Get to Know our Panelists
Dr Rebecca Corbin
Rebecca Corbin is president & CEO of the National Association for Community College Entrepreneurship (NACCE), a leading non-profit membership organization dedicated to providing leadership and sustainable, scalable resources to foster entrepreneurial thinking and action in one of the largest entrepreneurial ecosystems in North America.
She has forged several new partnerships with national foundations and corporations to advance STEM and skilled trades education, financial management and readiness for entrepreneurs, open education resources, entrepreneurship pipeline training from K-gray, ecosystem mapping, global entrepreneurship and intellectual property curriculum knowledge in
community colleges across the United States.
Prior to NACCE, Rebecca served as Vice President of Institutional Advancement and Executive Director of the BCC Foundation at Burlington County College (BCC). With her leadership, a new workforce development initiative at BCC was successfully launched. Rebecca also oversaw institutional advancement for the Foundation for New Jersey Public Broadcasting.
She has a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from Kent State University, a Master of Public Administration degree from The University of Akron, and experience in the classroom as an adjunct instructor, teaching political science and public administration courses. She earned an Ed.D. in organizational leadership & innovation from Wilmington University in Delaware.
In February of 2016, Rebecca received the Audrey K. Doberstein Award for Leadership for outstanding leadership and dedication to the philosophy and mission of Wilmington University. In October of 2014 she was named one of the Top 40 Women in Business by SNJ Business People magazine. In 2011 she was named Fundraising Star of the Year by Fundraising Success magazine She also co- founded the Nonprofit Development Center of Southern New Jersey at Rowan University.
Rebecca understands higher education, nonprofit finance, and business development. She has presented on the topic of entrepreneurship education, ecosystem building, and transformational leadership at international, national, state and regional conferences with an applied focus on student success, STEM education, storytelling, and succession planning.
Rebecca serves as the publisher of the Community College Entrepreneurship journal and a guest editor for Emerald Publication’s Journal for Small Business and Enterprise Development. In 2018, Corbin co-authored Community Colleges as Incubators of Innovation: Unleashing Entrepreneurial Opportunities for Communities and Students which addresses the urgent need for community colleges to prioritize entrepreneurship education both to remain relevant in a changing economy and to give graduate students the flexible and interdisciplinary mindsets needed for the future of society. In 2020, she co-authored Impact ED: How Community College Entrepreneurship Creates Equity and Prosperity which aims to be a roadmap for building a more inclusive and equitable economy for a future that is unknown.
Timothy Barnes
Tim has a long and rich history managing large and small organisations, both in the private and public sectors. And as such has gained a wealth of experience in entrepreneurship as well as in corporate governance. He has served in various capacities and given an outstanding account of himself. Organisations where he has put his expertise to use range from universities to venture capital firms. Some of these organisations include start-up companies, charities, political campaigns as well as public bodies. Currently, he spearheads the day-to-day running of The Rain Gods; which was founded in February 2016 and also helped launch the Rain Cloud Westminster Incubator in September 2016.
As Head of UCL Enterprise Operations, Tim was responsible for the University’s outward-facing business engagement activities. He became director of UCL Advances in 2007 when the centre was first launched and built it into one of the largest delivering its kind of services in the world—offering thousands of places to UCL students each year to undertake entrepreneurial activities and providing direct support to hundreds of businesses whose roots were outside of UCL. He has managed and catered to the needs of various stakeholders which include senior academic faculty and government ministers, as well as students and high-level business leaders and has performed excellently—attending to their respective needs and adapting the work environment to their unique working styles.
Prior to 2007, Tim spent six years running his own business, which amongst many other things, helped universities and large corporations to spin-out high technology companies. Tim’s background experience includes working as an investment manager at a pan-European investment firm focussed on early-stage technology ventures, and as a management consultant at one of the world’s largest professional services firms.
In 2010 Tim founded the globally successful Citrus Saturday; a non-profit enterprise driving entrepreneurial ambition in school-age children. It now runs succesfully in fourteen countries. He is currently a Trustee of the National Association of College and University Entrepreneurs (NACUE) and a Non-Executive Director of Exemplas, a consultancy and programme delivery company. He graduated from UCL in 1997 and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. In 2014 he was awarded the Queen’s Award for Enterprise Promotion for life.
Be sure to connect with Tim on LinkedIn
Mandy Sanghera
Mandy is an award winning philanthropist, consultant and global campaigner who is often referred to as a global catalyst. And in true catalytic fashion has fasttracked a series of initiatives that are geared towards positive impact on a global scale. A bonafide change agent, she has championed causes spanning international human rights & motivational speaking; Tedx inclusive. She is a Tedx speaker from the United Kingdom and has travelled extensively; crisscrossing the globe in a bid to spread the gospel of positive change. She has a lengthy career empowering & motivating people and boasts of over three decades of hands-on experience. She is an expert in various development-related fields and has a been an advocate for innovation, the building of strategic partnerships, as well as the promotion of advocacy and programming in the areas of human rights, gender equality, accountability and social justice. She has capitalized on gains made in her field and maximized her reach via social media as well as through her countless appearances on televisions worldwide and numerous public speaking engagaements. She has spoken at the US House of Representatives for three consecutive years. Last year, she was at the World Economic Forum and spoke at a couple of side events. Mandy has supported several Hackathon’s regarding AI for social good. She is an Advisor to the #KindnessMatters Council, coordinated by UNESCO MGIEP (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation In partnership with Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development (MGIEP) global campaign). #KindnessMatter
Dr Luisa Alemany
Associate Professor of Management Practice in Strategy and Entrepreneurship; Academic Director, Institute of Entrepreneurship and Private Capital, MBA (Stanford) BBA PhD (Spain)
A distinguished academic with a stellar career spanning decades; Luisa Alemany is an Associate Professor of Management Practice at London Business School. She was formerly at ESADE Business School and a Visiting Professor at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford. She is also a Fellow at St Hugh’s College, Oxford University. Her main areas of interest are Entrepreneurial Finance, Venture Capital, Entrepreneurial Education, Business Angels, and Venture Philanthropy. She holds an MBA from Stanford University and a PhD in Economics and Business from Universidad Complutense (Madrid).
Luisa began her career as a Financial Analyst at Procter & Gamble in Madrid. She subsequently worked as a Business Analyst for McKinsey & Company in Madrid, Barcelona and later Lisbon. Subsequently, she worked as an Associate at Goldman Sachs’ Investment Banking Division. She also worked in the venture capital fund Europ@Web, before serving as a Senior Associate of the American private equity fund The Carlyle Group, in its European buyout team.
Luisa Alemany was the director of the ESADE Entrepreneurship Institute for nine years (2009-2017) and the academic sponsor of ESADE BAN (Business Angels Network), which was awarded the Best BAN in Europe in 2016. She is a member of the investment committee of two early stage investors and is involved in Rising Tide Europe I and II, the first European Women-only business angels’ fund. In the past, she was a member of the Board of EBAN; the European Business Angels Network.
Her research is published in top academic journals and she has written several books, the most recent being “Entrepreneurial Finance: The Art and Science of Growing Ventures” (Cambridge University Press, 2018), the first European textbook on the topic.
She has taught at both degree (MSc), MBA and Executive Education levels in different institutions. And has tutored students in cities across Europe, North America and Asia. She received due recognition and was conferred with the Best Teacher Award 2017; ESADE’s Executive Master in Finance, and her case “Scytl”, regarding exits options for investors, was honored Best Entrepreneurship Case Award by EFMD (2017).
Seven Jacobs
Seven is a young social entrepreneur, speaker, and an advocate for mental health. Alongside being the Founder and CEO of an entrepreneurship education start-up called StartrHub and the host of a mental health podcast for young leaders called Lost and Searching, he has helped build start-ups in music, tech, and consulting, and is training as a coach. Versatile and result driven, he has maximized several opportunities through his forays into a variety of fields, impacting young leaders and breaking new frontiers.
Seven who was born in Los Angeles (USA), moved to London (UK) at the age of 12 to be with his family who were domiciled there. A series of experiences ranging from financial to mental as well as emotional challenges during his childhood impacted on his opportunities and his mental health. This helped shape his focus and life’s passion. He places a high premium on empathy and also believes in the power of listening to provide creative solutions and transform the world into a place that accommodates and caters to all. Seven is happiest when he’s with other people who are genuinely happy, and through social entrepreneurship he strives to create meaningful change in the world. His emphasis on humanity and the humane approach to solutions ensures that not only are problems solved but that the solutions provided are wholesome. He is a very passionate person with endless drive and wants to re-engineer work to be full of joy, wonder and discovery, through a two pronged approach that inculcates a positive work mind-set and a positive attitude.
Seven's early career was kicked off by him coaching young people and acting as a youth consultant for some of the biggest UK brands, which included AKQA and Nando’s. He worked on community projects, became an experienced facilitator, and developed entrepreneurial skills alongside an undying love for social entrepreneurship. In 2019 he was brought on board to help build a fashion tech organisation called The House of TAG, in which he is now a director. And in 2020 he was asked to help build a new record label in London called Just Entertainment.
Be sure to connect with Seven on LinkedIn
Johan Franzén
Johan who is currently the founder and CEO of EntNest; a social platform based purely on Entrepreneurship, is an innovator in every sense of the word. He harnessed 20 years of experience gathered from working in a multinational firm, in the Fast Moving Consumer Goods industry, and used it to forge solutions geared at breeding a new generation of successful entrepreneurs. Whilst working in the Fast-Moving Consumer Goods Industry, he was in charge of managing Strategic Sourcing and Product Supply regionally as well as globally before eventually leaving the corporate world in 2012.
He is now commonly referred to as an “Entrepreneurship Mountain Guide”. He guides young individuals through the tricky and sometimes treacherous terrain that is entrepreneurship. He lives and breathes entrepreneurship, as exemplified in these quotes which capture his personal dogma “entrepreneurship is the future of work”, “entrepreneurship is a contact sport” and “a rising tide lifts all the boats”. In this quote about the tide, he refers to entrepreneurs as the tide whose successes lift others up by causing positive ripples in the business scene. He believes in a future where young enterprise would rise to drive change and growth.
Be sure to join Entnest using this link
Dr Mohamed Saeudy
Dr Mohamed Saeudy is a senior Lecturer in Accounting and Finance and Director of Research Centre for Contemporary Accounting, Finance and Economics (Res CAFE) at the University of Bedfordshire. His research area is in sustainable accounting and finance. He helps design postgraduate courses to help students learn how to use accounting and finance tools in managing contemporary challenges of sustainable development such as climate change, modern slavery, UN SDGs, human rights, and ecological biodiversity. He writes blogs on how students can start entrepreneurial firms in social and environmental industries. He also developed innovative academic courses in DBA, Green Accounting, Sustainable Finance and Financial Entrepreneurship. These courses cover many contemporary topics ranging from corporate governance to sustainable business strategies and policies. In addition, Dr Saeudy provides professional consultancy for many business organisations in the UK and overseas in the field of sustainable business solutions, entrepreneurial finance, green finance, risk management and virtual business innovation.
Be sure to connect with Mohamed on LinkedIn or Twitter
Winifred Soribe
Winifred Soribe is an entrepreneur at heart; one whose DNA can be said to encode genes for entrepreneurship. She started her first business at the remarkable age of 9, which coincided with her final year of elementary school. She cultivated the budding creativity in her and fashioned out story books using plain A4 sheets and fancy gel pens. She displayed an early knack for superior salesmanship by sticking candies on the cover page which were then sold to fellow students. Early tendencies at being organised were displayed by her and her team which comprised of she and three others with Winifred being the president of the group. Profits were evenly split at the month’s end and what could easily pass as an audit was also done. Though the business didn’t have any significant cost base as Winifred’s dad was all too happy to supply them with plain A4 paper and stationeries, they went about it wholeheartedly and even purchased the candies used by them.
As she progressed on to High school, Winifred carried on with an unbending enterpreneural zeal. At her new school, which was an all-girls catholic boarding school, she restarted her business in the 10th grade and continued right on to the 12th grade. She sold fancy jewelleries at a 100% markup on cost to fellow girls, andby the time she got into university she had fully mastered the art of buying and selling. Her parents had an undeniable influence on her as they both were business oriented people and their business acumen had undoubtedly rubbed off on her. Her dad had a huge farming business, and her mum owned a fashion boutique.
Fast forward to this day; she is currently finalizing her PhD in Entrepreneurial Finance from the University of Bedfordshire in the UK, where she received a fully funded studentship. Her research focuses on how entrepreneurs can use their intellectual capital and social media to foster more collaboration, which in turn would aid them in raising finance.
Prior to undertaking her PhD, she obtained a master’s degree in Accounting and Business Finance from the University of Bedfordshire after completing her ACCA qualification and gaining a bachelor’s degree in Economics.
She has worked within the Accounting and Finance industry in the UK and is keen to explore the concept of using robust financing options to stimulate more entrepreneurial activity and innovation, thereby improving the overall economic welfare.
Her spare time is spent volunteering as a mentor for entrepreneurs within Nasdaq Mentor Makers, serving as a director on the University of Bedfordshire’s student union as well as advising entrepreneurs within 12 Ronnie’s Founders and Mentor. She enjoys philosophy, bead making, reading, and cooking.
Be sure to connect with Winifred on LinkedIn
Demystifying Entrepreneurship
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