EISA Presents: Ready, Steady, Grow! Evening Seminar – Tuesday 25th September 2018
Ormeau Baths, 18 Ormeau Avenue, Belfast BT2 8HS
We are organising these events in association with The Personal Investment Management and Financial Advice Association (PIMFA) under their “Growing Financial Futures seminars series.
There will be two breakout session taking place within this seminar. Each stream will come together for an opening presentation before breaking into separate, focused streams to hear relevant speakers from each sector. Delegates will come together for a final closing keynote presentation.
Speakers:
Mark Brownridge, EISA Director General. Mark has over twenty years’ experience in Financial Services and prior to becoming the Director General of the EIS Association, he was Head of Research and Development at Mazars, a leading UK financial planning firm. Mark is highly qualified being a Certified Financial Planner, Chartered Financial Planner, Chartered Wealth Manager and Fellow of the Personal Finance Society and previously sat on the Chartered Institute of Securities and Investments Accredited firms committee and TISA’s Distribution Policy Council. Mark’s involvement with EIS began eight years ago and he has since championed EIS investing within a financial planning context and is extremely passionate about promoting the industry, increasing its effectiveness and ensuring EIS continues its 20 – year success story in delivering £15 billion of investment to over to over 24,000 small businesses. Follow Mark on Twitter: @EISA_DG
Boyd Carson is the managing partner of Sapphire Capital Partners LLP. He specialises in SEIS, EIS and VCT investments, including HMRC advance assurance applications and drafting investor documents. Boyd also helps companies raise finance, invests in selected companies and acts as a director of numerous companies which have raised money via EIS and VCT.
Boyd has over thirty years’ experience in the financial services industry and has overseen the development of Sapphire Capital to become a multi-award winning investment firm with a diversified client base. Prior to Sapphire, Boyd was in New York for ten years as a Director of PricewaterhouseCoopers corporate finance, advising clients such as Apollo Management LP, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. He has experience in a wide range of investment funds and also advises on general corporate and commercial matters, including fund raising and secured lending. Boyd is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants. Follow Boyd on Twitter: @BoydCarson or @SapphireCap
Vasiliki Carson, Sapphire Capital Partners LLP, specialises in HMRC advance assurance applications for Seed EIS, EIS and VCT. Vasiliki also assists clients with other corporate finance areas such as R&D Tax Credits, writing business plans, information memorandums and preparing financial projections. Vasiliki has over 20 years’ experience in the financial services industry and has previously worked at Goldman Sachs in New York and Tokyo, as well as for PwC’s corporate finance division. Vasiliki is a New York Certified Public Accountant and graduated from New York University’s Stern School of Business. Follow Vasiliki on Twitter: @VasilikiCarson1 or @SapphireCap
Ronan Corr, Beezer is an entrepreneur with a successful track record of companies working in Sports Media, Digital marketing, Website development, Sports Club Management software, Sports & Event software platforms. Entrepreneurial skills have been recognised by United Nations as a finalist in their Young Entrepreneur Award. Ronan developed one of the world’s first mobile communities through the provision of a “WAP and Web” network for sports clubs. Ronan published academic papers on ‘Innovations in Internet-based Sporting Association Management’ and “Applying an Agility Assessment for Software Organisations”.
Ronan has experience in setting up, building and managing agile teams, bringing a blend of technology, commercialisation, funding, process, people and domain competencies. He has delivered technology projects from inception to implementation for blue chip companies, large sports organisations, hotel chains and central government. Follow Beezer on Twitter: @beezertech
Desmond FitzGerald joined PIMFA (then known as the Wealth Management Association) in November 2017 as a Senior Policy Adviser with a focus on the financial planning and wealth management policy area.
He was previously a senior adjudicator at the Financial Ombudsman Service with wide ranging experience of all products but most recently across the pension product area. He has also held roles at Irish Life Assurance, Scottish Mutual International and Bank of Ireland in Dublin.
Des holds a MSc in European Union policy from Birkbeck.
Andrew Jennings is a Partner in the Corporate team, based in Belfast having joined in 2018. Andrew has a particular focus on private equity and venture capital work. He is also a member of TLT’s multi-disciplinary team that supports Fast Growth companies across their UK offices.
Andrew has extensive M&A experience acting in large scale, multi-jurisdictional, complex transactions. He has acted for UK and international private equity houses on new investments in Northern Ireland, local VC funds as well as for investee companies on PE and VC transactions.
Recent NI work includes acting for Braidwater Limited in its receipt of further investment from BGF and Hurree Limited in relation to an investment by Quake Capital.
Drew O’Sullivan has worked for 18 years in the start-up fundraising ecosystem on the island of Ireland – as a corporate financier, a venture capitalist, an accelerator leader and a start-up advisor. He currently acts as both the lead equity advisor for InterTradeIreland and advises the European Investment Fund on the delivery of the European Angel Fund Ireland. With InterTradeIreland Drew advises over 150 start up and growth companies on fundraising strategies each year on a one-to-one basis and supports the SeedCorn Business Plan competition, the leading investor readiness programme on the island. With the European Angel Fund he sources business angels with very strong investment track records for a long term co-investment relationship with EAFI . Follow InterTradeIreland on Twitter: @Inter_Trade
Daniel Rodwell is a founding investor in GrowthInvest and Chairman of the Investment Committee since 2012. He became Managing Director in late 2014. Prior to this, Daniel worked in the finance sector for nearly 20 years, managing institutional and private funds focusing on equities and derivatives. Daniel managed the UK division of Van der Moolen Equities AG and more recently founded the equity derivatives boutique Ten Derivatives LLP. Daniel has been an Angel Investor for over 10 years, mentors high growth businesses, and sits on numerous panels across the UK. He is passionate about increasing efficiency in the alternative investment sector, having witnessed first-hand the automation of OTC and Open Outcry traded products in the late 1990’s. Follow GrowthInvest on Twitter: @GrowthInvestUK
Henry Whorwood leads Beauhurst’s Consultancy team. He is an expert on early-stage business finance and has worked on briefs for clients including the British Business Bank, Penningtons Manches, Syndicate Room, Innovate UK and HM Treasury. Henry regularly gives presentations on market trends at events around the country. He studied Classics at the University of Oxford.
Henry will present new data on recent trends in equity investment into companies headquartered in Northern Ireland, looking in particular at the key sectors and investors driving the market.
