing Director for OneTech, which supports female and Black, Asian and Ethnic Minority founders to start and build a tech startup.

An entrepreneur herself, Emma does this whilst splitting her time between her new venture The Startup Game. Emma previously co-founded and exited the award-winning, music-focused loyalty and influencer platform BuddyBounce, and was recognised by the Inclusive Boards and Financial Times as one of The UK’s top 100 black and minority ethnic leaders

Fiona Morrill is a Senior Manager and Economist at the British Business Bank. The Bank’s mission is to drive sustainable growth and prosperity across the UK by improving access to finance for smaller business. Recognising that underrepresented entrepreneurs form a key part of that growth, the Bank seeks to unlock potential by ensuring entrepreneurs can access the finance they need regardless of where and who they are. Fiona leads on the Bank’s research into small business finance for diverse and underrepresented entrepreneurs, building on the Bank’s Alone Together research, including ethnic minority entrepreneurship and analysis of barriers faced in accessing finance, published in the Bank’s annual Small Business Finance markets report. 

Colette Henry is Head of Department of Business Studies at Dundalk Institute of Technology, Ireland, and Adjunct Professor – Department of Business Strategy & Innovation – at Griffith University, Queensland, Australia. She is also an Affiliated Researcher with Jönköping University, Sweden. Her previous roles include Adjunct Professor of Entrepreneurship at UiT-The Arctic University of Norway; Norbrook Professor of Business & Enterprise at the Royal Veterinary College, London, and President of the Institute for Small Business & Entrepreneurship, UK. She is founder and chair of the Global Women’s Entrepreneurship Research Network (Global WEP) and Founding Editor (and former Editor in Chief) of the International Journal of Gender & Entrepreneurship. 

Colette has published on entrepreneurship education, gender, the creative industries, and veterinary/rural business. In 2015 she received the Diana International Research Project Trailblazer Award, and in 2017 received the Sten K Johnson European Entrepreneurship Education Award from Lund University, Sweden. Colette is a fellow of the Royal Society, the Higher Education Academy, the Academy of Social Sciences, and the Institute for Small Business & Entrepreneurship. She is currently leading a series of Global WEP publications and has published, with the OECD, “Entrepreneurship Policies Through a Gender Lens” (OECD-GWEP, 2021). Her current interests have taken her into the world of creative writing. One of her short crime stories – Betrayal - is due to be broadcast by BBC Radio Ulster and BBC Sounds in Spring 2023. 

Jacqueline Winstanley is a global strategist and innovator. She is a recognised expert and consultant on accessibility and inclusion challenges. Through her work with Universal Inclusion, Fluidity UK and The Inclusive Entrepreneur, she is committed to the global development of Inclusive Cities & Societies especially within the workplace and access to services: developing and sharing cross sector good practice, championing rights and protections of disabled people and others who face barriers to life’s opportunities.

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