I have over a decade worth of experience working in the private sector with particular emphasis on managing retail operations for a big blue chip retailer. I have also setup my own businesses and successfully sold them on before I got involved with the Grid. Having caught the entrepreneurial bug whilst running my own businesses I felt I wanted to do something more than just make money, and try and make a difference and make a positive contribution to the disadvantaged people in deprived/regeneration areas. I am passionate about enterprise and enjoy engaging with people from a wide variety of backgrounds and am currently engaged in creating an entrepreneurial buzz in Bradford helping entrepreneurs from various backgrounds to achieve their maximum potential.

I started off as a young volunteer at the Bradford Youth Bank and I have now developed this into an independent organisation called Bradford Youth Grants. We still run the Youth Bank but we also provide other services to help similar projects get off the ground. We have developed an accredited training course in Grantmaking which we deliver to youth boards across the country to help them set up and run youth-led grantmaking projects. Our training module covers issues such as promotion, decision-making criteria, interview techniques, how to assess applications etc. We also run a mapping exercise which helps people look at their community, what activities and assets they already have, what is missing and what they could make better. Over the last two years in Bradford we have awarded over £100,000 in grants to young people-led projects. There have been some fantastic projects such as a national breakdancing event where groups came from around the country to compete in Bradford. It brought together a really diverse mixture of people. Another project involved supporting people with mental health issues to cultivate an allotment so that they were able to sell their own produce in community centres.

Carl Chouler is Founder and Chairman of the Young Entrepreneurs Society (YES). In 2004 he formed YES to help meet the needs of aspiring young entrepreneurs and connect like-minded individuals with a strong interest in enterprise. YES is not-for-profit and exists to kickstart budding entrepreneurs into business - www.yes-yorkshire.com Networking online can save time and but there is nothing better than meeting face to face. Online there are a multitude of sites being developed. Some are useful, others just fill up your inbox. Big networking events have the advantage of meeting lots of new people but equally smaller events, such as YES events, are great for developing deeper relationships. Check out your local Chamber of Commerce, Junior Chamber of Commerce and local BNG ( Business Networking Group) for large meetings or alternatively let us know where you are and we will organise a small YES event especially for you!! However you choose to do it… Network, network, network!!! www.yes-yorkshire.com For more information on YES networking events email network@yes-yorkshire.com

I am the Employment and Youth Enterprise manager for Hull City Council. In this role I take responsibility for * everything relating to supporting Hull’s enterprising young people including the establishment of the Hull Youth * Enterprise Partnership which has established an evidenced based Youth Enterprise Strategy for Hull * area based one stop shops throughout the city of Hull. * we have also established a Youth Enterprise Bank that gives grants to young people wishing to develop their enterprising idea. I am an active advocate on behalf of the voluntary youth sector previously serving as the founder chair of the Hull Council for Voluntary Youth Service. In this position I advocated the adoption of an integrated delivery plan and partnership between the voluntary and public sectors, enabling joint working to provide improved services to young people. To enable them to move into the world of work from either full-time education or from a period of economic inactivity, by developing and supporting programmes that helps them to realise their potential, such as the establishment of a Youth Council in Hull. I was also Co-Chair of the Yorkshire and Humberside Connect Youth International Exchange Committee for two years. In this capacity …

Charlotte is the Vice Chair of IoD Young Directors Forum in Yorkshire and Humber and a Director of Pollenation. Pollenation specialise in open source web and software development. The team have worked with clients such as the Country of Oman, Halifax, Interactive Finance, Deutsche Bank, Super League and many more. Pollenation is founded on the premise that a small experienced team will be more productive, produce better quality work and ultimately be more cost effective than any large team of junior staff. We use the same technologies that drive Google, Wall Street and NASA. As a small software company, we remain agile and able to keep pace with the development of internet technologies, and in some cases we also help to build them!

Claire Morley-Jones is Chair of the IoD Young Directors Forum in Yorkshire and Humber and also the Managing Director of 2 hr businesses, hr180 and hr828. hr180 is an HR consultancy delivering positive bottom line improvements through the better engagement, utilisation and productivity of staff. hr828, on the other hand is an HR advice and support service for SME’s, offering immediate telephone and e-mail support for those with staffing challenges. Claire is passionate about development and through the IoD leads a committed group of individuals who provide leadership development, peer support and networking opportunities to the emerging leaders of Yorkshire.

David Powell is the Business Networking Director for JCI Leeds.He describes himself as a “timelord, which has nothing to do with Doctor Who”, but everything to do with saving businesses as much money as possible through managing their overheads. He’s a passionate advocate of networking, and attends any and all networking opportunities he can.

Diane is a Youth Work Manager and has worked BARCA-Leeds since it was establsihed in 1994. BARCA-Leeds is a multipurpose organisation providing a range of different services for young people and is linked into the National Youth Bank UK programme.

Etta Cohen has grown Forward Ladies from just five ladies to almost 3,000 members. Last year she organised over 60 events, attended by around 4,000 businesswomen. Etta also provides training workshops, mentoring, business surgeries, and even foreign trade missions with her recent visit to South Africa working with lions and other wild animals in a bid to raise money for her brand new venture, the Forward Ladies Charity Account, which will raise money for worthwhile causes in her home region of Yorkshire.

Imran Ali describes himself as a ‘dotcom guy’: A veteran of the dotcom boom in 1999, several tech startups and now founding partner of an emerging technologies think tank, Carbon Imagineering.