IWD22 #BreakingtheBias

This panel will reflect on future opportunities within Oxfordshire’s ecosystem and how the region can develop new routes into entrepreneurs

Oxfordshire’s innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem has a world-leading reputation for entrepreneurship, research, and translating discoveries into wider benefits for society. This panel will reflect on future opportunities within Oxfordshire’s ecosystem and how the region can develop new routes into entrepreneurship for underrepresented groups, including women.

Speakers:

Maria Zubeldia, Director of the Entrepreneurship Centre, Said Business School

María Zubeldía leads the Entrepreneurship Centre at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford. They support students and departments across the university, providing access to local and global networks, offering experiential learning and assisting students’ entrepreneurial goals. As an innovation coach, María has years of experience mentoring entrepreneurs and has co-founded two of her own projects. As an intrapreneur, she launched the first Lean startup accelerator in Spain at CEIN.

Nicki Campling, Ecosystems Manager at Barclays Eagle Lab

Nicki Campling works as an ecosystem manager at Barclays Eagle Labs, which helps to support start-ups innovate and grow, creating employment and business development opportunities. The Eagle Labs network is 5 years old, with 26 physical locations across the UK, and started out using under-utilised spaces in the Barclays branch retail network. Start-up businesses have slightly different needs as they progress their ideas, and maker spaces were created; allowing prototyping, 3D printing etc. Eagle Labs are now stand-alone locations, providing maker spaces with co-working spaces in many of our sites. Within the internal network, start-ups can access all levels of support to help them grow. We run both national and local events programmes and provide support in areas such as access to funding opportunities, how to market and pitch, as well as mentoring; through our programmes and partners.

Mina Bekheet, CEO and Managing Partner of Panacea Innovation