My involvement started back in 2007 during the planning stages of Global Entrepreneurship Week when I was asked to create the brand identity for GEW. Launched by Chancellor Gordon Brown (later UK Prime Minister) and the Kauffman Foundation in 40 countries in 2008, GEW rapidly grew as other countries joined and we progressively rolled out new sister initiatives. With more nations and activities it became clear we needed to retrofit an overarching parent brand. In 2014 I created the new GEN brand which was launched to coincide with the emergence and growth of the Global Entrepreneurship Congress (GEC).
I was invited together with Ewan Gaffney in 2016 to set up GEN UK to host GEW UK and develop activities throughout the year. Ewan had previously been part of YBI, the outgoing GEW UK host organisation. Fellow co-founder, Elaine Gold, joined the team from Silatech, host of GEW Qatar. In 2020 with the aim of creating a ‘club house’ for GEN UK, the GEN UK HUB went live - a community platform to deliver online events and content growing to over 3,000 members.
Apart from GEW UK, we hosted events across a diverse range of topics from founder wellbeing to ex-con entrepreneurship and International Women’s Day. In 2021 we created the Commonwealth Women’s Entrepreneurship Summit - without sponsors. It was an ambitious 2 day online conference featuring 32 sessions and over 50 trailblazing women speakers - co-produced with Commonwealth Businesswomen’s Network and personally supported by HM the late Queen Elizabeth. Coverage, including additional interviews and analysis, was broadcast live by Bloomsbury Radio.
When Glasgow was chosen for COP26 and coincided with GEW we set the focus on entrepreneurs driving Net Zero innovation. Together with our friends at GEW Denmark we hosted the first Startup Planet conference in Glasgow. For COP27 founder of One Earth, Linzi Boyd, and I went down to Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt to interview leaders on the ground. We were joined by racing driver Clara Stone, who drove a Kia EV 3,000 miles from Glasgow through 11 countries to countdown to COP and GEW 2022.
We attended the GEC in Riyadh a few weeks after the Russians invaded Ukraine in February 2022. Thousands of refugees, mostly women, fled to the UK and Europe, and after discussions with fellow GEN members decided that GEN UK would develop a response to help entrepreneurs. Supported by 11 in kind partner organisations including Accenture and KPMG we created Restart Ukraine, an online support programme. Several cohorts signed up with experts and mentors providing support to 200 displaced Ukrainian women and their businesses.
In 2023 I ran the LeZero Innovation Prize, a global challenge to find the most exciting entrepreneurs and their net zero solutions. The finalists were announced at the GEC in Melbourne, followed by an awards ceremony at the University of Birmingham Dubai during COP28. Startup Planet plenary sessions ran across three days as part of Mobility Futures Forum cohosted with the University.
Over the years GEW UK has grown from strength to strength with established key events with partners at the British Library, the London Stock Exchange, the House of Lords, Bloomsbury Radio and several others. GEN UK has been an active participant at the Global Entrepreneurship Congress having led delegations since 2018 to Istanbul, Bahrain, Riyadh, Melbourne and Indianapolis with 70 UK delegates expected to attend next year in Doha.
Like some other GEN countries, in 2026 GEN UK transitioned from operating as an independent UK company operating under a license agreement with GEN Global to a trust of GEN Global Leaders from the UK, enabling increased global impact from a diverse ecosystem of entrepreneurship experts and thought leaders.
It has been a rewarding experience to represent the UK and be part of this global family for the past 20 years. Driven by the belief that entrepreneurship increases opportunity for all through meritocracy, I believe the best is yet to come.