The Investec
Entrepeneurs'
Summit

Richrd Harpin

chief executive, HomeServe

Richard is the chief executive of HomeServe, which was listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2004. Based in Walsall, the company has a market cap of £1.5bn and has sold over 10 million policies. Last year’s turnover was £369m, with pre-tax profits of over £100m. The company has operations in the UK, US, France, Spain, Belgium and has recently launched in Italy.

Martin Raymond

Martin is co-founder of The Future Laboratory, editor-in-chief of Viewpoint magazine and LS:N Global, the online lifestyle news and consumer insight portal. He is a regular contributor on trends and business for the BBC World Service programe Culture Shock, Channel 4 and ITV. Born in Ireland, he moved to the UK in 1984 to work as a journalist in the design, fashion, film and video sectors. He founded VideoGraphic, and later became an associate editor at Screen International.

Philip Shaw

Philip has been at Investec since July 1997 when he was recruited to the Group in London, covering both UK and global economic issues. Philip has devoted much of his time to working in Investec’s Capital Markets area but has been part of the Investec Securities team for the past six years. Before joining Investec, Philip was Chief Economist at Union Discount where he gained a particular expertise in interest rate markets and central bank watching. He started his career with the Government Economic Service and then worked for Barclays as an economist/econometrician.

Julie Meyer

founder, Ariadne Capital

With more than 20 years investment and advisory experience helping start-up businesses, Julie is the well-known founder and CEO of Ariadne Capital, managing partner of the Ariadne Capital Entrepreneurs Fund, founder of Entrepreneur Country and co-founder of First Tuesday. She recently joined BBC's Online Dragons' Den and a regular industry commentator for the BBC and CNBC.

Vince Cable MP

business secretary
Vince Cable has been involved in politics and economics for many years. He was appointed as the Coalition’s business secretary, responsible for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, in May 2010. Prior to this, Cable was the Lib Dems’ main economic spokesperson. He has been the MP for Twickenham since 1997, and has published several books on economics and trade.

Dame Mary Perkins

founder, Specsavers
Dame Mary founded Specsavers with her husband in 1984, and she remains at the heart of the business. With 1,500 stores, Specsavers is now the largest privately owned optical company in the world. Dame Mary’s most recent accolade was receiving the First Women Lifetime Achievement Award 2010, for her outstanding service to business.

John Cridland

director-general, CBI
Since joining as policy adviser in 1982, John has consistently been at the heart of the CBI. After spending ten years as deputy director-general, he took over as director-general earlier this year, replacing Sir Richard Lambert. He is now responsible for leading the CBI, representing Britain’s “voice of business” in the UK and internationally.

Torsten Reil

Torsten is co-founder and CEO of NaturalMotion. He holds a BA in Biology from Oxford University and an MSc in Evolutionary and Adaptive Systems from Sussex University. Prior to founding NaturalMotion, Torsten was researching for a PhD in Complex Systems at Oxford University's Zoology department, from which he spun off NaturalMotion. Torsten has been named amongst MIT's TR100 global top innovators, Next-Gen's 25 People in the Games Industry, and Develop magazine's 25 Game Changers.

Ed Cottrell

Ed is a director of the Investec Growth & Acquisition Finance team in Investec Specialist Private Bank. He has been responsible for many of the teams investments into entrepreneur led businesses including James Villa Holidays and Plastics Capital.

Simon Calver

CEO, LOVEFiLM
Simon made headlines recently after successfully selling LoveFilm to Amazon in January. As CEO of LoveFilm, Simon played a key role in growing LoveFilm into an international, 1.5 million subscriber business. Prior to this, Simon had a broad career at large multinationals including Pepsi, Dell, and Unilever. He is also the founder and chairman of the Consumer Forum.

Luke Johnson

chairman, Risk Capital Partners
Luke founded private equity firm Risk Capital Partners in 2001, after serving as chairman of Channel 4 for six years. Prior to that, Luke has had a successful career building up businesses including Pizza Express, Patisserie Valerie, The Ivy and Le Caprice. He also co-founded the largest UK chain of dental surgeries, Integrated Dental Holdings, which was sold in 2006 for over £100m. He graduated in medicine from Magdalen College, Oxford.

Lara Morgan

founder, Company Shortcuts

Over ten years, Lara built her own international business, Pacific Direct, before selling a majority share 99 per cent holding of the company for £20m in 2008. She now runs Company Shortcuts, a platform for entrepreneurs to access unique short cuts, check-lists and business performance measurement systems to free up time, increase effectiveness and help accelerate growth.

Dan Cobley

VP Marketing, Google

Dan joined Google as marketing director, UK, Ireland and Benelux in May of 2006, and was promoted to his current role in late 2010. He is responsible for all aspects of European business and consumer marketing at Google. Prior to Google, Dan has spent 15 year in marketing, operations and consulting roles with Capital One, Ask Jeeves, Pepsi/Walkers and Monitor Company. Outside work, Dan enjoys adventure holidays and spending precious time with his two 'pre-teen' boys.

Charles Dunstone

founder, Carphone Warehouse
Charles is one of the big success stories of UK enterprise. Having founded Carphone Warehouse in 1989, Charles grew the business into what is now Europe’s largest independent mobile phone retailer. Since floating the business for £1.7bn in 2000, he has remained actively involved in the business. Charles is currently the chairman of both Carphone Warehouse and TalkTalk, as well as chairman of The Prince’s Trust.

Errol Damelin

founder, Wonga
Errol is CEO of Wonga, the online micro-lender he founded in 2007. Since going live in July 2008, Wonga has processed more than 1.4 million online applications for small, short-term cash advances. Prior to Wonga, Errol founded Supply Chain Connect, an online marketplace for the international cable and wire industry. He won the Entrepreneur of the Year gong at the 2010 Growing Business Awards.