Speakers

Our Shell LiveWIRE LIVE! event in London on 9th November 2011 will feature the following outstanding speakers:

• Simon Woodroffe OBE (YO! Sushi)
• Will King (King of Shaves)
• Brad Burton (4Networking)

The event will also include a funding panel comprising the following experts: 

• Bill Morrow (Angels Den)
• Carolyn Currie (NatWest and RBS)
• Sherry Coutu (Nesta)
• Abby Kegg (UnLtd)

There will also be a PR/marketing session delivered by:

• Dominic Owens (MD & Head of Strategy, Seven Stones)
• Vicky Lopez (Client Services Director, Seven Stones)

Simon Woodroffe OBE (Founder of YO! Sushi)

Simon left school at the age of 16 and spent 30 years in the entertainment business designing and staging concerts for many artists including The Moody Blues, Madness, Rod Stewart, Stevie Wonder and George Michael.

In the 90s, he went into television spearheading the development of television deals to show huge international rock concerts worldwide, including Nelson Mandela and Amnesty International concerts and the Prince's Trust concerts.

In 1997, he founded YO! Sushi, a conveyor belt sushi bar. The concept turned eating into a complete entertainment experience featuring call buttons, robot drinks trolleys and Japanese TV. The first restaurant opened on London's Poland Street and became an overnight phenomenon. Today it continues to expand both at home and abroad operating in 60 countries and serving over 3 million customers each year.

In 1999 Simon won the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award. In 2001 he was awarded the accolade of Best Venue at the Retailer of the Year Awards. In recognition for his contribution to hospitality, Simon was awarded an OBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours list 2006.

Simon was an original “Dragon” on BBC 2’s worldwide hit programme Dragons' Den making (and breaking) the dreams of would-be entrepreneurs as pitching business ideas for financing. Simon has also featured on numerous television shows including: Discovery TV's VIP Weekends with Ian Wright, ITV's Homes Property and ITV's The Millionaire's Club.

As a result of his entrepreneurial success, Simon has developed a strong reputation on the worldwide public speaking circuit. Simon speaks openly avoiding business cliché and audiences find his story extremely inspiring and a catalyst for their own endeavours, be they in a large corporate setting or working at a start-up level.

Simon is developing new YO! brands: YOTEL, the world's most revolutionary hotel opened in 2007 and in Summer 2011 celebrated the launch of a 669 bedroom site in central New York and YO! Zone: a spa concept and YO! Home: residential property are in development.

Will King (King of Shaves)

Will King is an entrepreneur who has become a successful businessman by creating a shaving product brand called ‘King of Shaves.’ His first product was shaving oil and his big break came in 1993 when he landed a deal for Harrods, followed by Boots in 1994.

Fast forward seventeen years and today over thirty different King of Shaves brand products, including the iconic wet shave system razor, the Azor, are stocked in all major outlets across the UK as well as being available in the USA, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Africa and Brazil.  Combining its wet shave hardware and software products, King of Shaves is second only to Gillette in the UK, and King is a multi award-winning businessman, and considered by many as one of the UK's most creative and passionate entrepreneurs.

In September 2009, King's first book, "How To Build A Great Business In Tough Times - The King of Shaves Story" was published by Headline Publishing, reaching the No. 1 Business Book slot at WHSmith's, where it remained for the whole of September. The book, already in its second imprint offers an inspirational insight for both entrepreneurs and consumers into the building of a successful multi-million pound business in a hugely competitive sector.

King of Shaves is a multi-award winning business being named the T-Mobile Fast Growth Business, Product Business of the Year at the Growing Business Awards (2009) and named the CBI and Real Business Company of the Year in 2008.  He was the regional winner of the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award for London and the South East region in 2009 and subsequently became a judge for the CBI Real Business Awards 2009, the O2 Entrepreneur X Business Awards 2009, the IOD Director of the Year Award 2010 and the Growing Business Awards 2010.

He is also regarded as one of the UK's leading practitioners in the use of social media from a company and brand perspective.

Brad Burton (4Networking)

Brad Burton is Managing Director of the 4Networking business breakfast network, author of 'Get Off Your Arse', the highest reviewed & rated business book on Amazon and the follow up 'Get Off Your Arse Too!'

He's also a high-energy motivational speaker who will share a raw, unique and laugh out loud hilarious look at the world of life and business and how everything happens for a reason.

Brad says; "You only realise how significant your decisions are when they are in your rear view mirror. In this seminar you’ll hear a whole lot of honesty about the reality of some of the strokes you sometimes need to pull to get through those first few years of business… and then what the hell you do when you get there.
Think about the best and worst days of YOUR life – they are still impacting on you, shaping who you are and taking you up the path you are currently walking."

"Your invite to this talk is the next stage of your journey… will you attend and change your direction and business fortunes for the better, or choose to 'Stay On Your Arse' hoping something will change in your favour. Like everything in life... the decision is yours."

Bill Morrow (Angels Den)

Serial entrepreneur, Bill Morrow has been creating, building and selling businesses for the last 25 years. He is presently the founder and CEO of Angels Den, Europe’s largest equity funding facilitators, bringing business Angel investors and entrepreneurs together.

Bill started his working life as an accountant with Virgin and quickly moved into investment banking in the City.  He set up an international financial recruitment company which he sold to a Wall Street Bank in 2001. Since then he has been making his own investments.

When he founded Angels Den in 2007, he chucked the rule book out on Angel investment and demonstrated a sheerness of grit to make things happen for the small business owner.

Bill is proud to be a maverick in the world of business with the strength of character to take on the dinosaurs still roaming the City. He is passionate that all businesses with a good idea and a sound business plan should be able to access finance to get off the ground.

Bill Morrow is one of the best connected people in the UK.  His iPhone address book reads like a who’s who of the business world. Coupled with this, his sharp business antennae and penetrating wit are a devastatingly entertaining combination.

With an infectious passion for success and fun, he inspires his audiences with his determination to always push for more.  He is a remarkable presenter who encourages all who hear him to share in his creative entrepreneurial spirit.

Drawing from his own experiences, he offers audiences jargon-free tips on achieving their business goals; getting their business off the ground; accessing business funding; and the best business attitude to achieve any goal!

Carolyn Currie (NatWest and RBS)

Head of Women in Business, Carolyn has undertaken a variety of roles dealing with personal, large corporate and small business customers, since joining RBS in 1981.

On having a family, Carolyn established the first job-share arrangement at managerial level and worked part time for many years. Since returning to full time employment, she has gained extensive experience in marketing, new product development and business strategy formation, leading to the launch of the market leading Women in Business service.

Over 110,000 new female business customers have joined RBS/NatWest following the launch of the Women in Business service in 2007 and Carolyn and the team work to support more women to start up, grow their businesses and make an increasing contribution to the UK economy.

Sherry Coutu (Nesta)

Sherry Coutu is a non-executive director at Cambridge University Press (Finance Board) and New Energy Finance Limited. Her interests include investing in and advising companies and charities. This includes being on the Advisory Boards of Linkedin.com and Zoopla.com, vice chair of the Prince's Trust Business Technology Leadership Group and chair of its East of England Advisory Board, a member of Cambridge University Council (Finance Board) and on the Harvard Business School European Advisory Council.

In her most recent executive post, Sherry was founder, CEO and Chairman of Interactive Investor International (plc), a software company serving the financial services industry. Prior to this, she had executive roles with Accenture, Coopers & Lybrand Deloitte, the LEK Partnership and ISI Emerging Markets Ltd.

Sherry has an MBA from Harvard, an MSc (with distinction) from the London School of Economics, and a BA (Hons with distinction) from the University of British Columbia, Canada.

Abby Kegg (UnLtd)

Abby is the Partnership Manager for the young people's work carried out at Live UnLtd, with a focus on developing and managing partnerships. Live UnLtd supports young social entrepreneurs (aged 11-21) to develop their ideas into community enterprises that tackle local issues.

Abby has a background in working with young people after establishing her own youth project whilst at university which was funded by UnLtd. She joined UnLtd as a staff member in 2007 and has been involved in establishing a number of youth programmes since, including Big Challenge - an online competition, supported by Vodafone, for young people to win a  share of a cash prize to start their own social business. She has supported young social entrepreneurs along their journey of establishing and developing their projects and is now looking to develop the work of Live UnLtd though working with partners such as Nike and Comic Relief.

Dominic Owens (MD & Head of Strategy, Seven Stones)

Dominic Owens has worked both as a client and as an advertising man, experiencing both the role of briefing in campaigns and creating them (and has won awards in both).

Audi cars, BT, Stella Artois, Prudential and 118118 are just a few of the brands and campaigns he has had success with. Over that time, experience has made him an advocate of distinctive promotional campaigns as he has experienced first hand the added value that a good idea brings.

Dominic is currently Managing Director and Head of Strategy at Seven Stones and believes strongly that great campaigns can only be created after great strategies have been agreed between client and agency and can demonstrate this with many well-known case histories.

He has been involved in four different successful business start-ups and advocates not only a good business idea but also clarity of communication as essential to the early success of a business. He believes it takes more than a great product these days to capture the public’s imagination. It takes a strong brand and an involving and differentiated communications plan to ensure that your offer is first heard and then adopted by your audience.

Vicky Lopez (Client Services Director, Seven Stones)

Vicky Lopez has over 10 years experience in advertising both in the UK and Canada. She started her career in working on communications to healthcare professionals as well as consumers, and worked on the Canadian Football League’s largest national sponsorship campaign that included online, in-stadium and televised events across the country.

She was also in charge of the national campaign for Botox for their cosmetic indication (a Canadian invention), which lead to the introduction of several qualified clinics set up across the country.

Vicky has been in the UK for over six years, where her focus has been on branded campaigns for both global and local clients, which have included many of the world’s biggest pharmaceutical companies.

She is currently the Client Services Director at Seven Stones, where her focus is on improving upon existing client relationships and identifying new opportunities for Seven Stones to enable growth and innovation within the industry.

Vicky strongly believes that a simple idea needs a truly focused thought process and an integrated offering to truly stand out in this competitive marketplace.